Describe what inspires you about the connected car industry.

What inspires me about the connected car industry is that the car dash boards are increasingly digital.  The blinking LEDs are not only in front of the driver side but also in a big panel in the middle of the cockpit. The information shown is no longer just the internal state of the car. Maps, traffic information, weather, entertainment, dash cams even video calls on HUD units.  All these external data streams are feeding to the car, and there will be even more data sources in the future to accommodate for road safety, traffic convenience (e.g. payments and tolls) and autonomous driving. This is truly automotive “connected-ness” and this is all very fascinating.

Tell us about your involvement with AECC.

Equinix joined AECC in 2019 and we participated in the first member meeting in Frankfurt Germany.   I am currently serving as vice chair of Marketing Steering Committee and a member of the POC Committee.  I do participate in some of the WG1 use case discussions.

What have you learned from collaborating with the AECC?

AECC is a melting pot of innovative ideas architecting the automotive edge location and service capability. I am learning more about edge network and edge infrastructure requirements in the face of new connected car applications e.g. HD maps, infotainment, traffic flow and road safety.

Can you share what you have enjoyed most about being an AECC member?

It is getting to know and work with some smart minds within the automotive ecosystem.   There are established automotive companies and other ecosystem players collaborating along side to help make solutions work.  It is no longer just standalone solutions by one vendor – smart partnering is key and AECC is a platform to meet and develop solutions with good partners.

In your experience, what is the benefit of joining the AECC – particularly for “non-car” companies and industries? 

Automotive and transportation sector will be a major initiative for global smart cities development.   Edge computing will be a key technology architecture to support low latency response, high speed network access and hybrid cloud integration.  Companies with products and solutions gearing towards smart transportation and edge compute development will find AECC work group discussions relevant and can leverage AECC PoC opportunities to validate ideas.

Our readers are interested in your views on the future of the connected vehicle market. Where do you see it going? How will it evolve?

All market research forecasts do indicate positive outlook for the connected vehicle market.  Good CAGR growth rates, proof of concept announcements, early trial deployments along with 5G, electrification trends and autonomous driving research investments all indicate sizeable investment opportunities.   Connected vehicle and smart transportation is truly an exciting sector to be in!

 

We invite you to learn more about becoming a member of the AECC. With collaboration among OEMs, MNOs, cloud, app, and service providers, the AECC can help accelerate the development of high-value digital services across the ecosystem. Get in touch to learn how you can help invent the future of the connected car and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date.