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ITU to accelerate work on ICT standards inside cars

Tony Chan | March 25, 2008 | 0 Comments

The International Telecommunications Union is looking to take a more active role in the establishment of standards that bridge the telecommunications and automotive industries. Early in March, the ITU held its Fully Networked Car event during the Geneva Motor Show to promote idea of taking advantage of information and communications technology to reduce the impact of cars on the environment.

The event, attended by Max Mosley, the head of Formula One’s governing body, the FIA and ITU Secretary General, Dr Hamadoun I. Toure, attracted more than 200 industry professionals.

One of the key themes of the event focused on leveraging technologies developed by F1 racing to set new industry standards that reduce the carbon emission from vehicle use.

Mosley points to the fact that as many as 300 channels of information is set up between F1 race cars and the pit crew to ensure optimum performance. These technologies can be leveraged to improve the performance and efficiency of vehicles beyond the sport, he said.

One attendee, Michel Mayer, CEO of Freescale Semiconductor, a supplier of ICT solutions to F1 teams and a sponsor of the event, highlighted concerns at the proliferation of proprietary standards in the area and urged global standards bodies such as the ITU to take a lead. He said that it is critical that further development be standards-driven.

ITU said it will help to push this standards work and convergence between the ICT and automotive industries with initiatives such as its FITCAR (From/In/To Cars Communication) Focus Group, and the hosting of the Advisory Panel for Standards Cooperation on Telecommunications related to Motor Vehicles (ASPC TELEMOV). Also helping to step up this activity, Malcolm Johnson, ITU’s director of standards, announced that the Fully Networked Car event – already in its fourth year – will now become a regular fixture bringing together the two industries. ITU will also be organizing two ITU symposia on ICTs and Climate Change: in Kyoto, 15-16 April, hosted by the government of Japan; and in London, 17-18 June, hosted by BT.

Priorities identified for future standardization included: a common set of standards for the full range of nomadic devices; standards for software defined radios; standards to cope with the gap between the short lifecycle of mobile phones compared to the relatively long lifecycle of cars; and privacy, where there is a need for a common understanding about what data is reasonable to collect and retain.

Last month, Cisco Systems unveiled the Connected Bus concept as part of its Connected Urban Development initiative. The Connected Bus prototype, showcased in San Francisco, is a hybrid, low emissions vehicle connected to backend systems that update route and connection information for passengers together with onboard a Wi-Fi hotspot. The vehicle is also connected to maintenance systems to ensure optimum performance.