Ericsson has tied up with Zenuity, an automotive software development venture of Autoliv and Volvo Car, to develop a platform for Autonomous Driving (AD) software.
“Ericsson looks set to benefit from the partnership, as this will expand its automotive connectivity platform beyond basic telematics/infotainment through deep integration with ADAS and driverless solutions and align the company with two global market leaders in vehicle safety and autonomous technology,” said Dominque Bonte, managing director, Verticals / End Markets at ABI Research.
Ericsson said the platform will cover Connected Safety, Advanced Driver Assistance Support (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD) software and functions.
Autoliv will promote and sell the offering — created by Ericsson and Zenuity — to car manufacturers worldwide.
Ericsson and Zenuity will develop Zenuity Connected Cloud – powered by Ericsson IoT Accelerator — to accelerate speed to market with cloud-based solutions for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
The offering will consist of in-vehicle software integrated with other vehicle functions, onboard sensors and cloud support functions – enabling real-time visibility to guide vehicles with information and events in transit.
Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator platform orchestrates the cloud to run Zenuity’s support functions. The IoT solution will be tailored to the needs of ADAS and autonomous vehicles.
“Connectivity is reshaping the future of transport, and Ericsson is right at the heart of this with our IoT Accelerator platform that underpins the connected automotive ecosystem,” said Niklas Heuveldop, head of Technology & Emerging Business, Ericsson.
ABI Research on Ericsson IoT
Ericsson’s IoT partnership with Zenuity aligns its connected automotive IoT platform with a major joint initiative from Autoliv and Volvo, to bring autonomous technology to the market in a scalable way.
“This move will connect Ericsson with automotive AI leader, NVIDIA, which announced a partnership with Zenuity earlier this year,” said Dominque Bonte, managing director, Verticals / End Markets at ABI Research.
It will enable Ericsson to plug its connectivity platform into an end-to-end, scalable, and global autonomous vehicle solution which should help it to win additional OEM deals in the future, including in China where it already works with Geely (Link & CO brand).
Ericsson has invested in automotive as one of its key end market focuses by creating an independent division. The Autoliv, Volvo, Zenuity, NVIDIA and Ericsson alliance puts it in the same league as the Intel, Mobileye, BMW, FCA and Delphi constellation.
