MWC HARMAN, the Samsung-owned connected vehicle software provider, has announced the launch of a new telematics control unit (TCU) which leverages Qualcomm connected car technology to ‘democratise the automotive connectivity landscape.’
The HARMAN Ready Connect 5G TCU, which is being showcased this week at MWC 2024, is based on the Snapdragon Auto 5G Modem-RF Gen 2 and promises strong performance across connectivity, scalability and usability. Consumers will get ‘rich in-cabin experiences’ while engineering efforts and time to market will be reduced for OEMs, with pre-developed software applications, such as vehicle diagnostics.
“Together, HARMAN and Qualcomm Technologies are working to redefine the future of automotive connectivity,” said Pascal Peguret, SVP connectivity for HARMAN Automotive in a statement. “The Ready Connect 5G TCU product is a testament to that shared vision, disrupting the traditional TCU approach as an off the shelf TCU product.
“HARMAN Ready Connect 5G TCU is designed to meet the needs of automakers simply and effectively while expediting the time to market and significantly reducing development cost,” added Peguret.
IoT News has variously reported on Samsung’s connected vehicles initiatives through its SmartThings platform. In January, Samsung was noted as collaborating with Hyundai; and as part of its ‘Car-to-Home’ services, the company was working alongside HARMAN, whose Ready Upgrade package allows hardware and software upgrades to install SmartThings functions for various Car-to-Home services.
Connected vehicles are expected to be a topic of particular interest at the Barcelona get-together. A conference session earlier today was focused on how mobile operators – and the seamless integration of 5G – were part of the ‘transformation journey of future transportation.’ Among the speakers was Suman Sehra, global vice president at HARMAN, along with Eva Rudin, VP mobile connectivity solutions at security firm Thales.
Thales is another company exhibiting its automotive prowess at this year’s MWC. Among the exhibits is a concept car from the Software République consortium – of which Thales is a member – featuring more than 20 different technologies, including Thales’ biometrics and digital car key.
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