Electric vehicles have established an assertive presence on our roads today. But how did we get here?
Advancements in connected vehicle technology, Big Data and infrastructure are the key drivers for this change. Let’s take the case of electric two-wheelers.
Modern electric motorcycles are engineered from the ground up with prime focus on safety, sustainability and performance. That’s not all. Automotive OEMs are laser focused on ensuring exceptional user experiences these days. This has led to the adornment of EVs with striking connected vehicle features such as internet connection, navigation and real-time vehicle monitoring.
Electric vehicles and sustainable mobility solutions have been an inherent part of the innovation programs at Embitel. We have been involved in tech solution development for EVs for years. Our offerings range from motor controllers that power EVs to more advanced modules like Battery Management system, infotainment systems, etc.
In this article, we take a glance at few of our selected case studies on connected electric two-wheeler solution development.
- Porting Android OS on Infotainment System of an Electric Motorcycle
- We set up the build environment and ported Android onto the Toradex SOM.
- We customised the BSP for LVDS Capacitive Touch Screen, GSM, GPS, USB, SATA, Camera, Bluetooth and Audio
- Integration of CAN communication from Body Control Module was done
- We developed the applications – Custom home screen, Tachometer, Navigation, Phone, Media Playback and Camera
- Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) for Head Unit and connected ECUs was integrated with the solution
- Integration testing and validation testing was performed
- Android Infotainment Platform for an Electric Scooter
- On board applications like Park Assist, Audio Playback, phone book, call/message notifications, custom home screen
- Device configuration
- Vehicle connectivity for monitoring vehicle speed, vehicle mode, battery range, Over The Air Updates (OTA)
- Navigation system - Destination search & select, route selection
- Suite of connected services
- Stolen vehicle alerts
- Remote diagnostics information
- Modules for network management, device security management, power management
- Digital Instrument Cluster for an Electric Motorcycle
- LCD display
- Phone & Cloud Connectivity
- Navigation
- Alerts and Warning
- FOTA
- Evaluation and selection of microcontroller platform
- Hardware schematics design
- Hardware testing according to ISO 7637 and ISO 16750 so that the cluster will operate at high temperatures
- Introduction of scalability in hardware design
- Development of BSP and middleware software components
- Design and development of all software modules and device drivers
- HMI design and development
- Porting Android N on Electric Two-wheeler Infotainment Platform
- Bluetooth Audio
- ALS (Ambient Light Sensor) integration
- GPU integration with Chromium browser and web view
- Android Nougat upgrade
- Boot time optimizations
- Android custom launcher to launch customer’s app in full screen on boot up
- Boot logo/animation customization
- Hardware Development for Electric Motorcycle Dashboard
- System on Module Apalis iMX6
- RS232 Transceiver
- LTE Module
- CAN Controller
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Combo Module
- CAN Transceiver
- Ethernet
- I2C to ADC Expander
- I2C to GPIO Expander
- Relays
- Current Limit Switch
- Temperature and Humidity Sensor
Our customer is a European electric two-wheeler startup. Their fully connected smart electric motorcycle is integrated with advanced features such as remote vehicle diagnostics, on-board navigation and telematics.
This infotainment platform was built on a Toradex SOM and was running on Linux OS. However, the customer wanted to port Android OS onto their platform without affecting the performance of the system.
Our customer is an Asian EV startup producing next-gen electric scooters. They partnered with us to develop the software for their second-generation motorcycle infotainment system. The head unit is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor and runs on Android OS.
Key features of our solution:
Our customer is a trusted name in the consumer electronics domain. They were taking their first step into the world of automotive product development. And they partnered with us to develop a scalable digital instrument cluster solution for their new line of electric motorcycles.
We designed and developed the software and hardware components of the solution.
Key features of the cluster:
Our work included the following activities:
We were able to reduce the BOM cost due to flexibility in HW and SW configuration. The utilization of our proprietary software stacks reduced the time-to-market considerably.
Our customer is an Asian electric two-wheeler startup. They collaborated with us to port Android 7.0 onto the vehicle’s infotainment system which was previously running on Android 6.0.
Key features of the solution:
Our customer is a North American startup producing a line of electric motorcycles. They wanted to design and develop the hardware for their motorcycle’s digital instrument cluster.
This electric motorcycle product line was integrated with leading-edge technology and a dashboard that was a crucial component in enabling connectivity. We designed and developed two hardware boards. The boards were interconnected, and we enabled communication with mobile, CAN transmission, GPS and 4G.
Key components of the carrier board:
Secondary board components:
A power management component was also included in the solution. We performed thorough performance evaluation of the system and provided support for pre-compliance and field tests.
Conclusion
As seen from the above case studies, technological innovations in two-wheelers are primarily hinged on personalization, connectivity, and rider safety.
We engineer leading-edge hardware and software solutions for our customers so that they can equip their offerings with personalization, supreme safety and efficiency. Talk to us at sales@embitel.com.
