HARMAN Showcases New Connected Car Platform at Geneva Motor Show

HARMAN is one of the most talked about companies exhibiting at this year’s Geneva International Motor Show, from March 3 to 13. At its booth, the leading expert in connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets is demonstrating its LIVS Connected Car Compute Platform for state-of-the-art, holistic vehicle intelligence with vehicle-to-x-capability (V2X) based on RoadLINK technology from NXP Semiconductors. This wireless technology considerably enhances road safety by notifying drivers of serious traffic situations beyond the range of current production sensors, enabling drivers to “see” around corners, and through traffic obstacles such as trucks ahead.

According to Phil Eyler, President, HARMAN Connected Car pision, HARMAN spearheads the industry as an end-to-end system integrator for carmakers and technology suppliers to offer drivers adaptable, intelligent and predictable solutions in the car. He said that they are proud to work closely with NXP for a flexible and secure V2X solution as part of their leading compute platform to enhance not only safety, but comfort and convenience. “From easing traffic congestion to improving fuel efficiency, HARMAN is seamlessly integrating V2X capabilities into our connected car solutions for the benefit of automakers and drivers alike”.

With V2X, alerts are delivered to vehicles from other cars and surrounding infrastructure, such as traffic lights and signage to warn motorists of potentially dangerous traffic situations ahead. This technology can spot hazards beyond the line of sight, even in tough weather conditions, thereby complementing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) such as cameras or radars. Messages can include accident warnings, traffic jams, slow moving or stationary vehicles, presence of emergency vehicles. road works, road condition hazards, blind-intersection collisions, as well as signage indicators or traffic signals.

In a statement, Torsten Lehmann, Senior Vice President Car Infotainment and Driver Assistance, NXP, said they are honored that HARMAN has collaborated with NXP using RoadLINKTM for their connected car compute platform, recognizing the reliability, performance and long range of their communications technology. He added that this is another huge milestone in NXP’s strategy to make traffic safer, smoother and cleaner, preventing road mishaps and saving lives. “NXP V2X chipsets will be on the road later this year in first OEM series cars.”

The new V2X solution being demonstrated by HARMAN and NXP as part of the former’s Life-Enhancing Intelligent Vehicle Solution (LIVS) automotive computer platform is extremely reliable and offers real-time performance. It operates on IEEE 802.11p, a wireless communication standard designed for the needs of the automotive industry as it connects surrounding infrastructure and vehicles to each other in ad-hoc networks based on proximity to attain quick transmission and ensure reliable road safety communications. Moreover, the V2X communication is well-guarded against illegal attacks by NXP’s V2X hardware security module and HARMAN’s complete 5+1 safety architecture with hypervisor and firewall as a vital basis for all services and technologies, including OTA update capabilities. The V2X application software runs on the i.MX 6Solo applications processor from NXP—a feature-and-performance-scalable platform.