The Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) today announced it has formally launched operations as a cross-industry alliance. The AECC calls upon technology and solutions providers to join the consortium’s efforts to ensure that new technologies and standards will meet the future needs of the connected car value chain. The consortium brings together most respected and accomplished leaders from across the automotive, information technology, telecommunications, and cloud computing sectors to collaborate on the network and computing infrastructures and standards needed to support the coming big data explosion.
AECC members include automotive technology heavyweights DENSO Corporation, Toyota InfoTechnology Center Co., Ltd., and Toyota Motor Corporation, along with information communication technology (ICT) leaders AT&T, Ericsson, Intel Corporation, KDDI Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), NTT DOCOMO, INC., and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
In the next six years, almost all of the passenger vehicles sold will be exchanging data with external sources, bringing new services and business models to bear in automotive markets, according to analyst firm IHS. By 2025, connected cars are expected to be exchanging 10,000 times the volume of data per month (10 exabytes) than they do today. The next-generation of connected cars will need to be equipped with fast internet access, artificial intelligence and access to big data analytics for high-definition map creation and distribution as well as intelligent driving.
“Connected cars are rapidly expanding beyond luxury models and premium brands, to high-volume, mid-market models. The industry will soon reach a tipping point where the volume of vehicle data generated will overwhelm existing cloud, computing, and communications infrastructure resources,” said Kenichi Murata, president and chairman of the AECC, and general manager of Connected Strategy Department at Toyota. “The AECC’s goal is to identify connected car requirements and solutions – by the ecosystem for the ecosystem – to support the seamless and safe transfer of big data and communications between vehicles and the cloud.”
The AECC will evaluate the work being done by communication, cloud and other related technology standards bodies and technology communities to ensure that new technologies and standards will meet the future needs of the automotive value chain. By sharing relevant findings, requirements and technology solutions with standards organizations, the AECC aims to encourage the development of connected car best practices and new use cases that will accelerate the growth of the entire ecosystem.
“As cars become increasingly connected to big data and an evolving set of data and communications standards in the cloud, the connected car industry as a whole must address the safety, cost, network and computing challenges that arise in the vehicle itself,” said the AECC Board of Directors in a joint statement. “To ensure these fast-evolving connected car big data trends and standards developments are keeping up with built-in car computing system needs, the AECC believes that a consortium of cross-industry players can drive best practices for the coming automotive and computing convergence.”
For more information about the AECC, visit https://aecc.org/.
