CONNECTED INFOTAINMENT AS A KEY SYSTEM IN ELECTRICAL MOBILITYWhen compared to conventional vehicles, electric cars offer a modern alternative to transportation, with very low

energy consumptions while helping people get from A to B. Nevertheless, electric cars have some significant

drawbacks, most notably, long charging times and limited driving range. However, there is hope on the horizon

suggesting that these challenges can be overcome through recent technological advancements. The MobicarInfo

infotainment system integrates an electric car’s information system with public transport networks to provide

a unique user experience to the driver. The system connects the electric vehicle to charging station networks,

provides improved geo-positioning services, and allows key data from the car to be transmitted to the outside world.

The systems has the potential to completely transform the way we think about driving a car. The company

Critical Software introduces the solution.

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DEVELOPMENT INFOTAINMENT

Infotainment

MOBICARINFO CONNECTED SYSTEM

Despite their range and energy storage limitations that often prevents them being used for long trips, electric cars have been increasingly gaining traction in the market, and it makes sense to consider their use in the context of helping to achieve “integrated mobility.” Integrated mobility focuses on a more holistic approach to transport, linking automobiles with other transport means, such as trains and buses. Connectivity and information sharing is key here. Even today, vehicle connec-tivity is becoming more and more of a practical reality, and shows every sign of growing in the future with the abolition of GSM roaming fees across Europe.

One of the main concepts driving the MobicarInfo system was the idea of building a novel infotainment system, from the ground up, that focused on mobility, connectivity and deliver-ing a user-friendly experience. The MobicarInfo system pro-vides the means for such connectivity. Below is an overview of the high-level architecture and the main components used in the system, ➊.

The system’s in-car component, as well as services outside the vehicle, are connected via the internet, including the con-nection with the charging station network (Mobi.E). These external services are central to the overall MobicarInfo solu-tion. They allow for an enhanced level of interconnected ser-vices that build on services that can already be accessed through an internet connection.

The electric vehicle’s connection to the outside world can be made through GSM but also through WiFi hot-spots, or other types of network technologies, actively enabling roam-ing through the least expensive network in any given location.

The main in-car components include the infotainment sys-tem itself and the CANOpen Bus component, which allows seamless integration with the relevant systems in the car – most notably the Battery Management System (BMS) and its associated components. The system uses services available through the charging station network Mobi.E and utilises the One Stop Transport platform.

AUTHORS

DIPL.-ING. JORGE ALMEIDAis Principal Engineer for the Automotive-,

Railway and Medicine Device Industry at Critical Software in Coimbra (Portugal).

DIPL.-ING. PEDRO SERRAworks as Chief Developer and is

responsible for Mobility Area of Laboratory of Automatics and Systems in the Institute

Pedro Nunes (Portugal).

DIPL.-ING. PEDRO NEVES works as Electronic Engineer

on Developments of Automotive Electronic Systems and Components for Electric Vehicles

Charging Stations in Lisboa (Portugal).

DIPL.-ING. ANTÓNIO MONTEIROworks as Project Manager on Project

Definition, Planning and Management at Inteli in Lisboa (Portugal).

➊ General architectural overview

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Infotainment

VEHICLE INTEGRATION

The infotainment system itself is easily integrated in the vehicle as it was devel-oped as a distributed component based on a CAN bus, and designed specifically for electric cars. Each of the modules has local functions associated with specific sensors and actuators.

The distributed-architecture principle allows for only a single power cable, and a differential communications pair to be used across the vehicle. The info-tainment system acts as a gateway between vehicle, users and networked services. This architectural solution enables the use of fewer components, reducing the total vehicle weight and, consequently, the total energy usage.

The on-board system has unique elec-tric vehicle features that allow for improvements in efficiency and opera-bility. Because the electric motor con-troller is interfaced, there is the possi-bility to change motor control settings manually or otherwise have the info-tainment system decide for itself, based on a set of rules and measurements defined while in driving mode.

With data like the battery’s charge levels and the distance to nearest charg-ing stations displayed in real-time, the infotainment system can actively and intelligently decide to switch from standard driving mode to energy saving mode by changing the motor controller performance features, enabling auto-matic change of power-to-energy effi-ciency ratios based on live circum-stances. This may also be done manu-ally, if the driver intends to save energy regardless of the distance to the nearest charging station, for example. Another environmentally-friendly feature is the option to select ‘hill descent’ mode. This setting increases regenerative braking, developing a behavior like an internal combustion vehicle in a low gear. This essentially allows the vehicle to brake while descending, reducing the wear on the vehicle’s brake pads and recovering energy that is stored in the vehicle’s battery.

Other features are added for passen-ger comfort. Remotely, it is possible to turn on the air conditioning while the vehicle is still connected to the power supply, making it possible for the driver to achieve a desired temperature with-

out impacting on the overall driving range.

Within the realm of cost savings for the end user there is also a functionality that enables the vehicle to charge the batteries only when the energy price is relatively low. This is achieved with an on-board charging interface controller that complies with the IEC61851 stand-ard, interpreting charging station sta-tuses, communicating them back to the infotainment system and sending com-mands that request the charging station to start or stop charging.

DEVELOPMENT OF MOBILITY SERVICES

The One.Stop.Transport (OST) is an information platform that supports the development of mobility services. The OST provides static and dynamic data from different sources and allows the developer community to develop and publish their data and applications.

Through the MobicarInfo system, the driver can access the OST platform in real time, allowing access to different transportation options and enhancing the whole mobility experience by pro-viding useful information along the way. When tracing a route, the Mobi-carInfo system is able to access not only the charging station locations, but also public transportation information that exists along the selected route. This enables the driver to access all the nec-essary journey information and select transport options on the basis of jour-ney priorities, typically cost or time. With this feature, electric vehicles can be used alongside different public trans-port options or even bike sharing ser-vices. The user is empowered to plan a trip that contains various means of transportation (bus, train or metro, for example) according to the timetables and real-time information of the various options. This feature is especially useful in crowded cities where traffic conges-tion is high and transport delays tradi-tionally unpredictable.

Other benefits include the fact that points of Interest (POI) can be accessed within the system, which display, for example, bus stops, restaurants or museums located near the selected route. The system also provides Points of Advertisement (POA), providing loca-

tion-based advertisement services to MobicarInfo, enabling relevant cus-tomer-focused suggestions and services based on user preferences.

ELECTRICAL CHARGING NETWORK INTEGRATION

Range anxiety is one of the main pur-chase barriers identified by potential electric vehicle owners. In order to tackle this, various initiatives have been put in place by governments and regional authorities around the world. Most initi-atives include the creation of a public EV charging infrastructure with strategi-cally placed stations. Nonetheless, the current 160 km range of most electric vehicles is still a real and psychological barrier. In-car information systems play an important role in EV range manage-ment as they combine vehicle informa-tion with infrastructure information to provide greater confidence in range capabilities.

EV-specific features are fundamental in the differentiation of MobicarInfo from other infotainment systems. The infotainment’s features include an EV station map with live availability status; remote station reservation capabilities; access to information on all charging events, including date, start time, dura-tion, station code and location, kWh, cost, and real-time information on cur-rent charging events.

The data supporting this functionality is supplied by the Mobi.E, but the sys-tem can easily be extended to interact with any other charging network since it was developed with modularity in mind.

The two-way communication between the vehicle’s infotainment system and the Mobi.E platform is achieved through SOAP-based XML interfaces (web ser-vices) built on both sides. In terms of content, the messages exchanged are clearly defined though the specification standard WSDL – Web Service Defini-tion Language. The implemented mes-sages are well aligned with the ongoing standardisation work for EV charging grids, including the capability to deal with charging station hierarchies. Such implementation can be applied to any charging station network, indepen-dently of country, manufacturer or operator.

DEVELOPMENT INfoTAINMeNT

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IN-CAR INFOTAINMENT COMPONENT

The MobicarInfo component is, within the framework described above, the layer that interacts with the driver, since it is part of a broader distributed system (the electric vehicle). MobicarInfo is sub-composed of an embedded system installed inside the vehicle with the capability of communicating with the other nodes of the vehicle system through a CAN bus using the CANOpen transport protocol. ➋ presents the inter-nal structure of this component.

The “Mobicar services” component is the key element that is responsible for the interaction with the Mobi.E and OST services. The IVI component, on the other hand, provides seamless integra-tion with the hardware platform used in this implementation of the system, pro-viding services ranging from GPS and Bluetooth control, to basic CAN network connectivity.

Each of the system layers has a spe-cific set of competences: : The hardware layer abstracts the

actual hardware into user space dri-

vers which are then provided to the Operating System (OS) layer.

: The present version of the system uses a GNU/Linux OS; however the abstrac-tion would allow the usage of other OSs if necessary (like Windows).

: On top of the OS there is a services layer which is composed of: the IVI component for hardware management & control and the state machine imple-mentation for the Presentation Layer. It also includes services that manage the information flow between the sys-tem, the OST and the Mobi.E net-works. The exchanged information is used both on the car side and on the server side to improve traffic flow information.

: The presentation layer is composed of a set of screens designed to present information and to interact with the system users. The layer is designed to be simple and intuitive, with a strong user-experience at the heart of the system.

On the technical side, the core system and Presentation Layer are developed using the Qt framework and C++ pro-gramming language. As there were,

however, several different sources of information to handle, there are also small components coded directly in C (drivers), Java and Python, while D-Bus was used for internal interconnectivity in a seamless manner.

OUTLOOK

The capabilities of a system like Mobi-carInfo are going to become more and more prevalent over the next few years. Global tendencies indicate that infotain-ment systems are becoming more com-mon, even in lower-end cars, and the market for electric vehicles, despite the challenges, is growing. In this respect, a system like MobicarInfo, which allows the car to effectively become a sensor in a distributed mobility network, demon-strates a very interesting concept that will allow the collation of accurate infor-mation to improve traffic, journey times and a host of other performance indica-tors. MobicarInfo also delivers a better driving experience and its “integrated mobility” features tap into the modern desire to reduce energy waste and increase the use of public transport. There’s no doubt that these kind of dis-tributed systems represent the future of travel, and will be even more important with the deployment of technologies such as multi-core systems in the car.

➋ Architecture of the infotainment system component

THANKS

The work was developed within the scope

of the project TICE-Mobilidade (nº13843) co-

financed by Qren Compete/ POFC. The authors

express their gratitude to them.

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