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Automotive Industry

Audi's approach to electronics: there will be more electronics content in Audis—from making cars easier to drive to a means to access entertainment

Automotive Design & Production, June, 2007 by William Kimberley

What's the future hold for Audi? In a word, "electronics." Expect a much greater integration of mobile consumer electronic devices, such as the iPod, the MP3 player or USB sticks into Audis, with Bluetooth being the key enabler. However, a significant factor in the German automaker's thinking is that for all the increasing demand for the latest electronic items being available on the launch of a new model, the "over 60s" segment of its customer base is growing, and the group between 60 and 70 has significant purchasing power. This means, says Michael Renz, head of central marketing at Audi, that the emphasis must be placed on helping the customer to operate the vehicle intuitively and safely rather than on patronizing them. "In-car electronics consequently need to provide age-appropriate solutions and straightforward operating concepts for complex systems," says Renz. "To satisfy these requirements, new standards in the operation of automotive infotainment are being defined. The Audi MMI [Multi Media Interface] system aims to keep enhancing ease of operation, safety, and communication of information for older people, too. Gesture recognition by means of special 3D cameras, new display technologies and laser projections are important elements in the implementation of new concepts. Enhanced safety is assured by implementing assistance functions and intelligent information management such as call suppression if the momentary traffic situation is critical."

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However, it is not just the aging population that is guiding Audi's thoughts on its future products but also the widening of its market base geographically. "Increasing globalization is a further trend," says Renz., who goes onto explain that the topic of navigation in Asian markets exemplifies the wide-ranging differences in requirements from one region to another. Navigation systems with 3D graphics, animated buildings and real-image representations are already standard there, and Asian characters and an MMI system optimized to each specific country are an absolute 'must'. In order to satisfy the credentials of a global player, all standards such as characters, modified system languages, differing national network standards and statutory requirements need to be met.

As well as the Asian market, Eastern European countries are becoming increasingly important to Audi. Says Renz, "We achieved the world's highest share of 12-cylinder models in the luxury segment with the Audi A8 in Russia, for example. In order to build on this lead and exploit the rising market potential, it will be necessary to offer a navigation system modified for the Russian market, using Cyrillic characters." Renz says this means that in order to implement such regional differences rapidly, modular software will be needed. "This modularity will make it possible to adapt the software to typical national requirements or individual customer needs flexibly and independently of the hardware. This clearly demonstrates how important even the domain of electronics that is not visible to the customer is."

Renz also alludes to the ultimate demise of the CD changer with the increasing popularity of new products such as the MP3 player, DVD changer, standard interfaces for connecting up consumer electronic devices and hard disk drives. The problem, though, is that the development cycles of around three to four years in the auto industry and production lifespan of about seven years contrasts poorly with development cycles of just a few months and a product lifespan of often less than one year in the world of computers, processors and other electronic terminal devices. "The solution to this dilemma involves designing the electronics in a vehicle in such a way that they can be subsequently updated and upgraded at any time," say Renz. "Although this situation adds to the complexity of the development phase, it opens up prospects for keeping the vehicle up to date over a longer period. It also provides scope for new business models."

Bluetooth, the open standard that is valid worldwide for wireless close-range communication for voice and data in the license-exempt 2.4 GHz frequency band, looks set to be a vital key in this area, says Peter Kohlschmidt, head of connectivity development at Audi. "Even in the mobile phone industry, with its rapid innovation and product development cycles, after the official founding of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group [SIG] in 1998, it took until the end of 2000 before the first production-ready mobile phone with integrated Bluetooth headset preparation appeared. This first volume-produced business phone with this hands-free profile did not appear on the market until the end of 2001. At the end of 2002 there were then eight mobile phone platforms, one year later as many as 28, then 78 at the end of 2004 and 115 in May 2005, often with several different model versions with a hands-free profile. Today, the Bluetooth SIG mentions hands-free use as the application that has helped Bluetooth to achieve a broad-based breakthrough. A recent study found that 120 million Bluetooth chips had been delivered worldwide by the end of 2004 and that 1.2 billion of these chips will have been sold by 2009. Studies quote the increasing spread of retrofit solutions or ex-works, prompted by legislation as well as growing familiarity of end users with this technology."

Automotive Industry

Audi's approach to electronics: there will be more electronics content in Audis—from making cars easier to drive to a means to access entertainment

Automotive Design & Production, June, 2007 by William Kimberley

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