At CES 2019, HARMAN featured next-generation automotive platforms, solutions and technologies, with demonstrating technology from Texas Instruments, NXP, Micron, Autotalks, and MediaTek, among others, with each solution blending expertise from both HARMAN and its partners.
HARMAN has partnered with Texas Instruments to bring image processing to automakers to implement camera technology as part of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). HARMAN and NXP have been collaborating for years, developing multiple technologies, such as software-defined radio. At CES, NXP is providing an I.O. controller for HARMAN’s Digital Cockpit platform demonstration. Similarly, Micron’s contribution through its broad portfolio of LPDRAM and 3D NAND-based e.MMC and UFS storage solutions will help advance infotainment and autonomous driving applications in next-generation automobiles. These three relationships demonstrate both the strength and diversity of HARMAN’s supplier relationships and the company’s willingness to embrace partner ideas and concepts.
“We appreciate our long-standing collaborative relationship with HARMAN,” said Curt Moore, Automotive Processors Manager of Texas Instruments. “By pairing our ADAS processors with HARMAN’s digital camera expertise, OEMs can continue to fuel their innovative designs and gain a competitive edge as we move closer to semi- and fully autonomous vehicles.”
Some of HARMAN’s newer partnerships are strategically focused on providing next-generation ADAS and smart mobility features to automakers. For instance, Autotalks is helping HARMAN further develop global vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications by providing its chipset and security expertise, demonstrating HARMAN’s agility to work with startups for productizing state-of-the-art technology.
Showcasing HARMAN’s collaborative mindset, the company’s work with MediaTek has been strategically focused on rallying technology suppliers around a single set of automaker requirements. As a non-traditional automotive supplier, MediaTek leveraged HARMAN’s experience to ensure its compute and cellular chips would be “automotive-grade” and capable of being reliable in a product with a much longer lifespan than a mobile device. These partnerships are not only reflective of Silicon Valley’s growing influence on the automotive industry, but anticipatory of where OEMs are headed in the near future – more concerned with experience-per-mile than horsepower.
“HARMAN’s strategic technology supplier network, together with access to the rich portfolio of Samsung innovations and resources, provides us with the necessary bandwidth to meet all of our global customer needs,” said David Slump, Executive Vice President, Operations, HARMAN. “We work with automakers and technology partners from Silicon Valley to Stuttgart to Shanghai to provide industry-leading solutions that are best-in-class and welcome an open ecosystem of partnerships to create safer, more advanced and increasingly connected mobility.”