LAS VEGAS, NV– January 6, 2016 – Movimento and Abalta Technologies today announced that they are working together to enable vehicles without embedded connectivity to receive over-the-air (OTA) software updates. This global solution, which combines the Movimento OTA Platform with Abalta’s SmartLink technology on an OEM production head unit, will be demonstrated at CES 2016 on January 6-9.
The car is increasingly defined by software but according to Business Insider, only 40 percent of all connected cars expected on the road in 2020 – some 220 million worldwide – will have their connected services activated.
“It’s important for OEMs to have a way to update software—even on vehicles without embedded modems—so that they can continually improve vehicle functionality, issue security patches, and avoid recalls,” said Ben Hoffman, Movimento CEO. “Otherwise too many cars will remain static throughout their functional lifetimes, which will be problematic both in terms of safety and user experience.”
A big advantage of the Movimento-Abalta solution lies in its flexibility and the cost savings it offers to OEMs. “Large scale updates can be problematic to push out due to the cost incurred by the OEM,” explained Michael O’Shea, Abalta CEO. “With our combined solution, OEMs can take advantage of multiple channels, pushing out some updates through the embedded connection and others through the phone. They can also offer uninterrupted and seamless updates since our solution can dynamically switch between multiple connectivity options.”
An additional strength of the joint solution rests in its big data capabilities. Abalta’s SmartLink contains a secure channel for phone to car data; combining this with the Movimento in-vehicle client and server-side components supports big data management of captured diagnostic data. Explains Hoffman: “With the secure channel to the car, we can push updates to solve immediate problems, and pull data to understand and improve the vehicle experience.”
Abalta SmartLink supports phone to car connectivity through WiFi, USB and Bluetooth, and works on all iOS and Android phones. Another key feature of the platform is its efficient use of the Bluetooth connection – up to 10 times faster than a standard implementation. This supports map updates over Bluetooth, something that has been considered impractical to date.
According to O’Shea, consumers can expect to do in-vehicle OTA updates from their smart phones as early as 2017.
About Movimento
Movimento is a pioneer in vehicle lifecycle management through a secure over-the-air (OTA) platform having successfully completed millions of vehicle and module updates for major OEMs and tier-one suppliers worldwide. Industry leaders such as Bosch, Continental, Denso, Ford, GM, Delphi and Mitsubishi Electric, and Volvo depend on Movimento technology and expertise for secure updates throughout the vehicle production lifecycle – from R&D through production to aftermarket. In business since 2003, Movimento has offices in the United States, Europe, China, and Mexico. Visit www.movimentogroup.com and follow the company on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About Abalta
Abalta Technologies, Inc. is an emerging leader in the connected car landscape. Abalta has developed an innovative platform to enable car companies, automotive electronic firms and tier 1 suppliers to bridge the gap between the smartphone and the car’s infotainment system. Abalta’s platform enables unique branded experiences to be delivered from the smartphone to the car’s infotainment system over USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Abalta has unrivaled expertise across mobile platforms and maintains long-standing relationships with a portfolio of over 60 of the most recognized brands in the world. Abalta has helped these leading brands transform their mobile product visions into meaningful experiences for businesses and consumers alike. Abalta Technologies is headquartered in Torrance, California and has development centers in San Diego, California and Sofia, Bulgaria. For more information, visit https://abaltatech.com/.
Editorial Contacts
Abalta
Svetlana Pogrebinsky
310.316.0427, ext. 131
[email protected]
Movimento
Aoife Kimber
KimberPR
+ 1 650 773 7288
[email protected]