Tag Archive for Ford Motor Company

| April 23, 2011
Comments Off on Car Tech

Car Tech

Car TechThe self-interests of the auto industry and the electronics industry have aligned. The car has become the ultimate mobile computing platform. The carmakers and OEMs have begun competing to add better Internet-computing applications. These are some of the most interesting to me.

Ford Seeks to Make Cars That Talk to Each Other

Ford logoXconomy Detroit reports that Ford Motor Company (F) based in Dearborn, MI is designing vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems designed to prevent accidents. Ford’s “intelligent” vehicles can wirelessly transmit data between each other, such as location, speed, proximity, and brake status. Guided by sensors and cameras, the system can alert drivers to nearby accidents, or signal if they risk colliding with another vehicle at an intersection. “It’s like having a 360-degree pair of eyes,” says Mike Shulman, technical leader for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.

Ford’s goal is to have intelligent cars on the road by 2016. “We kind of like to get it out as soon as we can,” Mr. Shulman says. CBS News reports that Ford’s demonstration vehicles will hit the road this spring, starting at major technology hubs across the country.

Ford’s work is part of an effort spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Transportation called IntelliDrive (Which I first wrote about in 2009). IntelliDrive’s goal is to develop a common communications platform for all vehicles to talk to each other, using 3G and 4G broadband technologies. IntelliDrive also envisions building infrastructure across the country that allows cars to “communicate” with roads, highways, and bridges, exchanging information on traffic patterns, road conditions, and weather. “IntelliDrive will help drivers bypass congestion, and it will cut crashes by providing advanced safety warnings,” according to a report by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), a research group based in Ann Arbor, MI. “It will even be able to take over the vehicle when there is not enough time for the driver to react.”

Eventually, the technology could lead to cars that drive themselves, Mr. Shulman says. Google (GOOG) is already testing such a car.

Microsoft Wants to Be in Your Car

Microsoft logoRon Miller at Internet Evolution recently posted an article that shows how Microsoft‘s (MSFT) reputation in the auto industry has changed. Several years ago, there was a joke being emailed around about what would happen if Microsoft built cars the way it built Windows. At the 2011 CeBIT technology fair, there were examples of Microsoft in cars according to Mr. Miller.

The author points out that MSFT was showing off a Microsoft-centric, fully electric Smart Car with its control center as an app on your Windows 7 phone and not on the dash. The WP7 devices would display metrics such as the amount of power left in your battery, the expected distance you can travel for the amount of power on your battery, even the distances based on current battery life that are safe to reach, possible to reach, and questionable — all color-coded on a Bing map. Since it’s a phone the car can be monitored from anywhere there is a cell signal.

The Internet Evolution article points out a second example of bringing Microsoft to the car. At CeBIT, Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally was touting Ford SYNC, powered by Microsoft, the communications solution now being installed in Ford cars. Mr. Mulally wants to see the Ford automobiles be the “ultimate mobile device” according to the article.

Mr. Mulally described a system based on Microsoft’s next-gen unified communications product Lync using Nuance (NUAN) voice recognition to enable users to interact with the car and the mobile telephone sitting in the car’s cradle via voice commands, letting drivers keep both hands on the wheel while accessing features. It will also eventually offer direct access to emergency services, not a call center as with GM’s (GM) OnStar service.

Mr. Mulally says Ford made a conscious decision not to embed the Microsoft Lync system with the car’s other systems. He was careful to point out that the systems that run the car are separated from Lync by a firewall. The author says that most of us who have used Microsoft software appreciate that separation continues I don’t think we are ready to go there just yet.

Automakers Want Vehicles Talk to Each Other

Talking carsThe Detroit Bureau reports that a consortium of eight manufacturers has set up shop in Farmington Hills, MI to work on car-to-car “Intelligent Vehicle” communications systems that would help stave off accidents. “If every car had it, it would be like another pair of eyes,” Ford Motor Co.’s (F) Mike Shulman, a technical research leader, stated.

The technology consortium would work to supplement, not replace, other high-tech safety systems. While Ford and others have worked on car-to-car communications systems for a number of years, the consortium reflects the fact that vehicles from different brands must be able to speak the same digital language. “We need to get messages from Hondas, Hyundais, Kias and send them all messages,” said Mr. Shulman.

Each of the eight makers will build eight new vehicles each equipped with the latest technology. Another 2,000 vehicles on the road will be retrofitted with the gear as part of a test program partly funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Transportation experts suggest Intelligent Vehicle systems could also move cars closer to an era of autonomous driving, where motorists would simply plug in a destination and settle back and text or make calls or reading the paper, on put on makeup since the vehicle itself would handle the driving duties.

Autonomous Road Trains

Road trainTraffic Technology Today, reported in January 2011 that the EU-financed SARTRE project has carried out the first successful demonstration of its vehicle platooning technology at the Volvo Proving Ground in Sweden. Vehicle platooning is a convoy of vehicles, where a driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles.

SARTRE will use a forward-looking camera and 76 GHz radar. Each vehicle must also be equipped with a local control system. To achieve global control over the platoon, a communication system, probably using the 5.9 GHz radio channel would interconnect the vehicles.

Project backers say that platooning is designed to improve and cut fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while it reduces traffic congestion.

The technology development is underway but public acceptance of the system and legislation by 25 EU governments will likely hinder acceptance for a while.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
| March 19, 2011
Comments Off on Car Technology

Car Technology

GM Ventures Invests in Powermat

GM logoXconomy – Detroit reports that GM Ventures, the Detroit -based car maker’s venture capital arm has invested $5 million in Powermat the Commerce Township, MI start-up. A multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with Powermat gives General Motors (GM) exclusive rights to place the company’s portable-device charging technology in its cars for a year. according to Micky Bly, the company’s director of hybrid vehicles. The Chevy Volt and certain Cadillac models will be the first GM cars to the Powermat accessories. The New York Times reports that at this year’s CES GM demonstrated four wireless charging positions in the Chevy Volt.

GM Ventures has also invested in Indiana-based electric car startup Bright Automotive and Ann Arbor-based battery developer Sakti3. Also, see this earlier post.

Car Theft by Antenna

Keyless entryMIT’s Technology Review reports that researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have successfully attacked passive keyless entry and start systems from eight different car manufacturers’. The researchers examined 10 car models from eight manufacturers. They were able to take all 10 by intercepting and relaying signals from the cars to their wireless keys because the key transmits its signals up to around 100 meters. The attack works no matter what cryptography and protocols the key and car use to communicate with each other.

The researchers tested a few scenarios. An attacker could watch a parking lot and have an accomplice watch as car owners entered a nearby store. The accomplice would only need to be within eight meters of the targeted owner’s key fob, making it easy to avoid arousing suspicion. In another scenario, a car owner might leave a car key on a table near a window. An antenna placed outside the house was able to communicate with the key, allowing the researchers then to start the car parked out front and drive away.

The researchers concluded that manufacturers will need to add secure technology that allows the car to confirm that the key is in fact nearby.

New Standard for Automotive-Grade Wireless Modules

Connected carSierra Wireless (SWIR) recently introduced what the firm calls, the industry’s first suite of embedded wireless technology modules designed specifically for automotive manufacturers. The Canadian firm is banking on the emerging trend to include telematics, infotainment, navigation assistance, and remote diagnostics in new cars within the next few years according to an article on ITNewsLink.com. The firm believes these applications will need reliable built-in connections to cellular networks. The new Sierra Wireless modules will use 2G and 3G network technologies and frequency bands used worldwide to provide the connectivity customers are demanding.

The manufacturer says these units are the first wireless modules developed from the ground up to achieve compliance with automotive specifications.  ITNewsLink.com says the Sierra Wireless AirPrime AR Series design encompasses:

  • Tolerance for up to 1,000 thermal shock cycles
  • Full certification with ISO 9001:2000 quality standards and ISO/TS 16949:2002 manufacturing processes
  • Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius
  • Compliance with multiple automotive manufacturing and quality processes including AQPQ, PPAP, PCN, and 8D
  • Solder-down form factor and optional Embedded SIM to create a more reliable and less expensive solution
  • An open platform for custom application development, including dedicated APIs for telematics applications.

Wireless Car Sensors Vulnerable to Hackers

Wireless Car Sensors Vulnerable to HackersMIT’s Technology Review reports that hackers could “hijack” the wireless pressure sensors built into many cars’ tires, researchers have found. Criminals might then track a vehicle or force its electronic control system to malfunction, the University of South Carolina and Rutgers University researchers say. The team successfully hijacked two popular tire-pressure-monitoring systems (TPMS).

As automakers add more technology and computers to cars and connect those computers to critical components, in-car systems will need to be secured against hackers, experts warn.

The systems tested by the South Carolina-Rutgers team had very little security in place–they mainly relied on the communications protocol is not widely published. “In doing TPMS this way, [automakers] have left the door open to wireless attackers,” says Travis Taylor, one of the researchers. The team could eavesdrop on communications and, in some circumstances, alter messages in transit. That let the team give false readings to a car’s dashboard. They could also track a vehicle’s movements using the unique IDs of the pressure sensors, and even cause a car’s ECU to fail completely.

“Normally, these [attacks would] result in small problems,” Mr. Taylor says. “But I see practical danger and damage that can happen from TPMS exploitation.” “The security and privacy problems that the researchers identify in TPMS systems are likely just one among many that will challenge the automotive industry in the years to come,” says Stefan Savage, a UC San Diego professor of computer science and engineering.

Ford Installs Sync Software via Wi-Fi

Ford Installs Sync Software via Wi-FiThe Detroit Bureau reports that Ford is the first automaker to use Wi-Fi to send software to vehicles along an assembly line. The automaker is sending infotainment software to Wi-Fi enabled MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles like the Edge.

Ford installed  Wi-Fi technology at its Oakville, Ontario, plant where it builds the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX. Next up for Wi-Fi updates will be the upcoming Ford Explorer, built in Chicago, and then plants that build the Focus around the world.

Wi-Fi capability eliminates the need for building, stocking multiple SYNC hardware modules, thus reducing manufacturing complexity and saving cost.  “Using wireless software installation via Wi-Fi, we can stock just one type of SYNC module powering MyFord Touch and loaded with a basic software package,” explained Sukhwinder Wadhwa, SYNC global platform manager. “We eliminate around 90 unique part numbers, each of which would have to be updated every time a change is made – this system really boosts quality control.”

“Turning an assembly plant – with steel beams everywhere and high-voltage cabling throughout; everything you could imagine that would interfere with a radio signal – into an access point that would achieve 100 percent success was a huge challenge,” Mr. Wadhwa said.

Related articles

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| February 19, 2011
Comments Off on Hackers Can Target Cars

Hackers Can Target Cars

Hackers Can Target CarsWired reports that over 100 drivers in Austin, TX found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control. This happened after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system called Webtech Plus (PDF). Webtech Plus is normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments. The app is operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies system. It allows car dealers to install a black box in the vehicle that responds to commands issued through a central website and relayed over a wireless pager network.

How he got in

Austin police claim the perpetrator was Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid-off. The hacker allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the Austin-area dealership. Reportedly Mr. Ramos-Lopez’s account was closed when he was terminated but he allegedly got in through another employee’s account. At first, the intruder targeted specific customers. The attacker later moved to access the database of all 1,100 customers whose cars were equipped with the device. It is charged that he went through the database, vandalizing the records, disabling the cars, and setting off the horns.

Cars are targets

The Webtech attack was an external attack but Bob Brammer, CTO, and VP at Northrop Grumman Information Systems (NOC)  told GovInfo Security that cars themselves are likely to become targets. Mr. Brammer points out that most cars contain 50 to 100 or more tiny computers. The computers are controlled by over 100 megabytes of code that control the accelerator, brakes, displays, steering, etc. All of these systems can be accessed through a diagnostic port that serves as the vehicles’ USB port. Mr. Brammer cites a study published in an IEEE journal. “It’s possible to take over a car, controlling the brakes, the accelerator, the steering wheel, despite whatever the driver might want to do. Our automobiles are highly vulnerable from a cybersecurity view.”

The paper, Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile, (PDF) says the potential attack window could widen as more automakers offer vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications networks to third-party development, “An attacker who is able to infiltrate almost any electronic control unit can leverage this ability to completely circumvent a broad array of safety-critical systems.”  GigaOm cites data from iSuppli that Wi-Fi in automobiles will be integrated into 7.2 million cars by 2017.

The researchers said they took control of a number of the car’s functions and the driver could do nothing about it. They bypassed basic network security protections within the car. They then embedded malicious code in the telematics unit to erase evidence of the hack’s presence after a crash.

More theoretical than practical

I luv your PCMr. Brammer, for now, sees the threat to cars as more theoretical than practical. But he says it demonstrates that we must think about cyber-security more broadly than we have in the past. “As the trend is to put more IT into everything that we do – whether it’s cars, airplanes, power grids, water supplies, whatever – we have to think about the security aspects of the design. These systems, within reason, have to be able to withstand certain types of attempts to attack or exploit them. That’s a terrible thing have to say, but I think that’s the way world is these day.”

Wi-Fi can give attackers an entry point into critical systems. Professor Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego told Technology Review. “In a lot of car architectures, all the computers are interconnected, so that having taken over one component, there’s a substantive risk that you could take over all the rest of them. Once you’re in, you’re in.” This could lead to brakes failing or the steering wheel seizing on scores if not hundreds of cars simultaneously, causing catastrophic crashes.

rb-

Cars have become more computerized. They are linked through Wi-Fi and 3G networks making our daily transportation vulnerable to hackers and cyber-attacks. Cyber-terrorists could target cars to begin the chain of events leading to a Hollywood-style disaster. Hopefully, the Auto manufacturers are going to tighten up the security of our cars. They will delay improving security if safety belts and airbags are examples.

Will the auto industry tighten the security onboard cars?

Will the government have to step in?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
| May 4, 2009
Comments Off on Cars Collaborate to Reduce Risks

Cars Collaborate to Reduce Risks

Cars Collaborate to Reduce RisksAccording to InScience scientists and engineers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) tested an innovative technological system in the Detroit area in April 2009. The study will ultimately help protect cars and drivers from being surprised by black ice, fog, and other hazardous weather conditions.

The prototype system is designed to gather detailed information about weather and road conditions from moving cars. NCAR’s road weather system is part of IntelliDrive. IntelliDrive is a national initiative overseen by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use new technologies to make driving safer and improve mobility.

The project included collecting information from 11 specially equipped cars in the Detroit area. Test drivers in Jeep Cherokee’s, Ford (F) Edge’s, and a Nissan Altima were on the prowl for adverse conditions. They sought out heavy rain and snow to collect, store and transmit data. The test vehicles used sensors to collect data about weather conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity.

on-board digital memory device recorded that informationAn on-board digital memory device recorded that information, along with indirect signs of road conditions. They recorded events like the cars windshield wipers being switched on or activation of the anti-lock braking system. The information was transmitted to a central database. There the information was integrated with other local weather data and traffic observations, as well as details about road material and alignment. The processed data will then be used to update motorists in the area when hazards are present and, when appropriate, suggest alternate routes. Engineers analyzed the reliability of the system by comparing data from the cars with other observations from radars and weather satellites.

Sheldon Drobot, the NCAR program manager in charge of the project told Inscience, “The system will tell drivers what they can expect to run into in the next few seconds and minutes, giving them a critical chance to slow down or take other action.”

Not only will the system provide motorist warnings/ It will alert emergency managers to hazardous driving conditions. The alerts would help state highway departments efficiently keep roads clear of snow. It can also help meteorologists refine their forecasts by providing them with continual updates about local weather conditions.

The tests helped the NCAR team refine its software to accurately process data from motor vehicles. “The results look very encouraging,” Drobot says. “The tests show that cars can indeed communicate critical information about weather conditions and road hazards.”

One of the biggest challenges for NCAR is how to process the enormous amounts of data that could be generated by about 300 million motor vehicles. “It’s not enough to process the information almost instantaneously,” says William Mahoney, who oversees the system’s development for NCAR. “It needs to be cleaned up, sent through a quality control process, blended with traditional weather data, and eventually delivered back to drivers who are counting on the system to accurately guide them through potentially dangerous conditions.”

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  Recent Entries »