Delivering Connected Cars
Situation
A global automotive manufacturer collaborates with a multi-national Tier-1 automotive equipment provider to develop its In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System for use in its upcoming line of mid-class vehicles. The group intended to lay the foundation for a scalable architecture for IVI design that can be extended from its main vehicles to luxury brand models.
Challenge
The old UI creation tool-chain, used by Tier-1 providers in the past, could not fulfill the expectations of a modern, touchscreen design set forth by today's automakers and was replaced with Qt. Because of design and integration complexities, this Tier-1 group needed ways to address the constraints and multi-variants inherent to projects of this scale.
Solution
ICS software engineers were called to design the solution for this project, given our automotive engineering and design expertise in developing connected IVI systems. Working with multiple stakeholders and vendors within product management, engineering and other UX groups, ICS provided the solution of how to best integrate older hardware, conform to changing middleware and connect these components with visual assets developed independently.
Senior engineering personnel from ICS using Qt and C++ developed the back-end that forms a framework connecting board services with a custom designed, highly dynamic and modern looking user experience layer written in Qt Quick. During this development phase, we led internal teams to enhance the existing legacy abstract layer linking the hardware to the board service level software.
Our scalable and flexible engineering services allowed the Tier-1 provider to meet every single milestone specified by the automotive client and to provide lasting credibility by delivering a powerful, scalable and configurable IVI system. The final touchscreen-based IVI will provide its users connectivity and interoperability for access to satellite radio/radio, smartphone use, climate control, USB/MP3 iPod integration and navigation control within an intuitive, fluid and beautiful user experience.
