内建LTE模块，享受车联网不再需要智能手机

智能手机不再是移动通信服务业者唯一能捞钱的平台，现在他们的摇钱树又多了一棵──汽车。有不少移动通信服务业者都将汽车视为下一个具备庞大成长潜力的商机，汽车业者同样也看好新的收入来源，并开始炒作“有四个轮子的智能手机”议题。 手机芯片业者高通(Qualcomm)是唯一针对汽车市场推出 LTE 芯片组的半导体业者，该公司推出了号称业界首款商业化车用 20纳米 LTE 芯片，命名为 Gobi 9x30 ；根据高通表示，该系列芯片支持 LTE FDD/ TDD Advanced Category 6，载波聚合(Carrier Aggregation)最高达40MHz，下行速率最高达300Mbps。 在西班牙巴塞罗那举行的2014年度全球移动通信大会(MWC)上，通用汽车(GM)宣布将在旗下车款广泛布署 4G LTE 服务；该公司将把 4G LTE 架构直接整合在车用电子系统，包含一支外部天线，以最大化覆盖范围与连结性。 针对北美市场，GM选择了AT&T作为移动通信服务业伙伴，两家公司计划自2014年起，在美国与加拿大市场透过无线方式提供更强调安全性、具诊断功能的车用资通讯娱乐服务到GM旗下大多数车款，包括Chevrolet、Buick、GMC与Cadillac等品牌。GM强调，该公司的车款将直接内 建4G LTE调制解调器模块，车主不需要拥有智能手机才能享受连网服务。 GM预期，车辆内建的LTE调制解调器能为该公司车用资通讯娱乐服务 OnStar 提供快速、可靠的联机，此外也能让车内各种装置快速链接至各种数据、资通讯娱乐应用程序。

GM将在旗下车款直接内建4G LTE通讯模块
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这些日子以来，汽车业者看到连网技术已经远超出过去的车用信息娱乐领域应用；车内LTE通讯模块的新兴应用，包括车辆与外部环境与其他车辆的互动，藉以提升驾驶人与乘客的安全性、效率以及便利性。4G LTE对于未来的车辆对车辆(V2V)、车辆对基础建设(V2I)通讯，俨然是不可或缺；GM表示，相关服务包括透过云端信息传输的实时路况、导航路线更新等。 根据市场研究机构IHS的观察，目前嵌入式调制解调器市场主要仍采用2.5G通讯技术，因为大多数车载资通讯娱乐系统 (telematics)所支持的服务都是较低数据传输速率；不过该机构分析师Egil Juliussen表示，目前车用资通讯娱乐产业大多数都跳过3G，由2.5G直接升级到LTE。 Juliussen指出，汽车厂商都在看LTE技术，因为他们要的是具未来潜力(future proof)的车用连网方案，其考虑点不一定在带宽。高通积极推出20纳米LTE-Advanced芯片，也同样是基于这种对未来潜力的考虑。 “随着电信营运商陆续布建下一代LTE-Advanced网络，汽车业者也开始计划针对车用平台进行升级并采用该新一代技术。”一位高通发言人接受 EETimes美国版编辑访问时表示，藉由Gobi 9x30车用LTE-Advanced芯片的推出：“我们的一阶(Tier-1)汽车零组件供货商以及车厂客户，现在可以提供层级式的车用连网主机解决方案。” 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：汽车内建LTE模块vs. LTE智能手机

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{pagination} 高通表示，汽车业者可选择20纳米制程LTE方案(Gobi9x15)，或者是28纳米的LTE-Advanced方 案(Gobi9x30)；这两种方案都预先整合了高通的WiFi 802.11ac/p与蓝牙(Bluetooth) LE4.0芯片组QCA6574，以及高通最近发表的车规Snapdragon 602A应用处理器。 透过“预先整合”，高通的目的是为汽车系统架构提供优化的配置与控制，包括针对最大化数据吞吐量、降低功耗，以及让LTE/3G、Wi-Fi、蓝牙与全球卫星导航系统(GNSS)等功能良好互动所进行的软件整合。不过让车用资通讯娱乐系统模块达到“车规”的任务，则是交由模块供货商与一阶汽车零组件供货商们来达成。 QCA6574是高通专门为同步提供车内Wi-Fi热点功能与蓝牙传输所设计的芯片组，该芯片组也支持复合美国国家高速公路安全局(NHTSA)新法规、强调V2V通讯安全行的DSRC短程通讯技术。高通表示他们目前是唯一可提供DSRC商用芯片的供货商。 汽车内建LTE模块vs. LTE智能手机 不过现在仍无法确定的是，内建LTE模块的汽车以及支持LTE的智能手机，在两个方面是否会产生冲突或是能相互协调──应用程序以及网络通讯费。 GM对于提供软件开发商汽车应用程序编程接口(API)向来非常开放，目的是希望开发商能多多为该公司的车用娱乐系统打造应用程序。据了解，GM SDK可提供新的应用程序架构，让驾驶人在付费购买后立即为汽车增加新的应用程序与功能。 而事实上，GM与AT&T在1月份时就宣布合作，GM将赞助AT&T将于美国拉斯韦加斯举行的一场行动应用程序开发商Hackathon活动里的“连网汽车竞赛(Connected Car Challenge)”。GM鼓励软件开发商为该公司汽车打造独特应用程序的策略，与另一家车厂福特(Ford)大相径庭，后者提供的SDK是让软件开发 商撰写智能手机应用程序。 资费方案也是当汽车内建LTE模块广泛被采用之后，可能遇到的另一个难题；IHS的 Juliussen 表示，汽车业者会很难在资费方案上与大多数驾驶人都已经在使用的资费方案竞争：“如果驾驶人使用的车用信息娱乐系统资费方案，能与手机合并为一套多装置资费方案，也许会有帮助；但在美国，移动通信业者不知道愿不愿意与竞争对手进行这样的合作。” 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译：Judith Cheng 参考英文原文：LTE Built-In GM Cars: No Smartphones Required，by Junko Yoshida

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• 苹果发布车载iOS系统CarPlay，大牌车企纷纷捧场
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{pagination} LTE Built-In GM Cars: No Smartphones Required Junko Yoshida GM Partners with AT&T; Qualcomm Goes for 20nm LTE-A Chips Smartphones are no longer the only platform hotly pursued by cellular operators eager to boost their revenue. Now, it’s cars. Many network service operators see automobiles as their next big growth opportunity. Automakers, also seeing dollar signs in this scenario, are hyping their cars as “smartphones on wheels.” Meanwhile, Qualcomm, the only semiconductor supplier of LTE chipsets for the automotive market, is ratcheting up its automotive LTE efforts by rolling out what the company calls “the world’s first commercial 20nm LTE-Advanced chip set for automotive.” Qualcomm’s LTE-Advanced chipset, designated Gobi 9x30, supports “LTE FDD/ TDD Advanced Category 6 with up to 40 MHz Carrier Aggregation and Up To 300 Mbps Downlink,” according to the company. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, General Motors announced Monday that it would go long and wide in deploying 4G LTE services across their vehicles. GM will integrate the built-in 4G LTE structure into the vehicle’s electrical system and include an external antenna to maximize coverage and connectivity. For the North American market, GM selected AT&T as its partner. The two companies laid out their plan to wirelessly deliver an enhanced suite of safety, security, diagnostic and infotainment services to most Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles, beginning in 2014 in the United States and Canada. Touting a 4G LTE modem module to be built into the car, GM stressed in a press release, “Customers will not be required to have a smartphone to use connected services.” GM envisions the initial usage for its built-in LTE modem will be delivering fast, reliable connectivity to GM’s telematics services, OnStar, as well as fast connection to in-vehicle devices for data and infotainment applications. Over time, carmakers see connectivity use growing well beyond such telematics and infotainment applications. Emerging on the horizon is the use of an LTE modem to interact with the environment the vehicle, to enhance safety, efficiency, and convenience for drivers and passengers. 4G LTE appears destined to become integral to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastrcture (V2I) future. GM talked about future services such as real-time traffic and navigation updates that pull information from the cloud. Source: GM Future proofing According to IHS Automotive, the current embedded modem market is still mostly 2.5G since the vast majority of telematics systems operate their services at a low data-rate. However, the telematics industry today is migrating from 2.5G directly to LTE, mostly by skipping 3G, according to Egil Juliussen, principal analyst, infotainment and ADAS market, at IHS Automotive. Car OEMs are looking at LTE, said Juliussen, because they want to future-proof their connected car technology. Their motivation is not necessarily the bandwidth, he added. The same “future proof” logic seems to be driving Qualcomm to aggressively promote an LTE-Advanced chipset at 20nm process. “As operators deploy the next generation of LTE Advanced networks, automakers are starting to plan out their vehicle platform upgrade and adoption for this new technology,” a Qualcomm spokeswoman told EE Times. With the announcement of Gobi 9x30, Qualcomm’s LTE-Advanced chipset, “Our Tier-1 and automaker customers can now offer a tiered connected head unit solution,” she added. Carmakers can choose: either 20-nm based LTE (with Gobi9x15) or 28-nm based LTE-Advanced (with Gobi9x30), each of which is pre-integrated with Qualcomm’s QCA6574 for WiFi 802.11ac/p and Bluetooth LE4.0 technologies and Qualcomm’s recently announced automotive-grade Snapdragon 602A apps processor. By "pre-integration," Qualcomm means providing optimal implementation and control over the automotive system architecture -- including software integration for maximizing throughput, power consumption, and interaction between LTE/3G, WiFi, BT and GNSS functionality. The ultimate task of the automotive-grade “hardening” for telematics units at the module level, however, is left to module vendors and Tier Ones. Beyond LTE and LTE-A chipset, it’s worth noting that Qualcomm’s QCA6574 is designed to simultaneously support in-car Wi-Fi hotspot functions and Bluetooth profiles. Moreover, the wireless chipset also supports DSRC (dedicated short-range communications), a technology required to comply with future regulation recently announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to increase safety through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Qualcomm at this point is the only vendor offering DSRC capability in commercial chips. In-car LTE modem vs. LTE-enabled smartphones It remains uncertain how vehicles with built-in LTE modems will either collide or mesh with LTE-enabled smartphones on two fronts: applications and network subscription fees. GM has been very public about offering developers a new set of vehicle application programming interfaces (APIs), in hopes that they will build apps for GM infotainment systems. The GM SDK is said to offer a new application framework that will allow drivers to add apps and features to vehicles after purchase. In fact, GM and AT&T first teamed up in January when GM sponsored a Connected Car Challenge as part of an AT&T Hackathon for mobile app developers in Las Vegas. GM’s approach, courting software developers to write unique apps for its cars, is different from that of Ford, which offers its own SDK for software developers to write smartphone apps. One of the biggest challenges for the widespread use of LTE inside cars is the data plan. It will be "difficult [for car OEMs] to compete with the smartphone data plan that most drivers will have," said IHS Automotive’s Juliussen. "If the driver can include the telematics LTE data plan as part of a multi-device plan, that'll help. But in the United States, the mobile network operators are not known for allowing cooperation with their competitors."