Software – the king of a diverse device kingdom

The past has proven that companies' technology and innovations are versatile and just because the original intent of the technology or innovation was to solve one problem, as time goes by, and new challenges arise, the same solution can be used to solve other unforeseen problems.

As USA Today reported, in 1942, during World War II, the U.S. military was in need of a durable adhesive tape that could maintain its bond under harsh field conditions. The military asked Johnson & Johnson Co. to develop the idea and initially called it duck tape for its waterproof nature.

Civilians began to utilize the product heavily during the postwar housing boom, when it was used to seal central air and heating systems. Duck tape was used in ductwork so much that it was renamed to duct tape and recolored to match the silver metallic color of HVAC systems.

During the height of COVID-19, we saw examples of corporate agility as car manufacturers began building ventilators and sporting good manufacturers started sewing masks for the healthcare industry. We will continue to see this nimbleness moving forward as companies' technologies, originally scoped for one industry, find their way into processes supporting Industrial IoT - a term designating the efforts that bring together machines, cloud computing, analytics, and people to improve performance and productivity.

Aurora Labs' Self-Healing Software, currently being leveraged by automotive manufacturers, is a solution that is also bringing value to Industrial IoT companies. Aurora Labs uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable these companies to become proactive about the quality, safety and security of their connected devices and systems.

This is of increasing value for time-sensitive industrial IoT devices such as security cameras, autonomous warehouse robots, and production line machines that are required to have 24-hour uptime, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Aurora Labs' unique Self-Healing technology is the predictive maintenance solution for software, enabling pre-error detection and remote OTA updates with zero downtime -- both key features in guaranteeing continuous quality, safety and security.

Business Insider quotes Maribel Lopez, founder and principal analyst at Lopez Research, saying, “Although Aurora Labs is targeted at vehicle manufacturers if Amazon Web Services (AWS) were to acquire it, its technology would not just be used for cars. Instead, it could be expanded as a platform play, meaning that AWS could use its AI technology for other parts of its business - its own growing logistics robot fleet, for example.

The global industrial IoT market is expected to reach approximately USD 751.3 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 23.88% from 2017 to 2023. By component, the global industrial IoT market is segmented into hardware, software and service. Software is expected to be the fastest-growing segment during the forecast period, with a CAGR of 25.65%. Software plays a major role in the development of industrial IoT systems.

However, for this to happen, according to global consultancy firm Bain, "Device makers and other vendors of industrial and operational technology need to dramatically improve their software capabilities—not a historical strength for most of them."

The crossover from automotive to Industrial IoT is a natural extension of Aurora Labs' Self-Healing Software in support of various scenarios. In manufacturing alone, having the visibility into line-of-code behaviour to predict and fix errors in security, plumbing, lighting and production line systems will prevent downtime, which costs firms at least $100,000 an hour, according to a 2019 survey by ITIC.

It’s an obligation, not a promise

Everyone knows someone with a disability, especially a driving disability that makes it unsafe to get behind the wheel. It may be an elderly parent, a friend with special needs, or a family member that has experienced a serious injury.

For years, the automotive industry has promised that connected and autonomous vehicles, as well as new mobility services, can provide more efficient transportation to those without a disability. But in the wake of the increasing adoption of these technologies, the industry also an obligation: To make transport more accessible and realize more independence and chances for the disabled with better access to basic services like healthcare and better access to employment.

The disabled market also is substantial. In the United States, for example, around 53 million adults have a disability, which is around 22 percent of the adult population. About 13 percent of adults have mobility problems and 4.6 percent have vision impairments.

In Germany alone, 7.8 million people live with a severe disability - many of them unable to drive a car. At the same time, 7.5 billion Euros have been spent on patient transport services - more than ever. Safe and secure autonomous vehicles in the form of configurable pods are a chance to enable those 7.8 million people better access to mobility and at the same time reduce the costs for patient transport.

However, there still remains one problem: The new autonomous technology needs to be safeguarded by a secure back-up plan in case the technology fails. Normally, this security back-up would be the driver, who can intervene and take over controls. But people with disability might not be capable of maneuvering the vehicle themselves.

Self-Healing, In-Vehicle Software Management capabilities of connected and autonomous cars that enable the vehicle to self-correct when a system malfunctions are crucial for all passengers - both those with disabilities and those without. Only if the vehicle is able to automatically detect problems and "heal" them, can everyone benefit from the new world of mobility. This is still a few years off however it is our obligation to build systems that are inclusive, and only then will consumers gain the level of trust for this changing world of transportation to become a reality.

Why the key to autonomous driving is trust

With all the excitement around autonomous vehicles lately, you would expect that consumers are ready to buckle up and embrace full autonomy. On the contrary, there is a surprising amount of caution amongst drivers when it comes to self-driving cars.

According to a study conducted by AAA last year, 73 percent of American drivers report that they would be too afraid to ride in a fully autonomous vehicle - and that number is up from 63 percent in 2017. Furthermore, that same study found that 63 percent of U.S. adults reported that they would feel less safe sharing the road with an autonomous vehicle while walking or riding a bicycle.

How can we expect the entire world to adopt autonomous vehicle technology if there are high levels of distrust within the U.S. alone? Trust is a crucial component - and the first step - when it comes to the widespread use of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous driving will only become mainstream if drivers and pedestrians feel that they can fully trust the vehicle to function correctly.

What we can learn from the past - Trust and Technology

It is interesting to look at how elevators transformed the way people get from the first floor to the penthouse and how autonomous vehicles will transform how people get from point A to point B on the highways and back roads.

There are similar "trust" factors regarding both elevator and autonomous vehicle adoption. The elevator technology itself was not the deciding factor for people to adopt elevator usage. The first elevators were installed in England in the 1830s. However, early elevators used rope- and belt-driven systems that would often snap resulting in injury and death.

It wasn't until 1854 - 24 years after the technology was introduced - when Elisha G. Otis introduced a safety brake using a spring action system. At the 1854 World's Fair in New York City's Crystal Palace, Otis rode the elevator intentionally severing the cable. The safety brake stopped the elevator. The brake is considered the key in gaining public confidence in elevators.

We are in a similar situation today with autonomous vehicles. The major automotive manufacturers, major technology companies and hundreds of start-ups are working on technology to make autonomous vehicles a reality. Key to the adoption of the autonomous vehicle will be the technology that keeps the software safe and guarantees a driving experience that people trust.

Self-Healing Software Delivers Trust

This trust in autonomous vehicles starts with drivers understanding and believing that the software in the car works correctly, is secure, and is safe from cyber-attacks. Only then will the masses adopt self-driving vehicles. That means that the software must be functioning to the best of its ability.

The well-documented growth in the amount of automotive software eliminates any question about the importance of automotive software management. Using new technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, is required to deliver a Self-Healing Software solution that can detect a software problem, automatically roll-back to a safe software version and efficiently update the software.

Technology changes and advances - the safety mechanisms required for people to adopt technology - are timeless. Learning lessons from 1854, we know that trust is a key element for technology adoption and Self-Healing Software is to the vehicle what the brake was to the elevator.

Type Approval is becoming more complex, costly and crucial

OTA is a well-known term and the impact of over-the-air updates is a major story line in influential publications including The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News, The Drive, the Verge, Engadget and Forbes. In the last two weeks, both GM and BMW made headlines discussing plans to embrace OTA updates as a strategic solution to differentiate their offerings and remain competitive with new features and functions.

Our world is about to get even more interesting as concepts including homologation and type approval become common discussion points in our daily business meetings. Homologation and type approval are not new terms or concepts to the automotive industry. The terms refer to the process that consists of country-specific regulations for vehicle approval.

Homologation and type approval are becoming more significant and more complex as cars evolve. No longer is a car designed, built, certified and sold. Now vehicles receive updated software-based functionality throughout the vehicle lifecycle. The question being asked by the authorities is: 'How to maintain type approval for devices that are constantly evolving?'

This topic has been discussed, and global regulations have been recommended by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which includes members from Europe, North America and Asia. They are expected to be ratified by the end of 2019 and entered into law by the national regulation bodies in 2020.

According to the UNECE WP.29 position paper, an update to the vehicle's type approval will be needed for all software updates unless the software update is only fixing bugs or applying a security patch. WP.29 also states that if the new software functionality only affects a limited amount of installed vehicle software, the tests required to receive amended type approval will also be limited.

So how do the auto manufacturers maintain conformity with the regulation in the most cost-efficient manner, while not leaving themselves open to concerns of liability?

This week, with the introduction of Auto Validate, Aurora Labs is leading the charge to help auto manufacturers adapt to the new dynamics of the type approval process in addition to liability and warranty concerns. Auto Validate is a Line-of-Code Intelligence machine learning product that creates software functionality relationship maps to compare software code from version-to-version. Auto Validate assigns a unique digital thumbprint to changes in existing functionality. This offers evidence that a specific bug-fix, or cyber-fix did not add new functionality and new type approval certification is not required. In addition, this process can be used to document which specific systems have been affected by a software update minimizing the amount of testing that is required for type approval certification when new functionality has been added to the vehicle.

Auto Validate will help the automotive manufacturers in three distinct ways:

  1. Streamline type approval process - Auto Validate will help automotive manufacturers streamline the type approval process by making it easy to pin-point exact tests required, if any tests are required at all, provide evidence for regulatory authorities, save time and decrease costs.
  2. Minimize liability concerns - Auto Validate will create a digital thumbprint of vehicle software that receives type approval and allow the auto manufacturer to easily compare the type-approved software with the in-vehicle software being sold to market. This minimizes liability concerns providing proof that the type approved software and the embedded software in the shipping vehicle are one-and-the-same.
  3. Resolve warranty disputes - By comparing the digital thumbprint of a vehicle that is being investigated with the original digital thumbprint of the vehicle when it left the production floor, the auto manufacturer will be able to determine if the vehicle has been altered and tampered with in such a way that may void the warranty. Such deterministic evidence will be essential in resolving warranty disputes.

It is a great time to be part of the automotive industry. We at Aurora Labs are excited to be part of the transformation bringing smart, in-vehicle software management solutions into the car and working with the automotive manufacturers to successfully grow and bring new, trustworthy experiences to drivers and passengers around the globe.

Self-Healing Software eliminates human-error and human-apathy

In the last year, every conversation about automotive software - every speech, every blog and every presentation - all consistently highlight the growing amount of code in the car. With this increased amount of code comes more software bugs, more recalls and the risk of more hacks - both from black hat and white hat hackers.

This conversation is consistent across countries and regions. Where differences lie, however, are in how regulatory organizations hold companies and people responsible to fix the problem that caused the need for a recall.

The details on the different levels of responsibility will be reviewed in a moment. Before we get there, it is important to note that it is the contention of Aurora Labs that the responsibility should be taken away from the human being and the guarantee that the software gets to a safe state should be offloaded to Self-Healing Software and in-vehicle software management solutions.

Now, back to the regional regulatory story. U.S. law requires auto manufacturers to alert owners when a vehicle has a recall, so that owners can take their car to a dealership, where the defect will be fixed for free. However, there are no laws requiring the owners to actually follow through and have the defect repaired.

Under US federal law, the cost of recalls for cars 15 years old or less is covered by automakers. But despite the free repair of potentially dangerous problems, there are an estimated 46 million cars with unfixed recalls currently on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Government Accountability Office, only 65 to 70 percent of vehicles subject to a recall are repaired within the 18-month period during which automakers provide recall completion data.

In the UK an estimated one in 13 cars is subject to an outstanding recall. This is a concern that has both the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the Ministry of Transportation investigating ways to remedy the problem. One solution under consideration is taken from the German model which issues owners repeated warnings if their car has an outstanding recall. If the recall has not been fixed when tested for their biannual road worthiness test (or General Inspection as it is called in Germany), the car fails the test and cannot be driven on the road. The challenge here is to connect the car ownership database with the car maintenance systems to create a unified database of the vehicles VIN, their current HW and SW state, and their owners.

Enter OTA Updates. Forecasts predict that the growing amount of software in the car will reach 40% of the total BOM by 2025, and while hardware related recalls will require a visit to the mechanic, software recalls are remotely updateable (over-the-air, or OTA). While this method is far more efficient than a visit to the mechanic, here too there is no guarantee of a 100% completion rate. Current OTA update solutions transfer responsibility of the recall software update to the drivers by informing them of the update and requesting that they perform certain actions before initiating the update. Many drivers are either intimidated by the often technical nature of the messages and the actions required while others ignore the warnings under the miss-assumption that if it doesn't seem to be broken, it doesn't need to be fixed.

Aurora Labs' In-Vehicle Software Management solution approaches remote OTA updates with a novel approach. Using machine learning algorithms, the update file is generated in such a way that it can be installed with zero need for driver intervention and with zero downtime. This is the same user experience we have come to expect from consumer software such as our web browser and smartphone apps. The Chrome browser updates every 4-6 weeks without requiring user intervention and apps update daily. In the case of a vehicle recall, should it be deemed a mandatory recall, the vehicle will be able to self-update without requiring the driver to be part of the decision process, guaranteeing the vehicle continuously runs the latest, safest and most secure software.

As the industry transitions to autonomous cars and mobility services, the need to guarantee that the vehicle is always up-to-date will only increase. It is only natural that as Artificial Intelligence is used to enable self-driving cars, that it also enables self-healing vehicles.

Aurora Labs aligned with the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium

Earlier this month, SAE International announced that it is joining forces with Ford, General Motors, and Toyota to create the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC). This consortium will look to create industry-wide safety standards for autonomous cars - something the industry certainly needs as the technology within it expands exponentially. The AVSC will also work with other organizations around the globe to develop these industry standards.

This consortium is excellent news for the automotive industry. Assuming that the AVSC recognizes the importance of maintaining the quality of the AV software throughout its lifetime and mandates that OTA updating be part of any AV system, our In-Vehicle Software Management solution could help OEMs in meeting those requirements. The possibilities are endless in terms of how our software can play an important role in what the AVSC is trying to accomplish.

And when we got to thinking about it, we realized that there are two common goals between the AVSC and Aurora Labs that will be crucial in moving this industry forward: safety and trust.

Safety is at the heart of this consortium - just as it is at the heart of our technology. Similar to how AI is at the core of the AV technology, here at Aurora Labs we believe that it is only natural that AI will also be used to autonomously cure vehicles from malfunctioning software, whether malicious or incidental. Self-Healing Software can enable vehicle software to detect anomalies in the software behavior and health and either on command or autonomously recover to its last known secure, certified and functional version without any downtime. This ensures that the AV stays functional at all times, creates a seamless experience for the driver/passengers and ensures the car is safe from any software anomalies.

Not only that, but trust largely underlies the goal of this consortium. In order for the innovation of autonomous vehicles to move forward, our society needs to trust that they will always work as advertised, safely and securely. Having industry-wide safety standards will help build this trust in consumers. Similarly, a goal of our Self-Healing Software is to build up driver trust in self-driving cars. Drivers must have faith that the technology in cars is continuously operating safely and securely before these vehicles will become widely adopted and commonplace in our society.

These shared goals ultimately come down to one focus: the people on the roads, whether they are behind the self-driving wheel, passengers or pedestrians. The AVSC is hoping to set industry-wide standards to make sure drivers have the most optimal, convenient and safest experience possible with self-driving cars - and this naturally also translates to pedestrian safety.

We are in the midst of an extremely innovative and exciting time for self-driving cars. Here at Aurora Labs, we're looking forward to seeing what will come from this consortium and the positive impact it will have to make truly autonomous mobility a reality.

Creating self-healing cars with human-like intelligence

Editor's Note: Anyone born after 1970 should take the time to click on the links pretty funny stuff.

Oscar Wilde said life imitates art. In our industry, technology imitates the imaginations of TV producers from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Maxwell Smart of Get Smart was the first to use a mobile phone - so mobile it was embedded in his shoe. The Jetsons were the first to have a "smart house" and KITT from Knight Rider was the first intelligent car based on the "Knight Industries Two Thousand" (KITT - acronym and all) processor.

 

Here we are heading into 2019 and expectations are that the number of mobile phones around the globe will pass the 5 billion mark; robots are being used in homes and enterprises, and based on the automotive industry's transition from hardware to software-centric offerings - we are on the cusp of the intelligent car.

AI and Machine Learning will be cornerstone technologies used to develop an intelligent and independent car, allowing autonomous vehicles to conduct and continuously learn how to do human-like activities. The car will soon be driving itself allowing people to do other things during the time they are being transported. Even imagine a pedestrian walking down the street and the autonomous car knows enough to flash the headlights - or blink his/her eyes - to let the person know it is safe to walk across the street.

Also like the human body, imagine this car with software so sophisticated that the software itself detects anomalies, stops bad processes from causing the car to malfunction and seamlessly updates with new features and functionality - fixing itself like the human body heals itself.

Similar to the realization on Get Smart's mobile phone and the Jetson's smart home, Aurora Labs believes that advances in AI and Machine Learning weaved into our Self-Healing Software solution will help make the vision of the intelligent self-healing car a reality.

Engineering the software car

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article "The global auto industry thinks it sees the future, and it will require a transformation without precedent in business history: The giant industrial sector has to turn itself into a nimble provider of software and services."

This transformation started happening a few years back and is offering major opportunities for a certain segment of the population - the software engineer.

Right now, there are more than 14,000 automotive software job openings in the US alone, based on a very quick and unscientific search on the Indeed career website. The need for automotive software engineers is huge due to the fact that more than 1 billion lines of code are expected to be required to run a level 5 autonomous car. In this era, software engineers are in a position to be kingpins in the automotive industry.

The truly interesting bit is that new technologies, like AI and Machine Learning - technologies that are exciting for young and seasoned engineers alike - are cornerstone technologies in the realization of the autonomous car.  The jobs available to software engineers offer creative opportunities for the development of new driving and passenger experiences.

Aurora Labs is excited to be working with car manufacturers delivering Self-Healing Software for software engineers throughout the organization to succeed in this new automotive world.

With Self-Healing Software engineers can shorten development cycles, flash and test infinite variations of software configurations, and update the car guaranteeing the best user experience after the car has left the lot.

Updating, and still waiting

Yay! There is a new software version available for my car head unit. I wasn't informed about it by the OEM or my dealer, I found out about it on one of the car owner forums I am on. I followed the link and downloaded the 2.16GB(!) image to my pc, transferred it to a USB drive and went out to my car. 30 minutes in, 34% and this is going to take a long time! It wouldn't be so bad if I could leave it running in the car but, and I quote from section 18 of 32 from the 20-page official update guide: "Press and release the clutch pedal (Manual Transaxle) or the brake pedal (Automatic Transaxle) and proceed with the following steps without stopping. NOTE: If the ignition is left in the ACC position it will automatically switch off after 25 minutes. Performing this step resets the timer to ensure the vehicle does not switch off while installing the reinstallation package."

Not exactly the user experience I have come to expect from any of the many connected consumer devices I possess. This process wouldn't be any different if I had taken my car to the garage - they too would have had to follow this same 32 step procedure. Software management including steady updates of features and functionality need to become the norm and not the exception. Our cars need to start behaving the same way as our smartphones - seamlessly updating, without requiring user intervention, to give us new features and improved functionality on an ongoing basis. I'm working with a team that are developing a clientless OTA update technology that will enable all and any ECUs in the car to be updated instantly without requiring user intervention and with zero downtime. This technology will enable the car software to seamlessly and constantly improve, making me feel more positive about buying another car from the same brand next time around.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've still got 12 more manual steps to do before I complete this update and I need to keep my foot on the brake!

Stepping up to meet the challenge of software complexity

The 2018 Automotive Elektronik Kongress in Ludwigsburg was not about autonomous cars or any other technology that comes with a 10-year engineering horizon. When the industry's most senior people that are actually tasked with building the cars and technologies of the future met in one room, they talked about stepping up to meet the challenge of software complexity and continuous integration & development.

Over half of the 25 companies who presented at the 2018 Automotive Elektronik Kongress talked about the critical need for Software Lifecycle Management and Continuous OTA Updates. These included: Elektrobit, Bosch, TTTech, BMW, Escrypt, Audi, Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen, Harman, Here, Continental, Intel, and others.

There was wide agreement in the Kongress that Software Lifecycle Management is essential to speed up a time to markets of new product functionality, fix software bugs, enable new mobility and post-sale business models, and continuously maintain the car's security.

In interesting discussions I had with many of the attendees, there was a widespread agreement of the need for a next-generation OTA Update technology that enables the updates to happen with zero downtime, without requiring additional memory and a higher BOM. Improved user experience is paramount for OTA updates to become widely used throughout the vehicle.

OEMs have already embarked on the journey to not only introduce new technology but also change the organization and processes to meet this need for a continuous software release world.

Perhaps best summarizing this change in Volkswagen, Dr Rolf Zoeller quoted Charles Darwin: "It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change."