Samsung Electronics Working with FCA and Google for Connected Car Platform

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), Google, and Harman International Industries of Samsung Electronics are planning to launch their connected car platform in the second half of this year. The platform will be applied to every FCA car by 2022.

The platform incorporates Harman Ignite, which is Harman’s automotive IoT technology for real-time information on vehicle repair and maintenance, nearby gas and charging stations, traffic situations, and nearby restaurants.

The connected car platform supports 5G as well as 4G and provides remote electronics control based on interworking with SmartThings, Samsung Electronics’ IoT platform. Up-to-date services based on over-the-air software update are available with just the click of a button.
 

The connected car platform is compatible with Android smartphones, too. FCA is going to keep improving the system by means of network-based update, remote electric vehicle battery management, cooperation with car insurers and interworking with car sharing solutions.
 

Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics supplied Audi with Exynos Auto V9, which is an automotive application processor for next-generation infotainment. As such, the same application processor is likely to be incorporated into FCA vehicles.
 

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong has maintained a very close relationship with FCA and, as such, the two companies are expected to work even more closely with each other in developing self-driving cars. The vice chairman had been an outside director of Exor, the holding company of FCA, until 2017.
 

Experts predict that Samsung Electronics will increasingly focus on the automotive system-on-chip market, which is in a formation stage. The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics recently announced that the global automotive semiconductor sales totaled US$53.9 billion last year with a year-on-year growth of 18.6 percent.