Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OPTEPLA (Open OBDII Telematics Platform - OPTEPLA)
Reporting period: 2015-06-01 to 2015-11-30
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
With OPTEPLA we intend to develop an open telematics platform based on the OBDII standard consisting of:
- A small and cost effective OBDII device (dongle) for the acquisition and transmission of the entire dataset produced by vehicle’ electronics and built-in sensors and
- An open data platform, which receives, formats and analyses these data making them available to third parties that can develop added value applications and services based on this data, generating an open-data-based service ecosystem.
Currently there is no technical solution in the aftermarket, by which any car manufacturer/model and for every installed electronic control unit (ECU) the communications data can be acquired and exported to an internet environment.
Third party developers will develop innovative connected car applications such as remote car diagnostics and predictive maintenance systems, intelligent driving assistance systems, mapping of CO2 emissions or fine dust concentrations or remote opening/closing car door technology, etc.
Thanks to this technology it will be very simple and cost-efficient to retrofit most of the existing vehicles in Europe (all vehicles that include OBDII, i.e. around 90% of EU passenger cars) allowing them to fully benefit from a wide variety of telematics services.
In the feasibility study of phase 1 AUTOAID has confirmed the following aspects that were considered critical for successful commercialisation of OPTEPLA:
- Feasibility: It is confirmed that it is technically and economically possible to integrate the complex logic of an integrated vehicle diagnostic system into a miniaturized OBDII connector and to reduce its manufacturing costs from currently 120 EUR to less than 10 EUR. AUTOAID will develop and commercialise two different models responding to different customer needs and requirements:
• Bluetooth version: Connectivity depends on the cell phone presence in the car. Very low hardware cost (Commercial price: 10€) and basic functionality (service subscription cost: 19€/year)
• SIM card version: Device permanently and independently connected to the cloud platform. Low hardware cost (Commercial price: 18 €) and full functionality (service subscription cost: 39€/year).
- Competitors:
• Existing competitors face the tremendous complexity beyond the normed OBDII standard derived by the different manufacturer specific protocols and individual diagnostic data needed for each carmaker and model
• Current OBDII dongles are either application-specific closed environments or cannot read the whole communication dataset produced by the car. Therefore, none of existing OBDII dongles offer the possibility to widely retrofit the EU carpark but only a limited subset and with limited functionality since they cannot acquire the whole car dataset.
• OPTEPLA will reduce dongle price by 60-80% with respect to comparable competitors.
- Market readiness: AUTOAID has reached pre-commercial agreements with some of the most representative stakeholders (car workshops and insurance companies) and potential large scale buyers (car renting and car sharing companies) therefore confirming the willingness to buy our product/service.
- FTO and other market barriers: AUTOAID has confirmed freedom to operate as well as elaborated a market introduction plan to overcome potential market barriers.
OPTEPLA will critically contribute to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the number of deaths by car accidents and to support methods for more effective use of cars and automobile fleets. As consequence of SME instrument phase 1, AUTOAID has confirmed the business opportunity and therefore decided to proceed with phase 2 submission that shall cover the last steps towards market readiness and commercial exploitation of the OPTEPLA dongle and platform that should reach the market by 2018.
Once in the market we expect to reach commercial agreements with stakeholders such as insurance companies, car rental/sharing companies, car workshops, etc. that will offer advanced services to their customers thanks to OPTEPLA hardware and open data platform. These stakeholders will either develop their own applications based on the data made available in the OPTEPLA portal or re-use applications developed by other third parties generating a open-data-based ecosystem that will generate +55M€ revenues by 2023.
- A small and cost effective OBDII device (dongle) for the acquisition and transmission of the entire dataset produced by vehicle’ electronics and built-in sensors and
- An open data platform, which receives, formats and analyses these data making them available to third parties that can develop added value applications and services based on this data, generating an open-data-based service ecosystem.
Currently there is no technical solution in the aftermarket, by which any car manufacturer/model and for every installed electronic control unit (ECU) the communications data can be acquired and exported to an internet environment.
Third party developers will develop innovative connected car applications such as remote car diagnostics and predictive maintenance systems, intelligent driving assistance systems, mapping of CO2 emissions or fine dust concentrations or remote opening/closing car door technology, etc.
Thanks to this technology it will be very simple and cost-efficient to retrofit most of the existing vehicles in Europe (all vehicles that include OBDII, i.e. around 90% of EU passenger cars) allowing them to fully benefit from a wide variety of telematics services.
In the feasibility study of phase 1 AUTOAID has confirmed the following aspects that were considered critical for successful commercialisation of OPTEPLA:
- Feasibility: It is confirmed that it is technically and economically possible to integrate the complex logic of an integrated vehicle diagnostic system into a miniaturized OBDII connector and to reduce its manufacturing costs from currently 120 EUR to less than 10 EUR. AUTOAID will develop and commercialise two different models responding to different customer needs and requirements:
• Bluetooth version: Connectivity depends on the cell phone presence in the car. Very low hardware cost (Commercial price: 10€) and basic functionality (service subscription cost: 19€/year)
• SIM card version: Device permanently and independently connected to the cloud platform. Low hardware cost (Commercial price: 18 €) and full functionality (service subscription cost: 39€/year).
- Competitors:
• Existing competitors face the tremendous complexity beyond the normed OBDII standard derived by the different manufacturer specific protocols and individual diagnostic data needed for each carmaker and model
• Current OBDII dongles are either application-specific closed environments or cannot read the whole communication dataset produced by the car. Therefore, none of existing OBDII dongles offer the possibility to widely retrofit the EU carpark but only a limited subset and with limited functionality since they cannot acquire the whole car dataset.
• OPTEPLA will reduce dongle price by 60-80% with respect to comparable competitors.
- Market readiness: AUTOAID has reached pre-commercial agreements with some of the most representative stakeholders (car workshops and insurance companies) and potential large scale buyers (car renting and car sharing companies) therefore confirming the willingness to buy our product/service.
- FTO and other market barriers: AUTOAID has confirmed freedom to operate as well as elaborated a market introduction plan to overcome potential market barriers.
OPTEPLA will critically contribute to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the number of deaths by car accidents and to support methods for more effective use of cars and automobile fleets. As consequence of SME instrument phase 1, AUTOAID has confirmed the business opportunity and therefore decided to proceed with phase 2 submission that shall cover the last steps towards market readiness and commercial exploitation of the OPTEPLA dongle and platform that should reach the market by 2018.
Once in the market we expect to reach commercial agreements with stakeholders such as insurance companies, car rental/sharing companies, car workshops, etc. that will offer advanced services to their customers thanks to OPTEPLA hardware and open data platform. These stakeholders will either develop their own applications based on the data made available in the OPTEPLA portal or re-use applications developed by other third parties generating a open-data-based ecosystem that will generate +55M€ revenues by 2023.
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
Task 1: Technical study
Work performed and results achieved in task 1
The main objective of the technical study in phase 1 was to confirm the technical viability on the OBDII hardware allowing AUTOAID to achieve a cost-effective OBDII-Dongle (I) as an important element of the business plan. The objective was to find out how and with what component the biggest savings can be achieved in the design and manufacturing of the OBDII-Dongle. Further technical analyses have been made on the power consumption (II) on the communication efficiency of the OBDII dongle (III).
I. Feasibility study on OBDII hardware price and size
In order to make a systematic analysis the hardware was divided into four functional areas and analysed separately. For the final conclusion also cross-functional optimisations were analysed. Starting point for cost analysis was the latest AUTOAID vehicle interface for workshops diagnostics which has all physical interfaces installed. The functional dimensions of a multi-brand OBDII diagnostic tool are:
1. Physical interfaces for communication with vehicle bus systems.
2. Power supply as every bus system needs individual voltage (3-16 V).
3. Control logic including CPU and firmware controlling diagnostic functions and real time handling of multiplexer with over voltage protection and electrical shielding.
4. Multiplexer allowing to connect to all of the 16 pins on OBDII.
We then analysed each functional area in the following five dimensions that have an influence on the price:
a) Functional scope
b) Circuit design
c) New Technologies
d) Size
e) Volume
1) Analysis of physical hardware interfaces like CAN etc.
1a) Results on functional scope: When starting to design AUTOAID´s first VCI back in 2010 (v1), AUTOAID analysed the European, Asian and American carpark and determined all physical interfaces that the vehicles used for the diagnostics communication. The company also analysed specialised publications on future technologies of vehicle communications and diagnostics to make sure that new communication interface will be introduced in the automotive sector that haven´t been taken into consideration. After being sure that all the existing and foreseen solutions were taken into consideration AUTOAID started the design of the hardware and went into testing. Today, with more than 2,000 workshops as our customers and over 50k diagnostic scans made, we have the confidence that we did not miss any physical interface and are able to communicate with every passenger vehicle which is currently on the market. Based on the data gathered over several years, we have analysed our hardware against the real world usage and checked the diagnosis made if all interfaces were really used from our customers.
Fig. 1: Table with analysis of diagnosis and percentage of usage (see report attached)
After a detailed analysis of current carpark it turned out that the physical interfaces Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPW are rarely used. By leaving away those three interfaces, a reduction of the bill of material (BOM) is possible. Also rarely used we know from our diagnostic tools that it is important to support all vehicles to maximize user acceptance in the market.
1b) Results on circuit design: We have made an analysis of our current circuit design and parts installed to check if a different design of the circuits for the physical interfaces allows us taking less or cheaper parts. For the PWM and VPWM circuitry, a cost reduction of 97% is possible. This is realized by using standard and therefore cheap transistors and operation amplifiers instead of expensive optocouplers like before. For all other physical interfaces no cost reduction by changing the circuitry can be realized.
1c) Results on new technology: Yes, there are more advanced technologies that lead to lower costs. We have evaluated the option to integrate the physical interfaces into an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This would reduce the costs by 91% compared to the current design as current cost for low volume orders are over 40 EUR and the price for an ASIC would be starting from 3,25 EUR for low volume.
1d) Results on size: To achieve a smaller size it is possible to use more layers on the board. By taking a six layer board instead of the currently used two layers it is possible to reduce the size by 50%. The more layers taken the higher is the price. But as you save 50% on material at the same time size will be much smaller at no extra costs. To achieve the desired size of 2 x 4 cm it is necessary to reduce the overall amount of parts and integrate the physical interface into one part as described in 1c.
1d) Results on volume: Our request for volume of 100,000 pcs has shown that with volume higher than 100,000 pieces it is possible to reach savings of up to 65% per component regardless if you buy all interface parts separately or if you use an ASIC to realize the physical interfaces. The price for the first option would then be 3,60 EUR and for the high volume order of an ASIC 1,30 EUR.
2) Analysis of the power supply as every bus system needs individual voltage (3-16 V)
2a) Results on functional scope: Savings on the power supply (8V) would have been possible if we would have had decided to leave away the physical interfaces Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPWM. We decided not to do so due to market acceptance criteria.
2b) Results on circuit design: Also we keep the 8V power supply it is possible to save on this by redesigning the circuit and using other cheaper parts.
2c) Results on new technologies: No newer technologies were found that could be used to realize lower prices.
2d) Results on size: Same effects like under 1d) can be achieved by taking six instead of two layer board design.
2e) Results on volume: Same effects like under 1e) can be achieved. By placing orders higher than 100,000 pcs cost saving are at around 60-65% per part.
3) Analysis of the control logic including CPU and firmware controlling diagnostic functions and real time handling of multiplexer with over voltage protection and electrical shielding
3a) Results on functional scope: No potential for savings, as a performing control logic is mandatory.
3b) Results on circuit design: By taking another CPU with more performance and more General Purpose Input Output Pins it is possible to realize a more centralized logic control design allowing to reduce the overall number of parts for this circuit. Also the new CPU has more internal storage allowing to leave away the external memory for the same price like the old one.
3c) Results on new technologies: We have considered the option to integrate control logic including the CPU as a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) together with the physical interfaces and the the multiplexer circuit. Compared to the integration of physical interfaces with the multiplexer circuit into one ASIC no major cost and form factor saving (size) can be achieved. But development cost and complexity would rise from 290k EUR to 450k EUR and development time would increase from 12 to 24 month. It is therefore not feasible to integrate the control logic into one SoC.
3d) Results on size: By taking another CPU like described in 3b and using six instead of two layers the size for the control logic can be reduced by 80%. The use of a SoC like described in 3c would only lead to small savings on the size would lead to much higher development costs.
3e) Results on volume: Same effects like under 1e) can be achieved. By placing orders higher than 100,000 pcs cost saving are at around 60-65% per part.
4) Multiplexer allowing to connect to all of the 16 pins on OBDII
4a) Results on functional scope: Again the waiving of Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPWM would have allowed us to reduce overall parts. We decided not to do so due to market acceptance criteria.
4b) Results on circuit design: The objective of this task was to study the potential costs reduction for the multiplexer cascade of currently six separate 8x1 multiplexers. First AUTOAID considered a reduction of the total number of multiplexer chips. Using the results from 1a) and 4a) it was found that, in principle, it is possible to use only five 8x1 chips to maintain the relevant functionality for the most important interfaces, but it would be necessary to add additional components and a more complex switching logic. This would lead to an increased size and costs. Higher costs have demonstrated to be a severe barrier to market take-up.
4c) Results on new technologies: With the same approach as in 1e) an ASIC design of the multiplexer cascade would yield the biggest savings.
4d) Results on size: The use of a six layer board would allow to decrease the package size for the multiplexer cascade by 75%.
4e) Results on savings: With an order for 100,000 dongles which results to 600,000 needed multiplexers (100,000 x 6) a price per part of 1,53 EUR could be realized, or 9,20 EUR for the whole multiplexer cascade. But for the cascade realized as an ASIC with a final price per piece of 1,55 EUR (100.000 pcs. order) much higher savings could be made.
Fig. 2: Price overview of AUTOAID hardware versions and price decrease (see report attached)
Conclusion:
We have analysed our current interface to see if and how we could reduce the size of the dongle design to 4x2 cm and decrease the price to under 10 EUR production costs. With the use of a 6 layer board instead of 2 layer board and building a highly integrated ASIC of both, multiplexer cascade and physical interfaces, it is possible to achieve the desired criteria. Also integrating both circuits into one ASIC is more economic as the price per part is calculated with 1,55 EUR (100.000 pcs), whereas if you take the two separate ASICs for the two circuits each one is 1,39 EUR (100.000 pcs). An offer from a potential manufacturing partner estimates the effort for the ASIC integration (without CPU) to be 290k EUR with a development time of 12 months.
II. Analysis of power consumption
The objective of this task was to conduct a feasibility study to reduce and optimize the power consumption of the device. As the device is powered through the car battery, it is important that it consumes as little power as possible, so that there is no negative impact on the car especially when it stands still for a long time.
Result:
At a voltage level of 12V, the AUTOAID vehicle communication interface has a total power consumption of 165 mA in idle mode and 234 mA with active communications.
Since only one of the physical communication interfaces can be active at the same time, power consumption can be reduced through switching-off all unused interfaces. In addition to that, the CPU and the remaining components can be put into a sleep mode when the vehicle is standing for a longer time and no communications are necessary. We have therefore evaluated a different CPU which supports sleep mode and has also lower power consumption when running.
The switching between sleep mode and active mode can be detected through an acceleration sensor which detects movement of the car and a voltage sensor which detects the drop in voltage caused by the alternator when the car is started. These components have extremely low power consumption and can be used to “wake up” the CPU, when necessary. With a boot time of less than 6ms for the CPU, switching between sleep mode and active mode will hardly be noticeable and will not have an impact on the use cases.
The following table shows the results of our evaluation of the power consumption and possible savings for the individual components. The options have been evaluated on a prototype test board with appropriate circuitry and adequate firmware logic and showed that the power consumption can be cut in half on average for the active state and a total power consumption of less than 1 mA in sleep mode is possible.
Fig. 3: Power consumption of OPTEPLA dongle compared to current AUTOAID VCI design (see report attached)
For the prototype configuration with all optimisations and sleep mode, a typical car battery will last for over 5 years when the car is not started. This is more than sufficient for all use cases. Finally an integrated ASIC will lead to even less power consumption as less parts are involved.
III. Analysis of communication efficiency
The objective of this task was to ensure stable and efficient data communication between device and server under the constraints of slow and unreliable communications standards (GPRS) and high latency over the mobile cellular network.
Results:
Several options to reduce data size and compensate for latency have been evaluated:
With increased latency and unstable communication channels over the mobile network, it is necessary that the main logic to handle the vehicle communication is embedded into the firmware of the device. Our analysis has shown that this is possible, because the CPU and firmware are real-time capable. We have verified that with this modification and a memory buffer, the device is able to compensate for loss of communications with the server even if it lasts for several hours. As soon as communication is re-established, the device will transmit the recorded data to the server.
As far as the transferred data volume is concerned, this was never an issue for AUTOAID’s diagnostics system which uses WIFI or broadband internet. Therefore, no optimisation had been performed so far. Our analysis showed that the total data to be transferred can be reduced by 98% when we implement a logic control that only transfers those datasets necessary for the use case or application in use. In fact, only some values need to be monitored permanently and a complete vehicle scan over all control units is necessary only once when the dongle is installed. Additional optimisation potential exists when values are monitored using an event-based logic. For example, to record stops at a petrol station, it is sufficient to monitor the fuel level only at the events when the vehicle is stopped and started. The difference will yield the amount of fuel that has been filled in.
Further optimisation potential exists regarding the encoding of data packets. The XML-format which is currently used contains high redundancy and meta data and is not very efficient in terms of packet size. Binary formats such as MQTT or Google Protocol Buffers are much more appropriate for mobile communication channels. Our analysis has shown that a reduction by 87% percent in data size is possible for a typical use case.
As consequence of the analysis performed and the previous considerations to reduce the amount of data to be transferred, a typical data plan of 10MB/month will be sufficient to serve all use cases.
Overall conclusion on the technical study
The evaluation has shown that it is also possible to reduce the production costs of the OBDII dongle with the capabilities of a full diagnostic tool to 10 EUR with the size of only 4x2 cm and therefore close the existing technical gap in the market. This can especially achieved by designing and developing an ASIC which combines the physical interfaces and the multiplexer cascade circuitry into one single chip and using six instead of 2 layer boards.
Furthermore we able to confirm that it is possible to solve the technical problems regarding data size, stable communications and power consumption that would otherwise prevent the use as a telematics device which is permanently installed in a car.
Technical Work plan for Phase 2
Description of work
WP1 Hardware and Software-platform development (12 month)
Task 1.1: Analysis and architecture of OPTEPLA
Analysis of main architecture components: telematics hardware, software architecture, database, communications, and storage.
Task 1.2 Hardware development
1. Develop ASIC which includes physical interfaces (HS-CAN, LS-CAN, SW-CAN, KL, PWM and VPWM and the multiplexer (MUX)
2. Integrate CPU incl. High-Speed Data
Buffer + Flash Memory and adapt firmware + Bootloader for OTA
3. Integrate communication modules: Bluetooth 4.1. LE and GSM/GPRS (3G/LTE optional) and antennas
4. Integrate GPS with assisted GPS and 3D auto-calibration acceleration sensor module
5. Develop minimized board (6-layer PCB), place parts and rout circuits
6. Design and construct plastic casing
Task 1.3: Infrastructure Setup
1. Develop the infrastructure architecture based on commodity servers running Debian Linux (Apache, MySQL, Elasticsearch). Purchase servers and install OS, software packages, certificates, infrastructures and services
2. Deploy the architecture over 3 environments (Staging, Testing and Production).
Task 1.4: Backend development
1. Develop REST-API components with Symfony and PHP
2. Develop users and roles management and billing module
3. Develop telematics functions management instance
4. Develop HW device management
5. Develop HW device API and communications using google protocol buffers
6. Develop iOS and Android native SDKs
Task 1.5 Frontend Development
1. Develop Dashboard frontend on Backbone and Bootstrap
2. Develop Login and registrations screens for developers including API and SDK descriptions
3. Develop telematics functions applications and HW device store
Task 1.6 Adaption of diagnostics server
1. Develop interfaces between platform backend and diagnostics server for telematics applications
2. Standardize nomenclature of vehicle parameters in database to support telematics functions for all manufacturers
Task 1.7: Internal testing
Vehicle testing of the first hardware prototype on multiple brands. Manage internal testing of the software and hardware prototype I and bridge internal product owner feedback with application and hardware technical design. The result from this first test version and prototype testing on functionalities, usability and interface will produce the alpha version to be tested in WP2.
Deliverables
D1.1: Platform in alpha version (M12) including:
● 120 pieces of fully tested and functional OBDII Dongles (hardware prototype I)
● Infrastructure fully deployed
● Backend and API source codes
● Frontend source code
● Adjusted data base for telematics functions
● Documentation: Architecture diagrams, Database diagrams, database and objects modelling
● Developers API and documentation available on frontend
Fig. 4: Technical Architecture of OPTEPLA
WP2 Alpha-Version testing (6 month)
Objectives
The main objective of WP2 is to open the project to a controlled group of 4 potential customers as alpha testers, to test all the functionalities of the platform from hardware to the developer API and use the solution to develop own beta telematics applications for different use case (remote vehicle diagnostics, UBI etc.) to measure the adaptation and integration levels. It is also important to check and fix security vulnerabilities.
Description of work
Task 2.1 Technical support to hardware testing (alpha testing)
1. Distribution of 100 AUTOAID OBDII Prototype I dongles to 4 testing partners allowing each of them to test the hardware on 100 different vehicles (20 vehicles each testing partner except insurance business case that will test 40 vehicles) from randomly chosen manufacturers.
2. Monitoring, analysis and validation of vehicle parameters.
3. Bug fixing and firmware revision of hardware.
4. Obtain necessary certifications (CE, FCC, E-Labelling).
Task 2.2: Technical Support to platform testing
1. Open the platform to beta testers systems. API implementation and integration support.
2. Help 5 beta-test-partners to put hands on the platform and use it. Bug fixing and installation testing.
3. Support the implementation of native SDKs and its integration.
4. Monitor the system and the performance of all components in the platform.
Deliverables
D2: Beta-version of software and prototype II of hardware (M18), which includes:
● 1.500 pieces of OBDII Dongles for beta test and demo (hardware prototype II).
● Beta version of AUTOAID Open Telematics Platform released.
● Certifications for hardware issued.
WP3 Beta-version testing and product finalization (6 month)
Objectives
The main objective of WP3 is to announce the project to public and open the testing to a group of 7 test partners with 1.500 vehicles to test all the functionalities of the platform, the API perspectives, and integrate the solution on beta testers systems to measure the adaptation, and integration levels. It is also important to check and fix security vulnerabilities and check and fix performance bottlenecks.
Tests will be performed in real business environments and on public roads in order to test how the telematics system works in the real automotive business context of the 7 beta-testers and 1.500 vehicles.
Task 3.1: Beta version testing and platform fine tuning
1. Demonstration in operational environment.
2. Collect feedback provided by the beta testers both technical and business.
3. Platform and hardware fine-tuning: Fix technical minor and medium risk bugs and incidents. Analyse new features or functionalities proposed by the beta testers and implement them.
Task 3.2: Finalisation of product development
● Optimization of hardware for mass production and finalize hardware.
● Re-validate hardware certifications (CE, FCC, E-Labelling).
● Setup and deploy platform to production environment.
● Obtain certifications for platform security and data integrity.
Deliverables
D3: Final version of the product tested and market-ready, which includes (M24)
● Finalization of hardware and software.
● User manual and guide.
● Certificates for hard and software.
● Mass production partner for hardware signed.
Task 2: Market and economic study
Work performed and results achieved in task 2
Target users and needs addressed by OPTEPLA
Target users are passenger vehicles owners including individual owners, rental/leasing companies, logistic/transport companies, car sharing fleets, etc.
The users’ needs addressed by OPTEPLA are: Remote and predictive vehicle diagnostics, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, usage-based insurance, drive log and other convenience applications developed by third party developers and businesses.
The target commercial stakeholders are telematics applications developers. They have the user requirement to access complete control unit datasets, which become the basis for new applications development to be offered on the B2C and B2B aftermarket.
The commercial stakeholders’ needs addressed by OPTEPLA are:
- Insurances: Offer high added value services to their customers and allow them the correct risk assessment by calculate insurance premiums on the basis of real driving habit data and real vehicle use, reduce fraud associated to car insurance, reconstruct car accidents, identify customer´s training need for safer driving and directly give feedback to improve driving or communicate warnings (e.g. traffic jam, slippery roads, accidents or wrong-way driver ahead)
- Car workshops and road-side assistances: Offer high added value services to their customers, create loyalty programs, offer remote and predictive diagnosis, locate the vehicle in a case of a breakdown, personalized seamless attention throughout different workshops thanks to car datasets stored in the cloud platform.
- Car-sharing and car-rental: Make much more efficient the rental process since no key hand-over and almost no inspection or human interaction could be necessary (Remote doors opening/closing, automatic retrieval of rental data such as distance, gas tank level, any incident registered, etc.).
- Public administration: Improve CO2 monitoring, optimise traffic management, urban and inter-urban mobility planning, develop other environmental services based on data gathered by cars.
The following image describes how the relationship is between users, commercial stakeholders and OPTEPLA:
Fig. 4: Process scheme of OPTEPLA
OPTEPLA will basically consist of a platform that gathers data from the car, processes them and finally offer them as open data-sets making possible for the first time:
- For commercial stakeholders (potential applications developers) to create advanced services without requiring them to obtain knowledge in complex vehicle data aggregation and hardware development. The provision of barrier free access to manufacturer specific complete electronic control unit datasets access on the internet is the central USP of this innovation project and also a main economic benefit from the commercial stakeholders’ point of view. Thanks to the services developed they will make their businesses processes more efficient and competitive, create new revenue streams or gain insights on complex information and users’ behaviour that will support decision-making.
- For large car fleets owners (car renting / car sharing) or even individual car owners to access advanced and high added value services at extremely low cost. These services will be offered by commercial stakeholders or other service developers (not directly by AUTOAID). The provision of high-added value services at a fraction of cost is the USP to car owners.
Target market analysis: Size, growth and main trends
According to European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) in 2013 there were:
- In the EU: 250 million passenger cars and 38 million commercial vehicles. (Tot: 288 million)
- In the USA: 120 million passenger cars and 133 million commercial vehicles. (Tot: 253 million)
Worldwide there are in total around 865 million passenger cars and 317 million commercial vehicles. AUTOAID will focus on EU (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK) and USA markets and only on passenger cars. This segmentation leaves a potential market for OPTEPLA of around 300 million passenger cars.
As it was previously confirmed OBDII is mandatory in cars since 2000 for cars with gasoline engine and since 2004 cars with Diesel engines . An average vehicles in the EU is 9,65 years old . Therefore it has been estimated that around 85-90% of vehicles in EU and USA are already equipped with OBDII and their owners will be potential customers for OPTEPLA when the product reaches the market (Q3-2018). This additional segmentation reduces the potential number of users (vehicles) to 270 million passenger cars.
Some vehicles in the top and luxury segment already include embedded OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) telematics (see Fig. 5) allowing them to exploit data from control unit. Individual car owners might be perfectly fine with OEM installed telematics but for those stakeholders that have a large fleet composed of many different vehicles (carmaker and model) it is still extremely complicated or not at all possible to fully exploit benefits from telematics and data analytic as OEM who equip their cars with telematics like e.g. Audi, Opel, BMW or Mercedes do not share telematics data with third parties at all. Therefore even retrofitting vehicles that include OEM telematics with OPTEPLA can still bring a critical added value for commercial stakeholders, large fleets’ owners, public administration and other entities that need to perform analyses on large groups of different vehicles. Nonetheless, the following market analysis and business plan will exclusively focus on the aftermarket assuming a simpler and more conservative approach to market size and opportunities.
Therefore, OPTEPLA resides within the overall market of consumers or aftermarket of vehicle telematics. This market currently presides over a market volume of approximately 20 billion EUR. According to a study this will expand to 40 billion EUR by 2018, and will grow annually by 20% after 2020. The innovation project is a subcategory of OBDII telematics. The worldwide number of subscribers to OBDII aftermarket telematics solutions is expected to increase from 9.5 million in 2014 to 117.8 million in 2019 , . These studies confirm the huge potential and fast growth trend that it is expected for this market.
Geographic market analysis
As initially indicated, OPTEPLA will focus on EU and North-America as main markets in the market introduction phase. In later phases the Asian and Latin American markets will also be considered. The main aspects that have to be taken into account from a geographic point of view are:
Europe: Established market for automotive telematics system (Priority for market introduction: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK).
Though the automotive industry in Europe is recovering from the downturn of 2009 and is now growing at a stable pace, the automotive telematics market is growing at a faster rate. Europe is a major market for automotive telematics and home to a number of automotive telematics OEM hardware suppliers such as Robert Bosch (Germany), Magneti Marelli (Italy), Delphi (U.K.) and Continental AG (Germany). The concerns regarding safety of the driver and occupants has increased the usage of telematics services in this region. Mandating of equipping new vehicles with eCall has also increased the telematics market in Europe and this decision has also fostered aftermarket growth due to the need to retrofitting technology to vehicles that are already in use.
North America: Largest market for automotive telematics (Priority for market introduction: USA)
The North American region comprises of U.S. Mexico, and Canada. Mexico is an emerging market in this region. The United States New Car Assessment Program (US NCAP) is a flagship consumer information program by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the coming years, US NCAP will adjust its rating system to reflect improvements in the safety features of U.S. vehicles. This will make it difficult for a vehicle to achieve top ratings unless it is equipped with safety systems, thus encouraging the aftermarket telematics uptake. Also, mandatory regulations related to telematics services will also benefit the market.
Asia-Oceania: Automotive Telematics market shows healthy growth rate (Long term target for OPTEPLA)
The Asia-Oceania region includes countries such as China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Thailand. The automotive telematics market in Asia-Oceania is estimated to grow at a promising CAGR. The roadblocks for the market are identified as lack of infrastructure, lack of government initiatives, and low levels of awareness in the Asian region. The presence of major European and U.S. automobile manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Audi, and BMW is driving the automotive telematics market in Asia-Oceania. This market will be closely followed by AUTOAID in order to identify the best moment to launch OPTEPLA commercial services in this region.
Target market analysis: Structure, competitors and main stakeholders; How AUTOAID and OPTEPLA will position in this ecosystem
The vehicle telematics service offering and competitors’ structure responds to the following structure:
Fig. 5: Categorization of telematics providers compared to AUTOAID OPTEPLA (see report attached)
Within the previous structure, OPTEPLA belongs to the aftermarket and within aftermarket to Plug&Play or retrofitting equipment. With respect to the other three market segments OPTEPLA brings the following key benefits:
Main competitors: Qualitative comparative analysis per market segment (see report attached)
Main competitors: Technical-economic comparative analysis (see report attached)
As conclusion of phase 1, AUTOAID has confirmed that OPTEPLA hardware commercial price will be fixed around 10 EUR (For the Bluetooth version) and 18 EUR (For the SIM card version). This huge cost reduction with respect to competitors (75% with respect to the currently cheapest device) will be one of the main economic benefits for the end users and one of the key aspects for facilitating the rapid market introduction. Hardware co
st c
Work performed and results achieved in task 1
The main objective of the technical study in phase 1 was to confirm the technical viability on the OBDII hardware allowing AUTOAID to achieve a cost-effective OBDII-Dongle (I) as an important element of the business plan. The objective was to find out how and with what component the biggest savings can be achieved in the design and manufacturing of the OBDII-Dongle. Further technical analyses have been made on the power consumption (II) on the communication efficiency of the OBDII dongle (III).
I. Feasibility study on OBDII hardware price and size
In order to make a systematic analysis the hardware was divided into four functional areas and analysed separately. For the final conclusion also cross-functional optimisations were analysed. Starting point for cost analysis was the latest AUTOAID vehicle interface for workshops diagnostics which has all physical interfaces installed. The functional dimensions of a multi-brand OBDII diagnostic tool are:
1. Physical interfaces for communication with vehicle bus systems.
2. Power supply as every bus system needs individual voltage (3-16 V).
3. Control logic including CPU and firmware controlling diagnostic functions and real time handling of multiplexer with over voltage protection and electrical shielding.
4. Multiplexer allowing to connect to all of the 16 pins on OBDII.
We then analysed each functional area in the following five dimensions that have an influence on the price:
a) Functional scope
b) Circuit design
c) New Technologies
d) Size
e) Volume
1) Analysis of physical hardware interfaces like CAN etc.
1a) Results on functional scope: When starting to design AUTOAID´s first VCI back in 2010 (v1), AUTOAID analysed the European, Asian and American carpark and determined all physical interfaces that the vehicles used for the diagnostics communication. The company also analysed specialised publications on future technologies of vehicle communications and diagnostics to make sure that new communication interface will be introduced in the automotive sector that haven´t been taken into consideration. After being sure that all the existing and foreseen solutions were taken into consideration AUTOAID started the design of the hardware and went into testing. Today, with more than 2,000 workshops as our customers and over 50k diagnostic scans made, we have the confidence that we did not miss any physical interface and are able to communicate with every passenger vehicle which is currently on the market. Based on the data gathered over several years, we have analysed our hardware against the real world usage and checked the diagnosis made if all interfaces were really used from our customers.
Fig. 1: Table with analysis of diagnosis and percentage of usage (see report attached)
After a detailed analysis of current carpark it turned out that the physical interfaces Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPW are rarely used. By leaving away those three interfaces, a reduction of the bill of material (BOM) is possible. Also rarely used we know from our diagnostic tools that it is important to support all vehicles to maximize user acceptance in the market.
1b) Results on circuit design: We have made an analysis of our current circuit design and parts installed to check if a different design of the circuits for the physical interfaces allows us taking less or cheaper parts. For the PWM and VPWM circuitry, a cost reduction of 97% is possible. This is realized by using standard and therefore cheap transistors and operation amplifiers instead of expensive optocouplers like before. For all other physical interfaces no cost reduction by changing the circuitry can be realized.
1c) Results on new technology: Yes, there are more advanced technologies that lead to lower costs. We have evaluated the option to integrate the physical interfaces into an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This would reduce the costs by 91% compared to the current design as current cost for low volume orders are over 40 EUR and the price for an ASIC would be starting from 3,25 EUR for low volume.
1d) Results on size: To achieve a smaller size it is possible to use more layers on the board. By taking a six layer board instead of the currently used two layers it is possible to reduce the size by 50%. The more layers taken the higher is the price. But as you save 50% on material at the same time size will be much smaller at no extra costs. To achieve the desired size of 2 x 4 cm it is necessary to reduce the overall amount of parts and integrate the physical interface into one part as described in 1c.
1d) Results on volume: Our request for volume of 100,000 pcs has shown that with volume higher than 100,000 pieces it is possible to reach savings of up to 65% per component regardless if you buy all interface parts separately or if you use an ASIC to realize the physical interfaces. The price for the first option would then be 3,60 EUR and for the high volume order of an ASIC 1,30 EUR.
2) Analysis of the power supply as every bus system needs individual voltage (3-16 V)
2a) Results on functional scope: Savings on the power supply (8V) would have been possible if we would have had decided to leave away the physical interfaces Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPWM. We decided not to do so due to market acceptance criteria.
2b) Results on circuit design: Also we keep the 8V power supply it is possible to save on this by redesigning the circuit and using other cheaper parts.
2c) Results on new technologies: No newer technologies were found that could be used to realize lower prices.
2d) Results on size: Same effects like under 1d) can be achieved by taking six instead of two layer board design.
2e) Results on volume: Same effects like under 1e) can be achieved. By placing orders higher than 100,000 pcs cost saving are at around 60-65% per part.
3) Analysis of the control logic including CPU and firmware controlling diagnostic functions and real time handling of multiplexer with over voltage protection and electrical shielding
3a) Results on functional scope: No potential for savings, as a performing control logic is mandatory.
3b) Results on circuit design: By taking another CPU with more performance and more General Purpose Input Output Pins it is possible to realize a more centralized logic control design allowing to reduce the overall number of parts for this circuit. Also the new CPU has more internal storage allowing to leave away the external memory for the same price like the old one.
3c) Results on new technologies: We have considered the option to integrate control logic including the CPU as a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) together with the physical interfaces and the the multiplexer circuit. Compared to the integration of physical interfaces with the multiplexer circuit into one ASIC no major cost and form factor saving (size) can be achieved. But development cost and complexity would rise from 290k EUR to 450k EUR and development time would increase from 12 to 24 month. It is therefore not feasible to integrate the control logic into one SoC.
3d) Results on size: By taking another CPU like described in 3b and using six instead of two layers the size for the control logic can be reduced by 80%. The use of a SoC like described in 3c would only lead to small savings on the size would lead to much higher development costs.
3e) Results on volume: Same effects like under 1e) can be achieved. By placing orders higher than 100,000 pcs cost saving are at around 60-65% per part.
4) Multiplexer allowing to connect to all of the 16 pins on OBDII
4a) Results on functional scope: Again the waiving of Low Speed CAN, PWM and VPWM would have allowed us to reduce overall parts. We decided not to do so due to market acceptance criteria.
4b) Results on circuit design: The objective of this task was to study the potential costs reduction for the multiplexer cascade of currently six separate 8x1 multiplexers. First AUTOAID considered a reduction of the total number of multiplexer chips. Using the results from 1a) and 4a) it was found that, in principle, it is possible to use only five 8x1 chips to maintain the relevant functionality for the most important interfaces, but it would be necessary to add additional components and a more complex switching logic. This would lead to an increased size and costs. Higher costs have demonstrated to be a severe barrier to market take-up.
4c) Results on new technologies: With the same approach as in 1e) an ASIC design of the multiplexer cascade would yield the biggest savings.
4d) Results on size: The use of a six layer board would allow to decrease the package size for the multiplexer cascade by 75%.
4e) Results on savings: With an order for 100,000 dongles which results to 600,000 needed multiplexers (100,000 x 6) a price per part of 1,53 EUR could be realized, or 9,20 EUR for the whole multiplexer cascade. But for the cascade realized as an ASIC with a final price per piece of 1,55 EUR (100.000 pcs. order) much higher savings could be made.
Fig. 2: Price overview of AUTOAID hardware versions and price decrease (see report attached)
Conclusion:
We have analysed our current interface to see if and how we could reduce the size of the dongle design to 4x2 cm and decrease the price to under 10 EUR production costs. With the use of a 6 layer board instead of 2 layer board and building a highly integrated ASIC of both, multiplexer cascade and physical interfaces, it is possible to achieve the desired criteria. Also integrating both circuits into one ASIC is more economic as the price per part is calculated with 1,55 EUR (100.000 pcs), whereas if you take the two separate ASICs for the two circuits each one is 1,39 EUR (100.000 pcs). An offer from a potential manufacturing partner estimates the effort for the ASIC integration (without CPU) to be 290k EUR with a development time of 12 months.
II. Analysis of power consumption
The objective of this task was to conduct a feasibility study to reduce and optimize the power consumption of the device. As the device is powered through the car battery, it is important that it consumes as little power as possible, so that there is no negative impact on the car especially when it stands still for a long time.
Result:
At a voltage level of 12V, the AUTOAID vehicle communication interface has a total power consumption of 165 mA in idle mode and 234 mA with active communications.
Since only one of the physical communication interfaces can be active at the same time, power consumption can be reduced through switching-off all unused interfaces. In addition to that, the CPU and the remaining components can be put into a sleep mode when the vehicle is standing for a longer time and no communications are necessary. We have therefore evaluated a different CPU which supports sleep mode and has also lower power consumption when running.
The switching between sleep mode and active mode can be detected through an acceleration sensor which detects movement of the car and a voltage sensor which detects the drop in voltage caused by the alternator when the car is started. These components have extremely low power consumption and can be used to “wake up” the CPU, when necessary. With a boot time of less than 6ms for the CPU, switching between sleep mode and active mode will hardly be noticeable and will not have an impact on the use cases.
The following table shows the results of our evaluation of the power consumption and possible savings for the individual components. The options have been evaluated on a prototype test board with appropriate circuitry and adequate firmware logic and showed that the power consumption can be cut in half on average for the active state and a total power consumption of less than 1 mA in sleep mode is possible.
Fig. 3: Power consumption of OPTEPLA dongle compared to current AUTOAID VCI design (see report attached)
For the prototype configuration with all optimisations and sleep mode, a typical car battery will last for over 5 years when the car is not started. This is more than sufficient for all use cases. Finally an integrated ASIC will lead to even less power consumption as less parts are involved.
III. Analysis of communication efficiency
The objective of this task was to ensure stable and efficient data communication between device and server under the constraints of slow and unreliable communications standards (GPRS) and high latency over the mobile cellular network.
Results:
Several options to reduce data size and compensate for latency have been evaluated:
With increased latency and unstable communication channels over the mobile network, it is necessary that the main logic to handle the vehicle communication is embedded into the firmware of the device. Our analysis has shown that this is possible, because the CPU and firmware are real-time capable. We have verified that with this modification and a memory buffer, the device is able to compensate for loss of communications with the server even if it lasts for several hours. As soon as communication is re-established, the device will transmit the recorded data to the server.
As far as the transferred data volume is concerned, this was never an issue for AUTOAID’s diagnostics system which uses WIFI or broadband internet. Therefore, no optimisation had been performed so far. Our analysis showed that the total data to be transferred can be reduced by 98% when we implement a logic control that only transfers those datasets necessary for the use case or application in use. In fact, only some values need to be monitored permanently and a complete vehicle scan over all control units is necessary only once when the dongle is installed. Additional optimisation potential exists when values are monitored using an event-based logic. For example, to record stops at a petrol station, it is sufficient to monitor the fuel level only at the events when the vehicle is stopped and started. The difference will yield the amount of fuel that has been filled in.
Further optimisation potential exists regarding the encoding of data packets. The XML-format which is currently used contains high redundancy and meta data and is not very efficient in terms of packet size. Binary formats such as MQTT or Google Protocol Buffers are much more appropriate for mobile communication channels. Our analysis has shown that a reduction by 87% percent in data size is possible for a typical use case.
As consequence of the analysis performed and the previous considerations to reduce the amount of data to be transferred, a typical data plan of 10MB/month will be sufficient to serve all use cases.
Overall conclusion on the technical study
The evaluation has shown that it is also possible to reduce the production costs of the OBDII dongle with the capabilities of a full diagnostic tool to 10 EUR with the size of only 4x2 cm and therefore close the existing technical gap in the market. This can especially achieved by designing and developing an ASIC which combines the physical interfaces and the multiplexer cascade circuitry into one single chip and using six instead of 2 layer boards.
Furthermore we able to confirm that it is possible to solve the technical problems regarding data size, stable communications and power consumption that would otherwise prevent the use as a telematics device which is permanently installed in a car.
Technical Work plan for Phase 2
Description of work
WP1 Hardware and Software-platform development (12 month)
Task 1.1: Analysis and architecture of OPTEPLA
Analysis of main architecture components: telematics hardware, software architecture, database, communications, and storage.
Task 1.2 Hardware development
1. Develop ASIC which includes physical interfaces (HS-CAN, LS-CAN, SW-CAN, KL, PWM and VPWM and the multiplexer (MUX)
2. Integrate CPU incl. High-Speed Data
Buffer + Flash Memory and adapt firmware + Bootloader for OTA
3. Integrate communication modules: Bluetooth 4.1. LE and GSM/GPRS (3G/LTE optional) and antennas
4. Integrate GPS with assisted GPS and 3D auto-calibration acceleration sensor module
5. Develop minimized board (6-layer PCB), place parts and rout circuits
6. Design and construct plastic casing
Task 1.3: Infrastructure Setup
1. Develop the infrastructure architecture based on commodity servers running Debian Linux (Apache, MySQL, Elasticsearch). Purchase servers and install OS, software packages, certificates, infrastructures and services
2. Deploy the architecture over 3 environments (Staging, Testing and Production).
Task 1.4: Backend development
1. Develop REST-API components with Symfony and PHP
2. Develop users and roles management and billing module
3. Develop telematics functions management instance
4. Develop HW device management
5. Develop HW device API and communications using google protocol buffers
6. Develop iOS and Android native SDKs
Task 1.5 Frontend Development
1. Develop Dashboard frontend on Backbone and Bootstrap
2. Develop Login and registrations screens for developers including API and SDK descriptions
3. Develop telematics functions applications and HW device store
Task 1.6 Adaption of diagnostics server
1. Develop interfaces between platform backend and diagnostics server for telematics applications
2. Standardize nomenclature of vehicle parameters in database to support telematics functions for all manufacturers
Task 1.7: Internal testing
Vehicle testing of the first hardware prototype on multiple brands. Manage internal testing of the software and hardware prototype I and bridge internal product owner feedback with application and hardware technical design. The result from this first test version and prototype testing on functionalities, usability and interface will produce the alpha version to be tested in WP2.
Deliverables
D1.1: Platform in alpha version (M12) including:
● 120 pieces of fully tested and functional OBDII Dongles (hardware prototype I)
● Infrastructure fully deployed
● Backend and API source codes
● Frontend source code
● Adjusted data base for telematics functions
● Documentation: Architecture diagrams, Database diagrams, database and objects modelling
● Developers API and documentation available on frontend
Fig. 4: Technical Architecture of OPTEPLA
WP2 Alpha-Version testing (6 month)
Objectives
The main objective of WP2 is to open the project to a controlled group of 4 potential customers as alpha testers, to test all the functionalities of the platform from hardware to the developer API and use the solution to develop own beta telematics applications for different use case (remote vehicle diagnostics, UBI etc.) to measure the adaptation and integration levels. It is also important to check and fix security vulnerabilities.
Description of work
Task 2.1 Technical support to hardware testing (alpha testing)
1. Distribution of 100 AUTOAID OBDII Prototype I dongles to 4 testing partners allowing each of them to test the hardware on 100 different vehicles (20 vehicles each testing partner except insurance business case that will test 40 vehicles) from randomly chosen manufacturers.
2. Monitoring, analysis and validation of vehicle parameters.
3. Bug fixing and firmware revision of hardware.
4. Obtain necessary certifications (CE, FCC, E-Labelling).
Task 2.2: Technical Support to platform testing
1. Open the platform to beta testers systems. API implementation and integration support.
2. Help 5 beta-test-partners to put hands on the platform and use it. Bug fixing and installation testing.
3. Support the implementation of native SDKs and its integration.
4. Monitor the system and the performance of all components in the platform.
Deliverables
D2: Beta-version of software and prototype II of hardware (M18), which includes:
● 1.500 pieces of OBDII Dongles for beta test and demo (hardware prototype II).
● Beta version of AUTOAID Open Telematics Platform released.
● Certifications for hardware issued.
WP3 Beta-version testing and product finalization (6 month)
Objectives
The main objective of WP3 is to announce the project to public and open the testing to a group of 7 test partners with 1.500 vehicles to test all the functionalities of the platform, the API perspectives, and integrate the solution on beta testers systems to measure the adaptation, and integration levels. It is also important to check and fix security vulnerabilities and check and fix performance bottlenecks.
Tests will be performed in real business environments and on public roads in order to test how the telematics system works in the real automotive business context of the 7 beta-testers and 1.500 vehicles.
Task 3.1: Beta version testing and platform fine tuning
1. Demonstration in operational environment.
2. Collect feedback provided by the beta testers both technical and business.
3. Platform and hardware fine-tuning: Fix technical minor and medium risk bugs and incidents. Analyse new features or functionalities proposed by the beta testers and implement them.
Task 3.2: Finalisation of product development
● Optimization of hardware for mass production and finalize hardware.
● Re-validate hardware certifications (CE, FCC, E-Labelling).
● Setup and deploy platform to production environment.
● Obtain certifications for platform security and data integrity.
Deliverables
D3: Final version of the product tested and market-ready, which includes (M24)
● Finalization of hardware and software.
● User manual and guide.
● Certificates for hard and software.
● Mass production partner for hardware signed.
Task 2: Market and economic study
Work performed and results achieved in task 2
Target users and needs addressed by OPTEPLA
Target users are passenger vehicles owners including individual owners, rental/leasing companies, logistic/transport companies, car sharing fleets, etc.
The users’ needs addressed by OPTEPLA are: Remote and predictive vehicle diagnostics, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, usage-based insurance, drive log and other convenience applications developed by third party developers and businesses.
The target commercial stakeholders are telematics applications developers. They have the user requirement to access complete control unit datasets, which become the basis for new applications development to be offered on the B2C and B2B aftermarket.
The commercial stakeholders’ needs addressed by OPTEPLA are:
- Insurances: Offer high added value services to their customers and allow them the correct risk assessment by calculate insurance premiums on the basis of real driving habit data and real vehicle use, reduce fraud associated to car insurance, reconstruct car accidents, identify customer´s training need for safer driving and directly give feedback to improve driving or communicate warnings (e.g. traffic jam, slippery roads, accidents or wrong-way driver ahead)
- Car workshops and road-side assistances: Offer high added value services to their customers, create loyalty programs, offer remote and predictive diagnosis, locate the vehicle in a case of a breakdown, personalized seamless attention throughout different workshops thanks to car datasets stored in the cloud platform.
- Car-sharing and car-rental: Make much more efficient the rental process since no key hand-over and almost no inspection or human interaction could be necessary (Remote doors opening/closing, automatic retrieval of rental data such as distance, gas tank level, any incident registered, etc.).
- Public administration: Improve CO2 monitoring, optimise traffic management, urban and inter-urban mobility planning, develop other environmental services based on data gathered by cars.
The following image describes how the relationship is between users, commercial stakeholders and OPTEPLA:
Fig. 4: Process scheme of OPTEPLA
OPTEPLA will basically consist of a platform that gathers data from the car, processes them and finally offer them as open data-sets making possible for the first time:
- For commercial stakeholders (potential applications developers) to create advanced services without requiring them to obtain knowledge in complex vehicle data aggregation and hardware development. The provision of barrier free access to manufacturer specific complete electronic control unit datasets access on the internet is the central USP of this innovation project and also a main economic benefit from the commercial stakeholders’ point of view. Thanks to the services developed they will make their businesses processes more efficient and competitive, create new revenue streams or gain insights on complex information and users’ behaviour that will support decision-making.
- For large car fleets owners (car renting / car sharing) or even individual car owners to access advanced and high added value services at extremely low cost. These services will be offered by commercial stakeholders or other service developers (not directly by AUTOAID). The provision of high-added value services at a fraction of cost is the USP to car owners.
Target market analysis: Size, growth and main trends
According to European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) in 2013 there were:
- In the EU: 250 million passenger cars and 38 million commercial vehicles. (Tot: 288 million)
- In the USA: 120 million passenger cars and 133 million commercial vehicles. (Tot: 253 million)
Worldwide there are in total around 865 million passenger cars and 317 million commercial vehicles. AUTOAID will focus on EU (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK) and USA markets and only on passenger cars. This segmentation leaves a potential market for OPTEPLA of around 300 million passenger cars.
As it was previously confirmed OBDII is mandatory in cars since 2000 for cars with gasoline engine and since 2004 cars with Diesel engines . An average vehicles in the EU is 9,65 years old . Therefore it has been estimated that around 85-90% of vehicles in EU and USA are already equipped with OBDII and their owners will be potential customers for OPTEPLA when the product reaches the market (Q3-2018). This additional segmentation reduces the potential number of users (vehicles) to 270 million passenger cars.
Some vehicles in the top and luxury segment already include embedded OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) telematics (see Fig. 5) allowing them to exploit data from control unit. Individual car owners might be perfectly fine with OEM installed telematics but for those stakeholders that have a large fleet composed of many different vehicles (carmaker and model) it is still extremely complicated or not at all possible to fully exploit benefits from telematics and data analytic as OEM who equip their cars with telematics like e.g. Audi, Opel, BMW or Mercedes do not share telematics data with third parties at all. Therefore even retrofitting vehicles that include OEM telematics with OPTEPLA can still bring a critical added value for commercial stakeholders, large fleets’ owners, public administration and other entities that need to perform analyses on large groups of different vehicles. Nonetheless, the following market analysis and business plan will exclusively focus on the aftermarket assuming a simpler and more conservative approach to market size and opportunities.
Therefore, OPTEPLA resides within the overall market of consumers or aftermarket of vehicle telematics. This market currently presides over a market volume of approximately 20 billion EUR. According to a study this will expand to 40 billion EUR by 2018, and will grow annually by 20% after 2020. The innovation project is a subcategory of OBDII telematics. The worldwide number of subscribers to OBDII aftermarket telematics solutions is expected to increase from 9.5 million in 2014 to 117.8 million in 2019 , . These studies confirm the huge potential and fast growth trend that it is expected for this market.
Geographic market analysis
As initially indicated, OPTEPLA will focus on EU and North-America as main markets in the market introduction phase. In later phases the Asian and Latin American markets will also be considered. The main aspects that have to be taken into account from a geographic point of view are:
Europe: Established market for automotive telematics system (Priority for market introduction: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK).
Though the automotive industry in Europe is recovering from the downturn of 2009 and is now growing at a stable pace, the automotive telematics market is growing at a faster rate. Europe is a major market for automotive telematics and home to a number of automotive telematics OEM hardware suppliers such as Robert Bosch (Germany), Magneti Marelli (Italy), Delphi (U.K.) and Continental AG (Germany). The concerns regarding safety of the driver and occupants has increased the usage of telematics services in this region. Mandating of equipping new vehicles with eCall has also increased the telematics market in Europe and this decision has also fostered aftermarket growth due to the need to retrofitting technology to vehicles that are already in use.
North America: Largest market for automotive telematics (Priority for market introduction: USA)
The North American region comprises of U.S. Mexico, and Canada. Mexico is an emerging market in this region. The United States New Car Assessment Program (US NCAP) is a flagship consumer information program by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the coming years, US NCAP will adjust its rating system to reflect improvements in the safety features of U.S. vehicles. This will make it difficult for a vehicle to achieve top ratings unless it is equipped with safety systems, thus encouraging the aftermarket telematics uptake. Also, mandatory regulations related to telematics services will also benefit the market.
Asia-Oceania: Automotive Telematics market shows healthy growth rate (Long term target for OPTEPLA)
The Asia-Oceania region includes countries such as China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Thailand. The automotive telematics market in Asia-Oceania is estimated to grow at a promising CAGR. The roadblocks for the market are identified as lack of infrastructure, lack of government initiatives, and low levels of awareness in the Asian region. The presence of major European and U.S. automobile manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Audi, and BMW is driving the automotive telematics market in Asia-Oceania. This market will be closely followed by AUTOAID in order to identify the best moment to launch OPTEPLA commercial services in this region.
Target market analysis: Structure, competitors and main stakeholders; How AUTOAID and OPTEPLA will position in this ecosystem
The vehicle telematics service offering and competitors’ structure responds to the following structure:
Fig. 5: Categorization of telematics providers compared to AUTOAID OPTEPLA (see report attached)
Within the previous structure, OPTEPLA belongs to the aftermarket and within aftermarket to Plug&Play or retrofitting equipment. With respect to the other three market segments OPTEPLA brings the following key benefits:
Main competitors: Qualitative comparative analysis per market segment (see report attached)
Main competitors: Technical-economic comparative analysis (see report attached)
As conclusion of phase 1, AUTOAID has confirmed that OPTEPLA hardware commercial price will be fixed around 10 EUR (For the Bluetooth version) and 18 EUR (For the SIM card version). This huge cost reduction with respect to competitors (75% with respect to the currently cheapest device) will be one of the main economic benefits for the end users and one of the key aspects for facilitating the rapid market introduction. Hardware co
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Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
A deep analysis of the background, current scenario and future trends has concluded that the aftermarket potential for retrofitting technology into existing vehicle carpark represents a huge opportunity for AUTOAID.
In this framework the overall and long term goal of OPTEPLA project is to position the car telematics aftermarket retrofitting solution developed by AUTOAID as the reference solution for:
● Large car fleets owners such as car rental and car sharing companies.
● Individual car owners reached through commercial stakeholders such as insurance companies or car workshops.
The main strengths of OPTEPLA are:
● The cost of the equipment: Up to 15 times less than the current technology.
● Wide compatibility that makes it fully operational (acquires the whole car communication dataset) for any carmaker and any model, allowing to create highly valuable new Connected Car applications.
● Its open data cloud-based platform, which will allow any third party to develop added value services exploiting data acquired from cars. This open data platform will generate an apps/services ecosystem around it.
For those purposes three different and representative use cases are going to be developed, tested and demonstrated in operational environment for during phase 2 in the following business cases:
● Business case 1 Car rental / car sharing: OPTEPLA will be installed and tested in a fleet of at least 200 cars from SIXT (car rental) and 200 cars from the car sharing company selected in beta version pilot (20 and 20 respectively in alpha version pilot). Letters of intent attached.
● Business case 2 Insurance company: AUTOAID will be supported by CSI-IT (LoI attached) to set up a pilot in which the following insurance companies will participate (50 and 500 vehicles respectively in alpha and beta version pilots for insurance companies will participate in the demonstrations). Some of the candidate insurance companies will be: (see report attached)
● Business case 3 Car workshop: OPTEPLA will be installed in 20 and 200 vehicles in alpha and beta pilots by Porsche Holding SE (the biggest main dealer of VW, Audi,Seat and Skoda in 26 countries)
● Other relevant stakeholders (100 vehicles each one only in beta version demonstration):
- A.T.U - The biggest independent workshop chain in Europe with over 600 outlets.
- Tech Mahindra - Leading Indian IT company serving automotive OEM customers like Volvo and Nissan.
- ZF Openmatics - Leading automotive supplier and the daughter company openmatics is a leading trucks telematics.
Summary of demonstrations planned: (see report attached)
As socio-economic impact we expect to reach the following indicators by 2023 (5 years after market introduction):
● Almost one million vehicles are monitored by OPTEPLA in the EU and USA (Equivalent to 0.3% market penetration).
● Cumulated revenues over 112 million EUR.
● Cumulated EBITDA over 28 million EUR.
● Internal Return Rate: 86%
● Net Present Value: 10 million EUR.
Finally, OPTEPLA will critically contribute to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the number of deaths by car accidents, support methods for more effective use of cars and automobile fleets and improve urban mobility.
In this framework the overall and long term goal of OPTEPLA project is to position the car telematics aftermarket retrofitting solution developed by AUTOAID as the reference solution for:
● Large car fleets owners such as car rental and car sharing companies.
● Individual car owners reached through commercial stakeholders such as insurance companies or car workshops.
The main strengths of OPTEPLA are:
● The cost of the equipment: Up to 15 times less than the current technology.
● Wide compatibility that makes it fully operational (acquires the whole car communication dataset) for any carmaker and any model, allowing to create highly valuable new Connected Car applications.
● Its open data cloud-based platform, which will allow any third party to develop added value services exploiting data acquired from cars. This open data platform will generate an apps/services ecosystem around it.
For those purposes three different and representative use cases are going to be developed, tested and demonstrated in operational environment for during phase 2 in the following business cases:
● Business case 1 Car rental / car sharing: OPTEPLA will be installed and tested in a fleet of at least 200 cars from SIXT (car rental) and 200 cars from the car sharing company selected in beta version pilot (20 and 20 respectively in alpha version pilot). Letters of intent attached.
● Business case 2 Insurance company: AUTOAID will be supported by CSI-IT (LoI attached) to set up a pilot in which the following insurance companies will participate (50 and 500 vehicles respectively in alpha and beta version pilots for insurance companies will participate in the demonstrations). Some of the candidate insurance companies will be: (see report attached)
● Business case 3 Car workshop: OPTEPLA will be installed in 20 and 200 vehicles in alpha and beta pilots by Porsche Holding SE (the biggest main dealer of VW, Audi,Seat and Skoda in 26 countries)
● Other relevant stakeholders (100 vehicles each one only in beta version demonstration):
- A.T.U - The biggest independent workshop chain in Europe with over 600 outlets.
- Tech Mahindra - Leading Indian IT company serving automotive OEM customers like Volvo and Nissan.
- ZF Openmatics - Leading automotive supplier and the daughter company openmatics is a leading trucks telematics.
Summary of demonstrations planned: (see report attached)
As socio-economic impact we expect to reach the following indicators by 2023 (5 years after market introduction):
● Almost one million vehicles are monitored by OPTEPLA in the EU and USA (Equivalent to 0.3% market penetration).
● Cumulated revenues over 112 million EUR.
● Cumulated EBITDA over 28 million EUR.
● Internal Return Rate: 86%
● Net Present Value: 10 million EUR.
Finally, OPTEPLA will critically contribute to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce the number of deaths by car accidents, support methods for more effective use of cars and automobile fleets and improve urban mobility.