Huawei is stepping up its efforts in the connected car industry with the introduction of a new vehicle connectivity platform it calls the OceanConnect IoV (Internet of Vehicles) Platform. OceanConnect is a series of solutions available directly to automotive manufacturers and meant to substantially increase both the number and reliability of connections across every compatible vehicle on the road. In total, there are four key aspects to that, which the Chinese tech giant calls enablers. Those span the breadth of the process involved in intelligent vehicles from connection to data storage and platform evolution in continuing conjunction with efforts in the connected vehicle to everything (V2X) sphere. That’s effectively an IoT base for vehicles to communicate with each other and other connected electronics and infrastructure.
With regard to the individual “enablers” encompassed by Huawei OceanConnect IoV, everything starts with connectivity. The platform allows for hundreds of millions of connections to be made and millions of concurrent connections to be made. That’s in support of security and reliability of connected vehicles and includes a public cloud deployment which gives manufacturers the ability to access intelligent services tied into their vehicles. Beyond that, a data-based enabler allows for Big Data analysis of vehicle condition and driving behavior, in that abovementioned cloud. That enables manufacturers to provide content distribution and service recommendations that are individualized for vehicle-to-person pairings and is a part of a larger ecosystem enabler. The ecosystem enabler is OceanConnect’s digital assets control portion centered around giving more control to the manufacturers. It allows for the buildout of a full ecosystem of content and applications, including from third-parties.
Last but not least, the evolution enabler is defined as the company’s continued cooperation with V2X platforms, such as the one under development by Qualcomm and its partners. That allows vehicles to communicate with any other connected device for the safety of drivers and pedestrians, effectively providing vehicles with much more in-depth situational awareness. The new platform itself was officially unveiled at this year’s CEBIT 2018 in Hannover, which runs from June 11 through June 15, and has been shown at demos for the event. Meanwhile, the company says it has already partnered with PSA Group and released platform’s first vehicle, the DS 7 CROSSBACK, in China and Europe.