Harman's new Smart Telematics Gateway saves Automakers from future software related recalls with all in one platform

Harman, a Samsung subsidiary that deals with IoT devices and connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, has announced a new Smart Telematics Gateway technology providing connected cars with better connectivity and an advanced solution that gives the ability to update any automotive Electronic Control Unit (ECU) through a secure, wireless connection.

Cars are getting more connected. ECU’s have become commonplace and this gives birth to the problem of management. With connected cars on the rise, OEM’s have increasingly sought for a all-in-one solution that addresses there connectivity, management and security needs. Harman’s new Smart Telematics Gateway just does that.

“With the rising demand for real-time connectivity solutions including V2V and V2X capabilities, our Smart Telematics Gateway will help OEMs efficiently manage connectivity as well as the software maintenance process from a singular, integrated platform,” said Phil Eyler, executive vice president and president, Connected Car, HARMAN. “Our solution helps OEMs address connectivity issues to ensure that vehicles on the road are updated with the latest software and safety information.”

The new Smart Telematics Gateway has a lot of features packed under its belt. It provides automakers with a modular hardware platform more flexibility with features ranging from eCall to diagnostics. The features include services like eCall, fully-automated accident alert, breakdown call-out, remote control locking, vehicle finder, support service calls and a fully automated accident alert.

It also has something called the Telematics Control Unit in addition to this that acts as a secondary gateway and therefore has full access to all of the communications bus inside the car itself. This allows for faster and more flexible integration and implementation of over the air updates.

According to a analytics report by J. D Power, there have been more than 189 recalls in the past six years due to software related issues. With the new Smart Telematics Gateway, this can be avoided providing over the air updates to the cars ECU. This will save the automotive companies millions of dollars spent on such recalls. The new Smart Telematics Gateway was displayed at the TU-Automotive event in Detroit.