AWS wants automakers to take edge data, get smarter with IoT Fleetwise
Amazon Web Services recently introduced AWS IoT FleetWise, a new service that makes it easier and more cost-effective for automakers to collect, transform, and transfer vehicle data to the cloud in near-real time. With AWS IoT FleetWise, automakers can easily collect and organize data in any format present in their vehicles (regardless of make, model, or options) and standardize the data format for easy data analysis in the cloud. AWS IoT FleetWise helps automakers efficiently transfer data to the cloud in near-real time using the service’s intelligent filtering capabilities that allow developers to reduce network traffic by selecting the data to transfer and defining rules for when to transfer it based on parameters like weather conditions, location, or vehicle type. Once the data is in the cloud, automakers can use it for applications that remotely diagnose issues in individual vehicles, analyze vehicle fleet health to help prevent potential recalls or safety issues, or improve advanced technologies like autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems with analytics and machine learning. There are no upfront commitments or fees to use AWS IoT FleetWise, and customers only pay for the underlying services used.
Automakers have been collecting data from standard vehicle sensors for over a decade to evaluate operational and safety indicators like engine temperature and vehicle stability. However, automakers today are building cars with new classes of advanced sensors like radar and cameras that improve vehicle safety but also generate exponentially increasing amounts of data. For example, advanced vehicle sensors can generate up to 2 terabytes of data hourly per vehicle, making the cost of transferring this type of data to the cloud prohibitive. Automakers want to collect, standardize, and transfer this data to the cloud more cost-effectively, so they can use it to generate insights that help improve vehicle quality, safety, and autonomy. However, the ever-increasing variety of vehicle makes, models, and options that generate data in different proprietary formats creates a complex array of data across the vehicles on the road. Collecting and transforming all of this vehicle data so that it can be analyzed in the cloud requires automakers to build custom data collection systems that standardize the data across the wide variety of data formats, which is difficult and time-consuming. Instead, automakers want to select the data to collect and transfer to the cloud in near-real time based on their specific use case, but this type of intelligent data filtering doesn’t exist today. As a result, automakers are unable to put data to work to help solve common problems like diagnosing issues with individual vehicle performance, spotting fleet-wide issues before they become a growing problem, and using the data to improve vehicle performance and autonomy.
AWS IoT FleetWise provides automakers a managed service that makes it easier and more cost-effective to collect and transfer data from millions of vehicles to the cloud in near-real time. AWS IoT FleetWise can access the unique data format of a vehicle and then structure and standardize the data so automakers don’t have to develop custom data collection systems. Automakers start in the AWS Management Console by defining and modeling vehicle attributes and the sensors associated with the car’s make, model, and options for individual vehicle types or multiple vehicle types across their entire fleet. After vehicle modeling, automakers install the AWS IoT FleetWise application on the vehicle gateway (an in-vehicle communications hub that monitors and collects data), so it can read, decode, and transmit information to and from AWS. With AWS IoT FleetWise’s intelligent filtering controls, automakers can select the exact data they need for their use cases and help reduce costs by limiting the amount of data transferred to the cloud by creating conditional rules to filter the data they want to collect and analyze. Once data is transferred to the cloud with AWS IoT FleetWise, automakers can use AWS’s breadth and depth of services to extract value from vehicle data. For example, automakers can use intelligent filtering to collect camera data from vehicles traveling on newly built highways when an autonomous driving system identifies text in road signage with less than 90% confidence. When that data is sent to the cloud, automakers can label the data for accuracy to improve the machine learning models powering autonomous driving systems. Or, automakers can use intelligent filtering to collect data from electric vehicle batteries when the temperature drops below freezing and then analyze it and run simulations in the cloud to improve battery performance in cold weather.
“While automakers have collected, stored, and analyzed vehicle data for years, they are not equipped to manage the explosion of data generated by advanced vehicle safety and autonomous driving systems, nor have they had access to the near-real-time data needed to help proactively address vehicle problems,” says Mike Tzamaloukas, General Manager of IoT Automotive at AWS. “With AWS IoT FleetWise, automakers can now efficiently collect this data, transform it, and gain deep, actionable insights on the condition and usage of vehicles on the road. Automakers can now use the power of AWS to help maintain millions of vehicles, increase vehicle safety, and improve customer service.”
AWS IoT FleetWise is a new service that is part of AWS for Automotive, a comprehensive offering of AWS services and AWS Partner Network (APN) solutions used by automotive and mobility customers globally to help automotive customers digitally transform their business for connected mobility, digital customer engagement, product design and engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain.
AWS IoT FleetWise with standard vehicle data collection is available in preview today in US East (N. Virginia) and Europe (Frankfurt), with availability in additional AWS Regions coming soon.
Article Topics
AWS | data management | edge analytics | fleet management | IoT | transportation
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