(Photo: Samsung Semiconductor)SAN JOSE, CA (Jan. 10, 2006) - Besides providing critical transportation, today's cars increasingly are becoming multimedia entertainment rooms on wheels.
With the delivery of infotainment in an environment so clear and pleasing in its delivery, some drivers are reluctant to leave their seats even after they arrive at their destinations. Yet despite the benefits, current limitations such as slow access time, available memory and the absence of rewriting capability prevent driving consumers from enjoying up-and-coming applications, such as video streaming, downloading new content "off-the-air" or synching vehicles with home-based servers.
More money is going into upgrading automotive audio-visual (AV) equipment than ever before. For automobile manufacturers, suppliers and the aftermarket, this demand translates into marketing opportunities to consumers seeking superior performance. Yet there is a potential Achilles' heel for automotive entertainment systems - the escalating need for large amounts of digital storage.
Fork in the road Going forward, two very different solutions to digital storage exist - Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Flash memory. The two alternatives have distinct pros and cons. OEMs and suppliers are now faced with a decision matrix that includes keeping aware of new AV applications, trend lines in the costs of alternate storage and the integration of such into modern vehicles without compromising sophisticated electronic subsystems.
Samsung Semiconductor Associate Director for Flash Memory Don Barnetson says the industry is at a watershed point. "With considerable profit margin at stake, the automotive industry has a choice: Do auto manufacturers continue to provide an integrated infotainment environment that takes into account ergonomics and driver distraction. Or will cars become the modern equivalent of a centralized-storage stereo cabinet with slots and holders for consumer electronic devices?"
Paralleling the rise of telematics in other automotive applications, the very near future will see more convenient ways of delivering dynamic digital content into vehicles. There also will be advanced interfaces that help consumers more readily search for and make use of the content being delivered.
With storage, deciding between HDD and Flash memory will drive the integrated digital architecture of tomorrow. It all boils down to a single overarching question, Barnetson asserts: "Will vehicular digital storage be centralized with rugged HDDs or will it allow for subsystem independence using highly durable Flash?"
Making a case The hard disk industry has done a remarkable job of cramming more and more bits onto the same area of magnetic media, but a roadblock exists mitigating their use in automobiles. Costs of single HDD platforms are approximately $50 to $70 and are higher in more rugged automotive applications.
HDDs have more gigabytes of storage. But to be the cost-effective replacement for optical media, the car audio and video systems would have to centralize around a high-ticket, single HDD server from which all subsystems push and pull data, rather than multiple platforms with a lower overall cost for the OEM. This creates a formidable quality assurance challenge for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers who opt for HDD: having the least reliable component - HDD - attached to several sophisticated automotive subsystems.
