More Horsepower with the Click of a Download
often is only downloaded once a year poses a big risk to the OEMs because common patterns
indicating problems in a whole batch of cars produced in a certain time-frame will only be visible
after a certain number of cars has passed through inspection. This can lead to expensive recalls,
but more importantly, it damages the brand image and dissatisfies the drivers. In addition, drivers
cannot easily access their car’s data to check battery health, mileage. Nor is it easy to disable the
car in case of theft. Therefore, it is very important to have OTA capabilities. Machine learning
algorithms can correlate a vast amount of data to detect maintenance requirements early. The
data can then be used to create value-add services for the drivers. Examples include theft alarm,
creeping battery power loss warnings, rain sensors and ABS / ESP systems to pinpoint micro
weather conditions with rain or icy roads. This micro weather data could be made available to
weather stations – an active contribution to driving safety for others in the area or those about
to enter the area. Though several of the types of sensors may have immediate dashboard
indicators to alert the driver, the value of the data over long periods of time also can be realized
for other owner, dealer, and community services. Considerations for the time the data was
generated and conditions alerted need to factor into the applications for the dashboard and
back-end services to ensure the data is timely and relevant to the application: e.g., icy road
conditions that take 5 minutes to process and alert can exceed the value to the intended
application.
Figure 14 vRealize Operations Console showing real time Anti-Slip-Differential status of cars in various US cities. Red squares
represent cars where the Anti-Slip-Differential has engaged indicating icy road conditions.
2.4
Data Security and Data Protection
Telemetric data is always related to personal data of the driver or owner of the car. It therefore
deserves the highest possible protection. All transmitted information must be encrypted end-to-
- 94 -
December 2015