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driving the Future through smart electric vehicles manikandan P, ola electric
driving the Future through smart electric vehicles
manikandan p
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oLA eLecTric
Mobility – the movement of people and goods – is a fundamental human need and a key enabler of economic and social prosperity. After decades of relative stability, the mobility environment is undergoing a remarkable transformation with the advent of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, new business models and changing customers and shifting consumer preferences.
Electric Mobility is the most talked about subject the present time. The transportation industry, business and methods are preparing for major transformation in the next decades. As we read this statement, there are many initiatives getting high rocketed across the globe, industry and institutions.
Finally people are asking for ways to resolve one of the greatest challenges of our time: is there a replacement for our scarce petroleum resources? How can CO2 emissions be reduced? Can we lower the demand for energy? One approach is sustainable mobility.
E-mobility, therefore, replaces oil with renewable electricity. Thereby reducing fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and overall energy consumption. In specific figures, this means that, to cover the same distance, a car running on electricity requires only about one quarter of the energy of a combustion engine. So far, so visionary. The electric motor –we call it an e-drive – is already making full use of this potential: with immediately available torque for spontaneous response and high performance with the utmost level of efficiency. Now we have to focus on the strength of the battery so that cars running purely on electricity will be able to go much further.
Electric is one such disruption in the Automotive industry. The whole world is talking about “ACES” which translates to Autonomous , Connected , Electrified and shared Mobility.
The latest developments in ICT have a huge impact on the future mobility in terms of improving the efficiency and cost of transport to provide more convenience and comfort to passengers.
In this article we shall understand how the electric mobility along with the latest developments in IOT or Connectivity is going to change the way we commute in the days to come.
connected electric - present future
Lets understand the connection between electric and IOT how the later will have an influence on the other and how these disruptions together will influence mobility.
Connectivity offers the following benefits in the automotive applications. 1. In vehicle experience through high speed data connectivity
The users will have the highest level of connectivity and in vehicle entertainment system. The future vehicle will be an extension of your living room or office space which will completely help you stay active all the time. 2. V2X communication to enable safe transport , advanced traffic alert , collision detection
In EV its not necessary its need to connect the component like Battery and the Vehicle control systems basically predict the SOC and SOH of the battery and assess when the vehicle goes out of power also automatically identify the nearest charging station so that you would not go out of the vehicle range or refuel. In addition preventive maintenance is another key benefit of connected vehicles 3. Autonomous driving and fully automated transport solution
Driverless vehicles have already been tested in many parts of the world and the same has huge potential to automate not only in people movement but also in manufacturing and service industries. 4. Reduce range anxiety by locating charging points
Cloud connected vehicle and charging stations can interact
with each other to make sure the vehicle has enough charge to take you to the destination without any problem 5. Optimization of Battery utilization through cloud connected
SOC and SOH monitoring and control 6. Bring down the cost of transportation by shared mobility through cloud connected vehicles 7. Preventive maintenance of vehicles and component service by continuously monitoring and data analytics through cloud 8. Flashing over the Air (FOTA) to update the advanced vehicle functions as the future vehicle is mostly software driven.
Already many companies across the globe started working on bringing these technologies into automotive application to make the transport more cleaner, safer and convenient.
As the 5G is becoming more mainstream we will have more advanced applications that can be thought about around electric vehicles. Such transformation is possible as the vehicle is run by electricity which is more economical and power system inside the vehicle and the advancement in connectivity
driving with data
Data is the new Oil. Future mobility will be driven more by data. To understand this we need to understand the current issues in transportation. They are namely,
1. limited real estate for transport:
As cities are crowded with the population moving more towards the cities the real estate available for expansion or accommodate the increase in transportation becomes a huge challenge. This will have a huge impact not only on the social aspects also with huge economical impacts. We need to develop solutions to meet the demand for mobility. When we develop such solutions the data becomes primarily important to optimize the utilization of the resources.
2. crowded cities are prone to parking
Another major challenge the growing population in the cities face is the availability of parking space for the ever increasing vehicle. Shared mobility is the solution to solve the issue. The services in the likes of OLA UBER will have a tremendous role to play in this situation. These are technology driven companies that use data as a primary source to provide their services. And the amount of data they have already accumulated will become the primary driver for efficient transport solutions.
3. aging infrastructure
The overall transportation infrastructure all over the world has the potential to go out of life and we need to rebuild the whole system. Also when we make such new system future proof, we should make them connected in the cloud for the continuous monitoring and updating of the system.
4. increasing logistic need
The effect of globalisation, materialization and online market , the need for an efficient logistic management system is increasing. We need to find ways and methods to handle the huge amount of such data. We might need to make use of technologies like Big data and AI to handle the whole situation.
seamless integration of mobility
There are many initiatives across the developed nation to optimize the cost of transportation. Today we are spending about a Dollar (1$/KM) roughly as an average transportation cost per kilometer. We have a solution to optimize to bring down the cost so that there can be huge economical benefit and opportunity for growth. Think about a situation by which your day today business transport, and leisure travel and good movement across the globe all happens integrating all the different mode of transportation by the click of the button and its available at your doorstep as and when you demand without any time delay , is it not amazing. And if it’s going to be at standard cost then that’s what we are talking about. Of course this can be achieved by means of electric and connected mobility. This makes everything possible.
circular economy and opportunity
After we had a huge hit on life and business due to COVID 19 , the industry started reviving. It’s also interesting so check out how the business works with the transition to electric and connected vehicles. Even more interesting is that with electricity if we can make use of renewable forms of energy it becomes 100% carbon neutral. Along with this we shall also making use of the vehicle as energy storage and we can power the utilities though the vehicle. Also I am seeing more possibility to create micro grids with hybridization of energy harvesting and the energy can be used for charging and the charged up vehicle would become moving energy storage. This would be an ideal situation of circular economy and effective resource utilization.
summary
As discussed, electric, connected, automated and integrated shared mobility is the future. According the prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi, the future mobility can be described in the 7C Model. That is COMMON, CONNECTED, CONVENIENT,CONGESTION FREE, CHARGED, CLEAN MOBILITY POWERED BY CLEAN ENERGY and CUTTING EDGE. As we are moving forward towards sustainable mobility as described above , we need to make sure we shall work collaboratively, collectively, creating world class solutions with world class engineering capabilities. We shall leave pollution free , accident free and driver free transportation systems for the next generation to give them a good life along with safety and comfort. o
aUthor
manikandan p
PRESIDENT - SSEM SoCIETy foR SMART e mobiLiTY DIRECToR - PT oLA ELECTRIC
Thought leader and expert in electric mobility Technology and future mobility Solutions Seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience in Automotive industry and last 12 years in e-mobility components, Systems and Solutions development. Participated in many events, conferences and Technology forums in future mobility Solutions in actively contributed to the development. He is currently leading the electric powertrain development at oLA electric and he is the president of Society for Smart electric mobility (SSEM) a non profit organization focusing on smart and electric mobility in india.
automotive cybersecurity: the Future of ev charging stations
kUldeep saini
THALeS
The connected vehicle ecosystem bringing in highly complex manned and unmanned infrastructure. It is important to enable this infrastructure user-convenient and secure to offer reliable services.
The automotive industry is evolving continuously where electricity will be a new fuel to these moving objects. We are living in a fast-paced technological era where our vehicles are supposed to store power packs securely, faster than ever. At the same time, it is vital to ensure safety of car occupants having cybersecurity measures in place.
v2g – vehicle to grid communication
A modern electric vehicle requires a fast charging infrastructure, which is possible through power line communication (PLC). It can fully charge vehicle battery very quickly having IP stack on top of it to carry power packs and to make payments automatically, based on power consumption. V2G will allow vehicle to communicate with external world, which is charging station. This topology poses several cybersecurity threats to the vehicle.
ISO 15118 is an international standard outlines digital communication between an electric vehicle and charging station, to charge EV’s high voltage battery. ISO 15118 offers standard practices for information exchange through different parts. The link between electric vehicle and grid must be secure to exchange private and payment related information to maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This process is also known as plug and charge where mutual authentication to payment processes done automatically.
V2G implementation should have well planned cybersecurity measures in place to achieve CIA along with identity, authentication, authorization and accountability.
threats taxonomy for vehicle-to-grid power communication
Here are some possible threats including impersonation, stealing payment related information, tampering with communication messages, eavesdropping, denial of service (DoS) and privacy breaches. 1. Vehicle Threats – In V2G communication, an adversary can impersonate as a charging station to communicate and make harm to vehicle ECU. This includes tampering firmware on vehicle ECU that has onboard port for charging gun. This attack can also enable an adversary to tamper with calibration files, vehicle gateway logic, and steal sensitive information.
2. Exchanged Information Leakage
– In plug and charge, infrastructure there is lot of private information being exchanged with the charging station that can be compromised.
Figure: V2G Threat
The IP stack, if not protected, leaves data in clear to the impersonated adversary. This information may include credit card information, vehicle digital identification numbers, and EV battery specific data. 3. EV Charging Station Threats – The charging stations are the endpoint to the power grids operated by charging point operators (CPO). Tampering with the charging station may lead to metering, business logic and access to backend infrastructure through charging station. The external devices can impersonate as a vehicle and try to infect EV charging station.
cybersecurity measures in v2g
The power grid is a critical infrastructure and every device that connects to the grid, including EVs and charging stations, needs to provide measures to protect the grid from potential attacks. Imagine the loss of user trust in the charging infrastructure if third parties could manipulate massive amounts of chargingrelated information and billing data from a charging process.
Successful plug and charge infrastructure must be able to provide, • Encryption and decryption of messages to ensure adversary is not able to eavesdrop on the channel to ensure confidentiality. • Verify the integrity of information exchanged. • Verify the communication party (EV or charging point) who it claims to be, in order to ensure authenticity.
trust model in v2g
To establish trust model in V2G infrastructure, it is important to deploy robust public key infrastructure (PKI). Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a hierarchical structure of trusted third parties known as certificate authority (CA). The primary responsibility of CA is to manage the cryptographic keys used in PKI along with issuance, storage, distribution and revocation of digital certificates. The digital certificates are also known as public key certificates. A digital certificate is used for verification where vehicle can verify charging station and vice a versa, during handshake,
Figure: V2G Trust model | credit: Semiconductor engineering
before both the nodes start exchanging information. What if fake certificate is presented in this communication? Yes, to avoid any such situation vehicle and charging station should have integration with CRL to verify if the certificate issued by CA is still valid or not. There can be other relationship based trust model in PKI that can help to verify the digital certificates.
TLS stack on the power line communication (PLC) should support strong cipher suites supporting confidentiality, integrity and authenticity. It is important to understand the need of strong protocol (TLS 1.2) and algorithms power line to avoid data compromise.
ISO 15118 recommends using digital certificates to authenticate and authorize access to charging stations and electric vehicles. The vehicle OEMs and charge point operators must establish sub-CA to issue digital certificates for this purpose. It is highly recommend managing cryptographic keys life cycle in HSMs at the backend to avoid compromise.
The vehicle manufacturer and charge point operator must provide mechanisms to revoke and renew the certificates in case cryptographic keys compromised.
conclusion
The compromised V2G infrastructure not only endanger vehicle and grids but also attract penalties/fine for loosing data privacy. All in all vehicle OEMs and charging station manufacturers may have huge financial impact depending on regional legislation. In automotive industry, UNECE WP.29 cybersecurity regulation is a game changer. Several countries have already committed to automotive cybersecurity adherence for new vehicle launch and other countries still have time to build cybersecurity organization. It is highly recommended to start small with vehicle/infrastructure security assessment and based on risk appetite manage the cybersecurity risks. o
aUthor
kUldeep saini
SeNior SecuriTY coNSuLTANT THALeS iN iNdiA
A cybersecurity professional with 17+ years of experience in embedded security, applications security, cloud security, cryptography, and hardware security modules. Primarily focused on cybersecurity training and consultancy to the oems, Tier-i and Tier-ii. ioT security for automotive and energy sectors is the current area of focus.
how india can tackle climate change and Win the ev race
rakesh dasari
Voltup
Across the globe, countries have been grappling with the concerning problem of air-polluting emissions and committing to dedicate resources to improving air quality. Air purification needs both the private and public sectors to invest significantly in clean energy technology and transition from traditional houses to smart houses and from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs).
At present, fossil fuel combustion is the world’s fundamental mode of energy generation. The CO2 created from this process accounts for over 70% of the total concentration of ozone-depleting gases emitted, triggering serious issues in resources, the climate, and environmental change. These issues have set off global action towards energy preservation and reduction in emissions.
Although in April this year, India experienced a 30 percent decrease in carbon emissions, the first decrease in four decades; as per G20’s climate change report, the country needs to limit carbon emissions not to exceed the global warming target.
Vehicular emissions account for about 40% of air pollution in Indian cities. The country held the worst pollution record in 2019, with 21 out of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. In addition to this, India is also trying to control the crude oil import bill that stood at USD 102 billion in the financial year ended March 2020, which accounts for around 80% of its oil needs.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are essential to meeting global goals on tackling climate change. Battery-powered EVs promise zero tailpipe emissions, reduced air pollution in cities, and cheaper renewable energy in India. But first, let’s understand how clean is a petrol/diesel car compared to an electric vehicle.
calculating co2 emissions reduction by electric vehicle:
Comparing EVs with conventional vehicles is complex as even though EVs do not directly emit any greenhouse gas, fossil fuels still power electricity for our cars in large parts of the world.
A dominant methodology used to assess Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy savings in transport is the WellTo-Wheels (WTW) analysis. Also known as life cycle assessment, the WTW assesses a product or service’s environmental impact throughout its lifespan.
small petrol car vs. small electric car
Petrol has a calorific value of 34.3 MJ/ liter. (34300000 Joules or 9528 Wh or 9.5 kWh)/liter.
The fully considered well-to-wheel efficiency of a petrol-powered car is equal to Petrol’s energy content (34.3 MJ/liter) minus the refinement & transportation losses (about 33% in India) multiplied by the km per liter.
So a regular petrol car giving 15 km/ liter has an efficiency of 1/(34.3 divided by (100% minus 33%)) x 15 km/l = 0.29 km/ MJ or 0.29 km/277 Wh. In other words, to travel a distance of 1 km, a small petrol car must expend 3.45 MJ or 955 Wh of energy.
Hence, a small electric car is more than 2.5 times efficient than an equivalent petrol car.
All vehicles produce greenhouse gases; however, EVs naturally have fewer air pollutants and emissions over their life than traditional fuel or diesel vehicles. EV drivers can further limit these emissions by utilizing renewable sources like solar and wind, thus closing the carbon loop.
Despite a compelling case for adoption, EVs have witnessed limited success due to weak customer appetite, infrastructure roadblocks, customer concerns regarding range, speed, upfront costs, battery life, and battery technology.
If India aims to reach 30% EV penetration by 2030, an estimated saving of up to 846 million tonnes of net CO2 emissions and 474 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) will be made possible.
A robust implementation framework and a step-by-step approach are needed to develop the electric vehicles’
ecosystem to achieve this goal. Issues today identify with public versus private transportation, battery charging versus swapping models; nature and amount of incentives; and energy storage technology advancement.
Building the ev ecosystem:
i. public transportation
Our underlying focus must be on public transportation —bus, taxi, and auto fleets. Public transport in India is the major consumer of diesel and petroleum, and they are expected to double by 2030. Our primary goal is to electrify vehicles that travel long distances every day. In personal transport, two-wheelers undeniably need to be prioritized as India has one of the largest two-wheelers markets across the globe.
Personal cars are a focus in developed countries as they are the primary mode of transport. In a country like ours, attempting to subsidize a few vehicles with inadequate charging infra will not reduce oil consumption and emissions and only lead to wasteful expenditure.
ii. charging infrastructure
The charging infrastructure plays a crucial role in encouraging widespread consumer adoption and use of EVs. As the EV industry is still in a nascent stage in India, the government needs to focus on the availability of power vis a vis the actual load required.
Many households around the world have parking locations with access to electricity plugs. For many others, such access will require new investments and modifications of electrical systems. This could be a lot more challenging in India, as many Indian households do not have garages. An additional lack of highway charging infrastructure limits longdistance and intercity travel.
Public charging infrastructure could incorporate swift recharging opportunities through fast recharge systems or battery swapping stations that permit speedy replacement of discharged battery packs with fullycharged ones. The battery can help decrease battery ownership costs for EV customers employing innovative business models as swapping fees cover electricity and battery costs on an incremental basis.
Since charging infrastructure requires large amounts of capital, it is slow to produce returns and could worsen the traffic congestion, it would be wise to invest in the battery swapping model. Swapping stations can be located at bus depots or petrol pumps, supplying fully charged batteries, reducing the waiting time to 2-3 minutes while storing batteries in conditions that help enhance the battery life.
iii. india’s demand for energy
Compared to international markets, India’s challenges are quite different. Furthermore, the electricity supply keeps fluctuating in many regions and is not consistent across the country.
As per BSES Rajdhani Power, India’s demand for electricity currently is around 200-300 GWh. India’s power generation capacity was 366 GW in 2019. Attaining a 30% market penetration of electric vehicles by 2030, electricity demand to power EVs is expected to increase to an estimated 1,110 TWh by 2030 to meet the EV30@30 goal.
According to the Brookings Institution India report, EVs will account for more load capacity than industries such as steel. The total demand for electricity for EVs may fluctuate in the range of 37 and 97 TWh under 33 percent and 100% penetration of EVs in sales by 2030, assuming passengers only travel between cities.
Setting up a demand-side management (DSM) program will encourage consumers to modify their electricity consumption patterns. In case of overloading, electricity consumption may rise by up to 10%. To tackle the excess demand challenges, the consumer would have to either pay more or utilize less electricity during the peak period.
iv. integrating renewable energy with ev charging and storage
If charged primarily with fossil fuel-based generators, EVs could result in substantial GHG emissions. As per a study, given China’s reliance on a coal-fired grid, EVs can contribute two to five times more smog than fuel-powered vehicles.
Out of the total 366 GW of India’s power generation capacity, 84 GW was from gridconnected renewable electricity. Industry
QUick analysis: hoW india can Win the ev race and tackle climate change
increases, more consumers will demand Retaining the entire ICE system, PHEVs
Most importantly, EV charging stations’ electricity consumption needs to be selfsustained to ensure optimum solar energy- aUthor based electricity utilization.
rakesh dasari
with battery imports. right policies and subsidies in place can help urban consumers adopt PHEVs and gradually accelerate EVs’ acceptance.
l Calculating co2 emissions for vehicles the eaas Business model l How clean is your diesel/petrol car? / How much co2 does a car produce per Decoupling battery and vehicle costs can km? enable EVs to be sold at more competitive l How CO2 is calculated for EV? / How much co2 does an electric car produce prices – although this is directly per km? influenced by the infrastructure and the l Ideal roadmap for lower emission from transportation business models adopted. l There are three routes to reducing GHGs from transportation: increasing the With the new Energy-as-a-Service efficiency of vehicle technology, changing how we travel and transport goods, (EaaS) business model, the approach and using lower-carbon fuels. shifts from asset-focussed, centralized l Are Indian Electricity Providers Ready For Electric Mobility? power generation and its sale to passive l The Future Of Solar Power Generation consumers. Instead, it addresses the energy l Building the EV ecosystem efficiency gap by offering end-to-end l Charging infra/battery swapping management of a customer’s energy assets l EaaS and services. l With the new Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) business model. The EaaS approach EaaS encourages customers to pay for shifts from asset-focussed, centralised power generation and the sale of it to energy as a service without making any passive consumers. Instead, it offers end-to-end management of a customer’s significant upfront capital investment. energy assets and services. They are usually subscription-based for l The frontrunners (2W & 3W) electrical devices owned by a company to deliver desired energy service. The model experts believe that as the demand for EVs vi. plug-in hybrids deploying low-carbon technologies. rooftop solar charging stations. are a critical intermediate step in further the frontrunners (2W & 3W)
To meet the excess demand, the Indian accelerating the all-electric transition. Light electric mobility that includes two government plans on producing 450 PHEVs are less dependent on the and 3-wheelers will lead the adoption curve GW of electricity from renewable energy charging infrastructure and relatively in India, e-buses, and passenger taxis. 2 and sources by 2030. Attractive government less expensive (depending on battery 3-wheeler EVs can prove vital options for policies and regulations that boost costs and range) than EVs. They are last-mile transportation and delivery of indigenous products and lower utility- familiarizing consumers who are not lightweight goods for short distances. scale projects will play a critical role in ready to switch to fully-electric cars Penetration of electric 2-wheelers in helping the country reach its goal. yet due to issues relating to vehicle and India may rise to 35% and 3-wheelers
With the battery and PV solar cell prices battery costs, charging infrastructure, and by 75% by 2030. An electric 2-wheelers’ reducing, the generation of electricity range anxiety. total cost of ownership (TCO) is lower from solar alternatives has emerged Plug-In Hybrids can help the than that of Petrol. Lower operating price as an ideal option for the near future. government and the industry facilitate offers a strong rationale for the businessDaytime charging by solar could prove the transition to fully-electric cars and, to-business segment to shift focus to more suitable and beneficial for battery in the interim, make an immediate image electric 2- and 3-wheelers over internal swapping models. of air quality and climate change. The combustion engines. o
v. indigenization of battery assembly and ev components’ buSiN Voltup eSS deVeLoPmeNT ANd STrATeGY manufacturing Rakesh is a prolific enthusiast of automotive powertrain technology An essential step in the transition process which is powered by alternative fuels. He has enriching experience in is manufacturing EV components current and future automotive powertrains in terms of engineering and facilitating battery assembly as well as business/ execution. Currently he is working towards building a solid battery indigenization, not to replace oil imports swapping market in india for electric 2W and 3W’s. benefits customers by its potential for
A Holistic Approach to Security: Why SaaS Is the Answer for FMS Providers
Jens strohschneider
omNicomm
From the very start of the digital revolution in the automotive industry back in 1986, when the German company Robert Bosch GmbH presented the world’s first network protocol for communication between the electronic components of a vehicle – the Controller Area Network (CAN) – up to the latest electric vehicles (EVs) as the primary future means of smart, efficient and green transportation, security has been paramount to telematics and fleet management service (FMS) providers.
The diversity of the telematics ecosystem with all its stakeholders, applied technologies, communication channels and data being exchanged online requires a holistic approach to security. A rapidly increasing number of interfaces, controllers and mobile connectivity is enlarging the attack surface of vehicles, while any sort of connection – from a cellular modem in a telematics terminal to any infotainment box – can be targeted to compromise a vehicle or its infrastructure.
security layers in Fms solutions
There are multiple layers of security that FMS providers need to ensure are present in their solutions. When business owners are selecting a solution, they need to know that FMS providers can guarantee that any technology added to the fleet will keep vehicle assets safe and secure. A security-conscious FMS provider should be able to offer:
nilesh Jain
NiGrAANi
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. A complete analysis of the physical and digital security of internal and external interfaces, both wired and wireless, as well as physical access, control and maintenance services. Guaranteed application security, with exhaustive static and dynamic analysis of the FMS application source code, controller and telematics terminal security. This is crucial in order to assess the ability of bad actors to bypass authentication and authorization procedures, raise privileges and bypass security controls or fraud detection features. A thorough analysis of the interface of cloud-based systems with telematics, focusing in particular on the security levels of data centers and the ways that data backup and redundancy are managed. Advanced security analysis of each vehicle’s external communication channels, including all mobile frequency bands from 2G to 5G, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Strict adherence to data privacy regulations such as GDPR in Europe and automotive tracking guidelines such as AIS 140 in India, with a clear understanding of the value of protecting commercial and personal data.
saas: the solution for holistic telematics security
The above checklist represents the ideal scenario, but surely that level of security and diligence comes with a hefty price tag? Fortunately, FMS providers that offer SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions for vehicle telematics provide an opportunity for micro, small and medium business (MSMB) fleet owners to avail the advantages of technology without having all the overhead associated with an inhouse IT setup and its associated security requirements. Even a single vehicle owner can easily access the heartbeat of their asset by using a web browser or mobile app. Industry standard SaaS solutions come bundled with necessary security requirements, whether for data in storage, in transit or for user access.
SaaS software solutions can be easily integrated with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions through application programming interfaces (API) providing all necessary information in a single solution. As MSMBs grow in business volume, they need not worry about the scalability of SaaS solutions since they are capable of integrating with their evolving ERP landscape. Cloud hosting of these solutions also ensures that not only are they secure today, but they stay agile to adapt to the evolving security requirements of the automotive industry and beyond.
tips for Fms providers:
The true test of a versatile secured system is to ensure that business dynamics are managed efficiently while staying within security requirements. Industry standard SaaS solutions come equipped with the flexibility required. Some of the advantages of a SaaS solution are: 1. URL link-based sharing of vehicle
2.
3. with parties outside the organization. In situations that involve contracting vehicles for jobs, the ability to share telematics information for a specified time (e.g., few hours) through a secured link enables operators to share data without compromising on security. Project/ Joint ventures (JV) specific access is needed for vehicles contributed by both parties. In projectdriven industries like construction and mining, vehicles are often contributed by different parties at various life stages of the project. During this period, comprehensive access is needed by the project team. Industry standard SaaS solutions come with multi-tier access controls and flexibility to tag vehicle units into groups, which enables information sharing with required project personnel on a need-to-know basis. SaaS platforms are modular in nature, which enables multiple sensor integration catering to various aspects of operating cost (e.g., diesel, tyre, temperature, load etc.) or business requirements (container door lock, surveillance cameras etc.). This enables the security framework of the solution to roll up and cover this under a uniform standard without the need for solution-specific security investments. When it comes to fleet security in a landscape of applications, interfaces and communication technologies that is becoming ever more complex, industrystandard SaaS FMS solutions that satisfy the security requirements described above have a clear advantage. Suitable for enterprises of all sizes, SaaS solutions offer a truly holistic approach to security. o
aUthor
Jens strohschneider, cHieF commerciAL oFFicer, omNicomm
Jens Strohschneider, Chief Commercial officer at omnicomm international is a telecommunication, business development and sales leader with a long track record of software and technology projects in russia successfully launched to international marketplaces. He focuses on the development of new telecommunications and telematics services, in particular internet multimedia Services (imS), Location based Services (LbS), mobile Value Added Services (mVAS), and the internet of Things (ioT).
nilesh Jain, direcTor, NiGrAANi
Nilesh Jain is cA with an mbA (Gold medalist), cimA (uK) and currently is director at iTrade Telematics Pvt Ltd (nilesh@nigraani. com). He has 18 years of experience providing technology solutions across the globe with comapnies like infosys etc. credit: upstream
hoW are iot Based aUtonomoUs vehicles disrUpting sUpply chains
tUshar Bhagat
uFFizio iNdiA
Digitalization based on emerging technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Blockchain, and Robotics Process Automation (RPA) has extensively transformed the logistics industry. From driver assistance to conditional automation and even full capacity self-driving, these technologies are being embedded in vehicles. Autonomous Vehicles capable of cruise control and driverless navigation are disrupting supply chain operations. Driven by progressive technologies, they are exceeding performance expectations through optimized logistics operations, timely delivery, and advanced analytics.
IoT based Autonomous Vehicles work through sensors, RFID tracking tools, and connected devices for precise on-time shipment delivery. These freight technology solutions facilitate end-to-end interaction across the supply chain. Carrier service providers and mobility companies are leveraging automatic identification and predictive analytics to optimize costs and enhance the customer service experience. IoT is assisting fleet owners beyond improved supply chain operations by offering them remote access to quality control features.
iot transforming the supply chain industry
IoT is powering Autonomous vehicles with self-diagnostics, asset tracking, remote monitoring, theft prevention, efficient dynamic route planning, and automated cargo loading-unloading. The IoT led transformations of the supply chain industry include:
aUthor
tUshar Bhagat
director Uffizio India Software Pvt Ltd 1. Enhanced safety on the road with selfdriven trucks and improved efficiency through the platooning of interconnected autonomous vehicles. 2. Accurately tracking key expense parameters such as location, traffic projection, speed, and vehicle maintenance. 3. Better customer service with ontime delivery with real-time tracking and maintaining products in good condition. 4. Streamlining supply chain operations while monitoring assets, securing analytical data, and offering personalized customer experience.
Global freight companies are investing heavily in technology-driven logistics solutions. As per them, IoT-driven and GPS-enabled devices are competent in tracking and authenticating shipments preventing their loss and damage. According to a survey conducted by Statista in 2017, around 36% of respondents favored the use of predictive analytics. They consider it a significant innovation driver in the industry.
Building resilient supply chains through iot
IoT enabled Autonomous Vehicles are capable of optimizing carrier capacities, reducing wastage, and maintaining costs. It empowers transport and logistics companies to cater to the evolving customer needs driven by urgency and price-sensitivity. They help create a leaner supply chain by assisting in the following ways: • Convenientlocationtrackingofgoods
at rest and in transit. • Identification of factors leading to delay in delivery and rectifying them. • Real-time shipment condition assessment in terms of pressure, temperature, and contamination to maintain quality and freshness. • Predictive analysis and planning of service demand for optimally scaling business operations. • Informed route planning and in-time re-routing to ensure timely delivery.
Identifying reasons for the delay in consignment arrival such as poor weather, excessive traffic, unfriendly road conditions, and communicating route changes to the stakeholders. • Delivery and distribution of products to prescribed destinations. • Quicker border crossing with preapproved documentation and remote operation of the vehicle. • Effective management of business operations and boosting employee productivity.
conclusion
The exponentially increasing adoption rates of semi and fully autonomous vehicles have successfully established the growing importance of IoT as a revolutionary technology in the logistics industry. In response to a survey by ABI Research, 40% of respondents identify Freight as a Service (FaaS) as a key transformational trend. They predict it will represent at least 30% of US total goods transportation revenues by 2030. Experts foresee the expansion of FaaS in the next phase of IoT innovations. Logistics companies are gearing up for a fully automated goods delivery system using autonomous vehicles and drones. Leveraging IoT benefits will help companies maximize profitability and ensure a larger number of secure on-time deliveries. Undoubtedly, disruptive technologies such as IoT-based autonomous vehicles will rattle the supply chains with the manifold benefits worth looking forward to. o
EV policiEs of somE of thE statEs in india
The government of India has taken many policy initiatives and issued directives to encourage adoption of electric vehicles in India. States being the implementing agency play an important role in realisation of national vision at ground level, and many states have proactively come up with EV policy to encourage its adoption.
Andhra Pradesh: It launched its EV policy in the year 2018. It largely concentrates on working on fuel cell technologies, EV power trains, nextgeneration battery technology and EV electronics. Key highlights: (1) Proposed to draw investments of 30K Crore in next 5 years in EV segment and provide new employment opportunities for over 60,000 people (2) Targets to usher in manufacturing units of high-density energy storage (3) APSRTC bus fleet of over 11,000 buses to be transformed into electric buses in the next 10 years (4) Claiming for a 100% conversion of the bus fleet in top 4 cities by 2024 (5) Creating electric vehicle manufacturing hubs.
Bihar: Its EV policy has been drafted to create a manufacturing ecosystem for e-vehicles. Besides accomplishing sustainable goals, the EV policy plans to make Bihar an investment destination for electric vehicles and transport domain. Key highlights are: (1) Aiming to completely transform manual paddling rickshaws into electric rickshaws (2) Formulating fastcharging stations along the highways in Bihar (3) Proposed to attract investment of 2,500 Crore (4) Targeting to offer empowerment to at least 10,000 people in this segment.
Delhi:With extreme problems related to pollution, Delhi is in severe need of clean mobility. The EV policy of this state aims to bring down pollution levels that may have arisen because of emissions from fuel-based vehicles. Key highlights: (1) Aims at the rapid adoption of battery EVs (2) Proposing to add e-buses to public transport in the next 5 years (3) Providing incentives for the purchase of EVs (4) Encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles for carrying goods (5) Promises to have public charging infrastructure at least every 3 km.
Karnataka: It is amongst the first few states to formulate an EV policy in 2017 with an intent to establish Karnataka as the most preferred state for the development of EV systems. The policy has been drafted to make Bangalore the electric vehicle capital of India. Key highlights: (1) Aiming to draw investments of 31,000 Crores (2) Proposing to give employment opportunities for 55,000 people (3) Offering incentives including interest-free loans to EV manufacturing companies (4) Giving industrial land to create EV manufacturing units (5) Funding the research on EV mobility
Kerala: It drafted the EV policy in 2018 intending to build the best training and skill centers for EV professionals. The plans proposed in their policy focus on the production of electric vehicles. Key highlights: (1) Focussing on decreasing the number of vehicles running on fossil fuels by 2030 (2) Introduced electric buses and e-auto rickshaws (3) Aiming 1 million EVs in the next 2 years (4) Targeting 6K electric buses in next 5 years (5) Offering employment opportunities and attracting investments.
Maharashtra:It formulated the policy in 2018 to promote their state as the potential leader by manufacturing and using electric vehicles as well as exporting EV components such as battery and charging equipment. Key highlights: (1) Aiming to have 5,00,000 EVs in the state (2) Get an investment of 25,000 Crores for manufacturing EV and its components (3) Providing incentives for the purchase of e-buses (4) Creating job opportunities for 1,00,000 people (5) Exempting EVs from road tax and registration fee.
Madhya Pradesh: It prepared its EV policy to develop sustainable electric mobility and to improve air quality by reducing the vehicles that cause air pollution through gas emission. The policy has set plans to make 25% of the public transport to be electric vehicles by 2026. Key highlights: (1) Supporting the creation of new jobs and employment opportunities (2) Offering incentives such as free parking (3) Exemption from road tax/registration fee (4) Offering financial aid for electric buses.
Tamil Nadu: The policy issued by the Tamil Nadu government aims to draw an investment of 500 billion for the EV domain. Its goal is to create a comprehensive EV ecosystem and targets at least 1.5 Lakh employment opportunities. Key highlights: (1) Aiming to create a strong infrastructure for electric vehicles (2) Providing favourable power tariff to offer adequate power supply (3) Promoting Tamil Nadu as the EV hub of the country (4) Creating a skilled workforce for the EV sector.
Telangana: Telangana EV policy’s main objective is to draw investments worth $3 Billion, at the same time, to offer employment to 50,000 people in the next 3 years. The model adopted by this state is based on international standards of EV supported through the top infrastructure. Key highlights: (1) To expand manufacturing of battery cells (2)Targeting 100% electric buses in the next 10 years (3) Working towards making Telangana EV hub of the country (4) Creating a skilled workforce (5) Preparing a road map for developing charging infrastructure (6) Creating special power tariff for EV charging.
UttarPradesh: The government of this state came out with Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicles Policy in the year 2018. Lucknow, the capital city of UP has been one of the cities recognized for the project of MultiModal Electric Public Transport under the FAME scheme. Key highlights: (1) Promoting the use of HEVs and plug-in EVs (2) Aiming at 2 lakh charging stations in the next 4 years (3) Targeting 1 million EVs on the road (4) Offering incentives such as capital interest and infrastructure interest subsidy (5) Giving exemption from the stamp and electrical duty. o
automotive electrical system safety and iso 26262
viJay pratap singh
mG moTor
Battery Driven Vehicle is not a very new concept. The traces of EV technology can be found even in the initial years of automotive development. But modernday automobiles are much more capable in terms of Power, Range, Comfort and Advance features like ADAS and connectivity. Also, the high voltage battery of modern EVs perform very complex tasks ranging from electrical monitoring and control to data analysis and predictive maintenance activities.
All of this is mostly being done by increasing use of electrical and/or electronic (E/E) systems and software.
how much complex is it actually?
During IEEE Spectrum, according to professor Manfred Broy, a modern luxury vehicle “probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code” and these software are processed by up to 100 microprocessors networked throughout the car.
Just to put the modern automobile E/E complexity into some perspective, the Ford GT car has approx.10 million lines of code, which is about eight million more than what Lockheed used in the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, and at least three million more than Boeing puts in its 787 Dreamliner.
figure 1: E/E complexity comparison (1)
Because the features provided by these E/E systems are must to have for modern automotive buyer, the vehicle manufacturers are trying hard to bring the latest innovations through their products before their competitors.
This increasing complexity, shorter time to market and lack of experience of these technologies is leading to the increasing number of unknowns in the automobiles. The complex multilayer supply chain in automotive industry increases this challenge further. Because the final vehicle manufacturer may not design and develop all the subsystem and child components. The proprietary technologies of component supplier and their supplier, when integrated in a vehicle manufacturer specific architecture and then the vehicle is run in numerous environments and driving conditions, may or may not behave as expected by the tier 2 or tier 3 supplier.
possible impacts:
Some fire incidents in the EVs and accidents due to the autopilot (ADAS) systems are the evidence of this fact. Recently one of the world’s biggest EV manufacturer recalled around 159,000 luxury EVs due to Worn Out Memory Chips resulting in Infotainment System and ADAS Cameras malfunctioning. There are many incidents of such types at different scales with different vehicle manufacturers.
The stakes are high. Because, unlike the failure of a cell phone application or a website or many other products, a vehicle system failure may lead to fatal incidents and the possible impact is huge. From human life/health to hefty sum of money, and from the brand value of the company to the trust of customers on the underlying technology, all may get a hit.
iso 26262 at rescue:
To overcome these challenges and mitigate the failure of E/E systems that are installed in cars with a maximum gross vehicle mass up to 3500 kg, ISO 26262 standard is designed. ISO 26262 addresses the whole product development cycle and can be easily mapped to the ‘V-Model’ of product development. The following diagram shows the 10 chapters of ISO 26262 mapped to the V-Model. It can be noticed that apart from core development processes, management and supporting processes are also covered in this standard, which makes it comprehensive and single point reference for functional safety analysis of E/E systems.
Another noticeable fact is that, while the traditional V-Model focuses on the concurrent Development-Test activities, the ISO 26262 adds the functional safety as third concurrent dimension in each step of V-Model.
ISO 26262 helps in identifying quantitative and measurable parameters in each of the process steps so that the stakeholders can make decision easily. For example, in first chapter of ISO 26262, the classification of various fault-time related parameters is done as following figure:
Second chapter mentions about the requirements for the
Figure 2: overview of iSo 26262(2)
organisations that are responsible for the safety lifecycle. The safety management is required during product development and even after the product release as well.
The third chapter is the start of core development phase and related functional safety activities.
It starts with a crucial steps of Item definition. Item definition defines the interfaces, functionality, environment conditions, known hazards and legal requirements etc.
hara and asil:
After item definition, the new development and the modification in existing system are identified. Next step is to do the HARA
Figure 3: Fault-time parameters (3) (hazard analysis and risk assessment). This activity aims to categorise the hazards that can be resulted from the malfunctions in the system. The hazards are categorised on the basics of Severity of damage caused by the hazard (S0 to S3; S0 being least severe and S3 the most), Controllability of the event by user (C0 to C3; C0 being most easily controllable) and probability of exposure of the hazardous event while product is in use (E0 to E4; E0 being least probable).
This is done according to the different possible use case scenarios of the vehicle in different environmental conditions. An ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) is assigned to each hazardous event. Four ASILs are defined ASIL A, B, C and D, where ASIL A is the lowest safety integrity level and ASIL D is the highest one. An additional class QM (Quality Management) denoted no requirement to comply with ISO 26262. Safety goals are determined for each hazardous event with ASIL evaluated. Safety goals are functional objectives. These are top level safety requirements for the items and lead to functional safety requirements. Now the functional safety requirements are derived from the safety goals and allocated to preliminary architectural elements of the item or to external measures. Note: Detailed examples of Severity, Controllability and Exposure classes are provided in ISO 26262 chapter 3, which
Figure 4: System diagram example-Tesla HViL loop (in red lines) (4)
can be used and edited according to the specific applicability of target product. Also, the chart for ASIL level determination from the combination of Severity, Controllability and Exposure classes is mentioned.
system design
The fourth chapter (Part 4) carries forward these safety goals allocated to preliminary architectural elements and takes care of this during the system design.
To design a system which complies with the technical safety requirements at their respective ASILs is a major activity of this phase.
To avoid systematic failures, both deductive analysis methods such as FTA and Ishikawa diagrams, and inductive analysis methods such as FMEA, ETA and Markov modelling etc. are used mostly with qualitative analysis. For lower ASIL items, Inductive analysis only is required. For higher ASILs, both methods are to be applied.
iso 26262 part 5 and beyond:
The later phases of ISO 26262 are about these requirements and analysis results are implemented well, keeping all the
aUthor
viJay pratap singh
dY mANAGer, mG moTor
He is an automotive system engineer with 7+ years of experience in product engineering. His major work areas include system engineering, functional safety analysis, software development, iVN management, diagnostics and vehicle integration. He is new technologies enthusiast and like to read about economy and psychology apart from technology. hardware-software and interface development processes, tools, testing, verification and validation in mind. Also, the audit and traceability guidelines are mentioned.
List of interfaces such as Memory types, converters, communication buses, timers, electrical I/O and multiplexers etc. is mentioned along with the characteristics such as interrupts, timings, network modes and initialization etc.
Production and operation guidelines (Chapter 7) and other supporting guidelines (Chapter 8, 9 and 10) are also very useful in ensuring overall safety of the EE system.
new horizons:
New special purpose functional safety standards are also evolving in parallel to ISO 26262. e.g. SOTIF (Safety Of The Intended Functionality) ISO/PAS 21448:2019 for the systems involving AI-ML and Neural Networks, and TARA (Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment) for cyber security for connected vehicles.
conclusion:
We can see that by adopting ISO 26262 guidelines, the complex E/E system can be analysed in a simplified and systematic way to ensure a certain level of confidence in terms of reliability of these systems. Organisations of today need to pay proper attention to product safety and security in order to avoid the perils of mishap due to E/E system malfunctions.
refrences:
1. Google image 2. ISO 26262 Part 1, First Edition, “Figure 1 - Overview of ISO 26262” 3. ISO 26262 Part 1, First Edition, “Figure 4 – Fault reaction time and fault tolerant time interval” 4. NHTSA Tech Note: TN-13-44-003, June 26, 2013. o
Elektrobit unveils industry-first software platform for next-gen vehicle electronics architectures
elektrobit (eb) announced eb xelor, a software platform designed to streamline the development of next-generation automotive electronics architectures based on high-performance computing (HPc). eb xelor provides car makers and Tier 1 suppliers with a secure, stable and easily upgradable software foundation for connected and intelligent vehicles, allowing them to focus less on automotive infrastructure and more on innovation and profitability: developing differentiating features and functions for their vehicles. eb xelor brings together production-proven software from eb, open-source and third-party software, plus tools and services that are absolutely critical for HPc environments but won’t necessarily differentiate one vehicle from another. eb xelor integrates a high-performance functional safety software stack based on Linux and Adaptive AuToSAr, a real-time and safety software stack based on classic AuToSAr using eb tresos—a hypervisor—plus software for HPc updates and platform health management capabilities. it also includes tools and services to automate builds and facilitate integration. The eb xelor platform is optimized for HPc environments using leading system-on-a-chip (Soc) devices from NXP and renesas. car makers can then add their own vehicle-specific software on top of these stacks.
anritsu partnership develops first solution for live and simulated testing of vehicle sim cards
Anritsu, Thales and european car manufacturer Groupe PSA have integrated the solution able to test vehicle with embedded Sim cards both in a laboratory environment and in a live mobile network, with rapid switching between the two. based on Anritsu’s md8475x base station simulator platform and Thales’ on-demand Subscription manager (oSm), the solution allows Groupe PSA to conduct a full laboratory test of vehicle with the eSim integrated into a car’s Telematics control unit (Tcu). The new solution ensures the eSim can be switched easily to the laboratory profile, allowing the test team to control all aspects of the simulated network environment as well as all measurements. The new solution brings great benefits over previous ways of swapping profiles, one of which involved physically desoldering the embedded Sim and replacing with another, bringing delays and the risk of damage. Another alternative is to use commands in the Tcu, which can be complicated due to the use of proprietary software and may lead to undesired changes in Tcu firmware.
velodyne unveils solid-state lidar for adas and autonomous vehicle
Velodyne Lidar, inc. debuted Velarray H800. This solid-state LidAr is architected for automotive-grade performance and built using Velodyne’s proprietary microlidar array architecture (mLA). The Velarray H800’s compact and embeddable form factor is designed to fit neatly behind the windshield of a truck, bus or car, or be mounted seamlessly on the vehicle exterior. With a field of view of 120 horizontal degrees by 16 vertical degrees, the Velarray H800 allows for outstanding detection of peripheral, near-field, and overhead objects while addressing corner cases on sloping and curving roads. The Velarray H800 provides perception data at a range of up to 200 meters, supporting safe stopping distances even at highway speeds. featuring a configurable frame rate, the Velarray H800 offers the rich point cloud density required for high resolution mapping and object classification tasks.
Ansys collaborates with microsoft to enhance cloud engineering productivity for customers
Ansys has announced a collaboration with microsoft to integrate Azure cloud, HPc, digital twin and ioT service offerings. Ansys’ runtime digital twins will be natively represented in Azure digital Twins. Ansys is also collaborating with microsoft to offer cloud-enabled autonomous vehicle (AV) simulation capabilities to customers. Ansys VrXPerieNce, an AV virtual test platform, will run on Azure, giving auto designers the ability to test drive millions of virtual miles across multiple scenarios. The platform’s general availability is planned for January 2021.
Keysight Technologies, NTu team up on hybrid V2X communications
Keysight has provided NTu with test solutions and capabilities for generating and analyzing both dSrc and c-V2X signals. This included testing and validation requirements for multi-components and system-level specifications in V2X communication standards, as well as 5G signal generation and analysis in the mmWave frequency range and multipleinput and multiple-output (mimo) mode. As a result, NTu could generate accurate and full characterization of the newly developed transceiver.
NTu Singapore is currently conducting research on a reconfigurable transceiver system specifically for hybrid (dSrc+c-V2X) communication at 5.9 GHz iSm band. This also includes possible extension to the millimeter-wave frequency range using cost-effective complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (cmoS) technology.
Huawei launched the brand “Hi” for intelligent vehicle solutions, which is aimed at jointly developing intelligent-connected electric vehicles (eVs) with automakers by using Huawei’s full-stack intelligent car solutions. The “Hi” solutions encompass an allnew architecture for computing and communications, and five intelligent systems focusing on intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent electrification, connectivity and intelligent automobile cloud respectively. besides, the solutions still involve the full set of intelligent suits including LidAr and Ar-Hud (augmented reality head-up display). The “Hi” solutions will embrace a automated driving system (AdS) which is based on a Level 4 autonomous driving architecture and is able to provide full-stack solutions for Level 2 plus to Level 4 autonomous driving. based on machine self-learning technology, it is capable of self-learning and self-evolving.
Saferide has released vinsight™, a Vehicle Health Management (VHM) platform that enables efficient development and deployment of Ai-based integrated Vehicle Health management solutions in vehicles. vinsight developer can generate compressed and optimized models for embedded deployment onboard vehicles. it is an embedded VHm runtime engine that is designed for gateway modules, domain controllers, and telematics modules. These runtime engines enable real-time inferencing using the trained VHm algorithms created by vinsight developer.
The vinsight edge runtime is pre-integrated with NXP Semiconductor’s S32G Vehicle Network Processor for service-oriented gateways and domain controllers that can provide the processing performance and access to the vehicle-wide data needed for advanced VHm.
omnivision, ambarella and smart eye partner on combined driver monitoring and videoconferencing camera solution
omniVision Technologies, inc., Ambarella, inc., and Smart eye announced in advance of AutoSens detroit the complete solution for dual-mode camera applications. This joint solution simultaneously monitors drivers while capturing vehicle occupants for one-way videoconferencing. it features omniVision’s oV2312 image sensor, with a dual-mode global shutter that captures both rGb color images and ir images under lowlight conditions. These dual captures are then processed simultaneously by Ambarella’s cV22AQ cVflow® computer vision processor, which runs Smart eye’s algorithms to analyze the driver’s state and alert the vehicle to any unsafe indicators, such as drowsiness. This joint reference design, including a demo board equipped with the three companies’ pretuned devices and software, is expected to be available to qualified customers later this quarter.
Journey of rajesh G, Founder, Highway delite
Rajesh G comes from a defense family. His father was in Indian Air Force (IAF), and as the service requires, he was posted in various parts of the country. Along with his parents, Rajesh traveled extensively across India during his early days. When in job, as a consultant with ICRA, he had to travel a lot across India covering all the small towns. During the travel, he faced the pain of highway travel and started thinking about the dynamics of the issues which are being faced by traveler on highway. It was somewhere in 2012-13 he had started realising that even though commuters had access to Google Maps and images associated with specific points of interest, but nobody can claim if this information is verified. He often wondered about the problems faced during traveling on the highways in terms of safety & security, hygiene, accommodation, and food quality. He used to think about the plight of people who travel with families and especially with elderly people.
For Rajesh G the transition from a consulting job to being an entrepreneur happened over two years. In 2013, he quit his job, and joined his father-inlaw’s business in Indore who used to run a printing unit. He was a self-made entrepreneur and had started his own business. As he wanted someone to support and take care of his business, Rajesh went there to give it a shot. Perhaps, this was the first opportunity for him to understand how the business
works. He not only had a first-hand look at the business but also came across the nuances of running a business. He was there for 6 months, and once the business operations got stable, he eventually realized that it was the time for him to go back and start something of his own. That’s when he came back to Bangalore.
Some time in mid-2015, he decided to get into entrepreneurship mode. He never wanted to be an entrepreneur. But, it was his personal experiences and the necessity to address the problem at its roots that prompted him to take the plunge as an entrepreneur.
For first six months, he was very regular at IIM Bangalore NSRCEL event as which they used to organize for startups on the first Saturday of every month. These events were attended by various founders, VCs, related stakeholders from the startups. Back then, the startup culture had started to gain momentum during mid of the 2010-2020 decade. Being an active participant, the continual process of interactions and open dialogue with the startup community around how startup gets build, what are the building blocks of startups and various other elements, helped him understand basics of startup. In 2015, Rajesh took his first step and approached NSRCEL with his pitch deck of “Highway Delite”, presenting the idea, what exactly he wanted to do and the pain points it solves. NSRCEL played an important role as their mentors did the hand holding in every possible way which was required for “Highway Delite” in its early-stage startup.
From the business risk perspective, Rajesh believed that the risk element is always there but the worst could be that you shut down your startup and you move on. Risks are part and parcel of business, and this was a risk worth taking.
Rajesh has decided to run this marathon, solo. In the back of his mind, he remembered the saying,“There’s a village which is required to raise a child”. He got the village in terms of the startup ecosystem in Bangalore. Initially, he had a very small team of 3 people including one tech guy, one data professional, and himself. During the early phase of his startup when he had the seat in NSRCEL, there were already close to 10 different startups working in different areas. So whenever he needed any support, advice, or assistance, he used the network of the founders available at NSRCEL. Later on, he moved to the NASSCOM startup warehouse, and thereafter he moved to Mobile10X incubator. The network of founders and those in startups grew and so was his access to those who could advise him.
Connect with NSRCEL, NASSCOM and Mobile 10X helped him in many ways. Perhaps making it redundant to have his own set of founders whom he can go and talk, to discuss and brainstorm. Though he always felt the need for a co-founder but mainly to scale the operations and build on the technology; but never felt the need for a co-founder to discuss the ideas.
Highway Delite has been focussed on verifying highway services. The team visits various outlets that claims to offer facilities. For instance, some of the restaurants claim to be AC restaurants but when you go and sit, there is no AC inside. They say washrooms are available separately for both men and women, but again when you go inside, you’re able to find only one washroom, that too in a temporary shed.
In a country like India where we have 800+ million tourist annually, it’s a huge number of people who are traveling across India’s length and breadth of the country.
The team at Highway Delite has builtin a very granular approach towards highway information in the last 4-5 years. They have built three different layers on the technology side-data a collection layer, a customer layer, and a merchant layer. When it comes to the scaling part, they have also pilot-tested various ideas that would work. Having said this, they have worked on aggregating the information on highways and showing it to customers, and a pilot of food order with a few restaurants with QR code order or a pre-order. So for both these instances, they have done a pilot testing and are ready to implement at a scale basis across India.
The startup also received grant funding from Karnataka Tourism Department and also later on from Bharat Petroleum. With BPCL, they have also been doing certain internal projects of mutual interest and had few learnings around it. For instance, they have worked on an application wherein they can showcase all their retail outlets on a map interface and another application for truck drivers for BPCL. Going forward Highway Delite will also try to see if they can play a role in the truck driver’s side of it rather than pure logistics but on meeting the expectations of truck drivers on highways and trying to make it more streamline and safe for the overall journey, and the consignment. For the last 4-5 years, the team is dedicatedly working towards it so that they would be able to start catering to the needs of truck drivers on highways very soon.
Highway Delite has not raised any VC funding yet but now are in the process of fundraising. Moving ahead, the team is optimistic that it is the right time to scale up the operations in terms of building business partnerships and taking this really out to the market. It will be introduced by bringing digitization of highways, in terms of listing out the outlets of verified places, enabling them to accept the digital payments and food orders, connecting this information back to the Auto OEMs through APIs inside the car infotainment.
Highway Delite is working with GPS players in India, enabling their highway technician network to be used for the installation and repair of GPS devices with the trucks on the highways, thereby connecting the physical asset to the physical vehicles. It is leveraging the partnership model wherein it leaves it to the fleet owners or the truck drivers to decide which GPS devices they want and somehow act as an affiliate to that. It makes sure that they get into this connected ecosystem of vehicles with telematics.
Going forward, the startup will focus on how to digitalize the transaction part and breakdown services. The team is working with MG Motor India which recently signed up six more start-ups including Highway Delite for its ongoing MG Developer Program & Grant. So the startup is strengthening business ties with OEMs and telematics service providers to provide 24*7 roadside assistance and connected services on a real-time basis.
Rajesh sees highway platform as a huge area that every piece of it is a business in itself, be it hospitality services, emergency assistance, or breakdown services. o
continental india collaborates with Universities for research on automated driving technologies
Technology company continental engages with top engineering institutions in india for cuttingedge research and to build competencies on niche AdAS functionalities that paves the way towards automated driving. in the last few years, continental has forged partnerships with several academic institutions, including indian institute of Technology delhi (iiT-d), indian institute of Technology madras (iiT-m), international institute of information Technology bangalore (iiiT-b), indraprastha institute of information Technology delhi (iiiT-d), among others, for collaboration in this rapidly evolving technology area. continental india’s strategic partnerships aim to support three key strategic pillars – technological advancement, creating an industryready talent pool, and enabling open innovation in the ecosystem. continental india is one of the key drivers for the acceptance of AdAS by developing needed technology advances along with helping direct the public and policy discussion towards a safer future for indian road users.
eV charging kiosk each at 69,000 petrol pumps across country, says nitin gadkari
Shree Nitin Gadkari, minister of road Transport and Highways & mSme, Govt of india, said that the government is trying to create an ecosystem to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in the country. While addressing a virtual conference ‘9th edition of Auto Serve 2020‘electric mobility conference 2020-Seizing opportunities in New Normal”, Gadkari said the government aims at creating core global competencies in india by facilitating the seamless integration of the automotive industry with the world.
He elaborated a number of steps that the Government has taken to promote electric vehicles which include a reduction in GST to 5%, allowing delinking of battery cost of 2-3 wheelers from vehicle cost because it accounts for nearly 30% of the value, etc. battery charging ecosystem is extremely important, as such he said. The government is planning to set up at least one electric vehicle charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol pumps across the country to induce people to go for electric mobility, he said.
motor vehicle aggregator guidelines issued to regulate shared mobility
on 27th Nov’20, the road transport ministry issued motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines – 2020, to provide a framework to the state governments and union territories for the issuance of licenses as well as regulating the business conducted by such aggregators, including ola and uber.
Some of the salient points in the guidelines include limiting the working hours for drivers attached with cab aggregators to 12 hours a day; health insurance for each driver integrated with a cab aggregator worth at least iNr 5 Lakhs with the base year 2020-21, to be increased by 5% each year; term insurance for each driver for an amount not less than iNr 10 Lakhs with 2020-21 as the base year, to be increased by 5% each year; and, drivers to receive at least 80% of the total fare for each ride. Customers would be benefitted through the cap on surge pricing, which has been set at maximum 1.5 times of the base fare. in case of cancelling a ride, a fee of 10% of the total fare not exceeding rs 100 has been set for both riders and drivers when a cancellation is made without a valid reason as stipulated by the aggregator on its website and on the app.
The transport ministry has already amended the motor Vehicles Act, 1988 by the motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 to include the definition of the term ‘aggregator’. The amended act defines aggregators as digital intermediaries or marketplaces between passengers and drivers for transportation.
Highlights
• Concurrent reception of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou • Multi-band RTK with fast convergence times and reliable performance • High update rate for highly dynamic applications • Centimeter accuracy in a small and energy efficient module • Easy integration of RTK for fast time-to-market
Easy integration of RTK
Integrated RTK
• No third party SW integration on host required • No resources (RAM,
MIPS) required on host • No license fee or NRE for the host SW
Multi-band in module
• Integrated HPG multiband RF chain with guaranteed performance • Little design effort, no design risk Quick to market No technology risk Low engineering cost Low capital investment Future proof Reduced supplier base
Navigation applications are demanding higher accuracy to increase productivity
Centimeter-level With high availability accuracy In all environments At sensible cost level Global Easy to integrate Coverage Globally deployable
Fast TTFF
Dead reckoning Multi-constellation and multi-band Commercial UAV Ground robotics navigation Lane-level navigation
Heavy machine navigation Industrial navigation and tracking
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