Automotive and Transportation at W3C
@@add heading?@@
Shared data associated with transportation has great potential for improving the passenger experience, with opportunities to offer enhanced information, entertainment, efficiency, maintenance, safety, and convenience.
Several technology trends are driving a significant increase in the ability to generate and share a wide range of relevant information. Parallel advances in sensors, communications, cloud and Big Data infrastructure, geophysical mapping, machine learning, mobile devices, user interfaces and related areas have created a rich foundation that can offer tremendous opportunity for creating value.
This potential is hindered presently from lack of interoperability. The transportation ecosystem can benefit by building a Web of Data to unleash this potential.
As the first W3C initiative in this space, the Automotive Working Group is designed to address the need for standards in a connected vehicle ecosystem.
By specifying common data models and incorporating existing and emerging Web standards, we can accelerate the market for next generation applications. The scope might reside solely within or across vehicles, or extend across other modes of transportation and related services.
The Changing Landscape
The automotive industry is transforming towards an environment that depends heavily on the data that underlies the essential performance and driving experience of a vehicle.
Automobiles are increasingly becoming sources of rich information for in-vehicle and cross-vehicle applications that will improve performance, safety, efficiency, and entertainment. These applications may be designed for individual vehicles or address a wide range of them. They may also be part of a broader ecosystem that, for example, might incorporate other transportation modes or address general public safety issues.
Example application use cases include:
- System monitoring and optimization
- In-vehicle infotainment
- Predictive maintenance
- Route and trip planning
- Passenger safety
- Traffic management and smart cities
- Ride sharing and multi-modal mobility
- Fleet management
- Data-driven insurance
Unfortunately, today’s vehicular data involves a blizzard of formats and interfaces that differ by auto manufacturer. Application vendors are deterred by the cost and challenge of developing and supporting multiple versions to address the necessary range of vehicles.
Automotive Standards Effort
In order to accelerate Web applications in vehicle environments, the W3C launched the Automotive Working Group. The team completed an initial specification and is actively working on the next version.
It starts with the data! Shared information relies most fundamentally on a common description of the underlying data itself. To that end, the W3C Automotive working group is primarily focused on specifying a common data model for vehicle signals.
More specifically, the existing and proposed W3C Automotive data models are:@@reword into single model and added ontology@@
- VSS: Data model for in-vehicle applications @add link@@
- VSSo: Data model for cloud applications @add link@@
The model is extensible and leverages work associated with the Web of Things.@@WoT example based on VSSo
To validate the model and provide context, the W3C Automotive Working Group is focusing on applications involving:
- Media and infotainment
- Notifications
- Media and infotainment
- Caching
- Navigation
The Automotive Working Group includes a parallel business group incubator to drive discussion on the most relevant applications and business models that incorporate the standards.
Leveraging Related Industry Efforts
Applications, of course, involve a range of underlying functionality for communications, security, policy, management, and interfaces. Rather than duplicating efforts, we expect that automotive application developers will want to leverage existing and emerging standards in those areas.
The Automotive Working Group is coordinating with other W3C standards groups and related industry standards bodies, including ISO, Genivi, and others to ensure we leverage one another’s efforts and minimize overlap.
Related W3C standards efforts include:
Related automotive standards from other industry organizations include:
- @@list and link@@
Why work with the W3C?
The World Wide Web is the most interoperable system available for application developers. As applications evolve from desktops to devices, developers can leverage the benefits of a Web-based environment.
- Familiar and widely-used open standards minimize development cost, speed up time-to-market, and simplify support.
- The WWW is a decentralized, neutral platform, designed to be royalty-free.
- Vendors can leverage a large and mature Web developer community.
With active participation from the automotive industry, W3C is working to bring drivers and passengers a rich Web experience.
Shape the Web as a W3C Member
For twenty years,W3C Members have played a significant role in shaping the Web. Contact W3C to learn more about the benefits of W3C Membership.