Autonet Brings Valet Monitoring to Apps for Android, iOS Smartphones

Automotive Wi-Fi provider Autonet Mobile has partnered with Bosch’s Car Multimedia Division to integrate its IP-based application and connectivity platform into a telematics control unit (TCU) that will connect to a car’s CAN (controller area network) bus, the companies said Monday. Autonet, whose Wi-Fi platform powers Chrysler’s U-Connect system, Chevy Wi-Fi and the Mercedes-Benz In-Vehicle Hot Spot, is transitioning to a new app-based platform that will debut in July as a factory-installed option from a car maker.

Autonet CEO Sterling Pratz wouldn’t disclose the identity of the automaker, citing a strict confidentiality agreement, but said an aftermarket system will follow six months later. Under the partnership, Bosch will become a technology integrator for Autonet and has designed the manufacturing process for Autonet’s TCU as well. “There’s never been an IP platform for cars like this,” Pratz said.

Autonet’s system is the first telematic control unit that can attach to a CAN bus, which Pratz said was the result of being able to overcome security and network failure issues. “Cars have network stalls or disconnects when they move between towers and high-/low-speed networks simultaneously,” he said, which occurs as much as 60 percent of the time in a moving vehicle, making it “a big issue.” Autonet developed a technology that maintains the connection and any app session and applied it to the CAN bus, Pratz said. The company also invented a method for managing network, applications and services at the CAN bus layer that “secures the vehicle from hackers or intrusion,” he said. “Our process incorporates the network, the CAN bus and the application simultaneously to enable this type of security without any performance issues,” he said. The CAN-based system that Bosch will manufacture this summer can be factory-installed, he said. The aftermarket version will connect to a car’s OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostic) system, he said.

The TCU Autonet that is debuting with Bosch has been two years in the works, Pratz told us. One of the by-products of devising a way to maintain a network connection in a moving vehicle, was discovering “we could also deliver applications to the car,” Pratz said. The goal, he said, was to “transform the industry from a one-time transaction of selling a car” to a recurring revenue model that enables car makers to keep in touch with the vehicle owner and continue to sell them new products as they come available. Once a secure connection method was established, it was a natural extension to develop vehicle apps following the comfort level consumers now have with app-based smartphones, he said.

Applications replace existing hardware-based features and offer new ones, Pratz said. Using the platform, drivers can download to their iPhone or Android-based smartphone apps that replace or enhance existing solutions such as a key fob, he said. From an iPhone, a consumer can unlock a car door, turn on the heat, disengage the alarm and start the car, Pratz said. Users have requested a “find my car” app that helps users find their vehicle in a crowded parking lot using GPS.

Autonet is adapting apps used by fleet customers to track their vehicles and driver performance to an app parents can use to monitor the driving behavior of teenagers, Pratz said. Beyond tracking and safety, parents want to use the app as a way to converse with kids about the rules of driving, he said. Information collected with parental controls includes driving speeds, time the vehicle arrived at a destination and whether a passenger is in the car, he said. Some cars will soon have breathalyzers, and the Autonet system will be able to attach to a sensor to determine whether there’s been alcohol consumption in the vehicle, he said. Automakers will start rolling out that feature in model years 2014 and 2015 vehicles, he said.

Another app due out later this year enables pay-as-you-drive insurance, Pratz said. Currently, there’s no way to manage how people drive and where they drive to make such a policy work, he said. Autonet’s app will allow drivers to opt into a pay-as-you-drive model, which could potentially provide a discount “in return for allowing the insurance company to know where they drive and what their driving habits are,” he said. Studies have shown that 70 percent of people would apply for a discount averaging $150 or more per year, he said. The company will also deliver a “valet mode” app along with a manufacturer later this year that will control the top speed of the car and send a notification if it leaves a specified distance from where they parked. By tapping into the vehicle’s sensor network, the TCU will know if there’s a passenger in the car and whether a car has been “dinged” while in the valet’s care, he said.

Autonet Wi-Fi subscribers number in the “tens of thousands,” Pratz said, and the optional systems are found in “every make and model” of vehicle. The feature is available for Chevy and Cadillac vehicles from GM, all Chrysler models, the M, C and E Class from Mercedes and the Subaru Outback. Between 65-70 percent of users choose the lower priced 1GB $29-per-month service tier, compared with the $59-per-month 5GB tier selected by commercial clients, he said.

Final pricing of the app-based system will be set by car makers, Pratz said. Apps will carry one-time or yearly fees and are a “far cheaper” route than buying features on the aftermarket, he said. “If you bought remote start, that would easily be 75 percent less than on the aftermarket,” he said.