Microsoft, Ericsson Connect Clouds to Connect Cars

Microsoft and Ericsson are connecting their connected vehicle programs in a move that targets automakers looking to add more connectivity to their products. Microsoft and Ericsson are connecting their connected vehicle programs in a move that targets automakers looking to add more connectivity to their products. Microsoft’s Azure-based Connected Vehicle Platform (MCVP) will act as the base for the build. The platform, which was initially released in early 2017, is built as a software layer on top of Azure and taps into Microsoft’s cloud, edge, artificial intelligence (AI), and IoT services. It supports cloud-connected services that can be embedded in a vehicle like infotainment, navigation, autonomous driving, telematics, and over-the-air (OTA) updates. “At a basic level, MVCP is used to communicate to send and receive messages from the vehicle to the cloud, as well as commands from the cloud to the vehicle,” Microsoft explains in a white paper. However, as part of its initial release, Microsoft noted that the platform was “not an in-car operating system or a ‘finished product.’” “It’s a living, agile platform that starts with the cloud as the foundation and aims to address five core scenarios that our partners have told us are key priorities: predictive maintenance, improved in-car productivity, advanced navigation, customer insights, and help building autonomous driving capabilities,” the cloud giant explained. “Microsoft’s cloud will do the heavy lifting by ingesting huge volumes of sensor and usage data from connected vehicles, and then helping automakers apply that data in powerful ways.” Ericsson’s component is its Connected Vehicle Cloud (CVC). It’s designed to offload the complexity of operations and lifecycle management with a guaranteed service-level agreement. The vendor has offered the platform for more than 7 years, and claims that it connects more than 4 million vehicles across 180 countries. Åsa Tamsons, SVP and head of business area technologies and new businesses at Ericsson, claimed in a statement that the collaboration will provide a “a comprehensive connected vehicle platform at scale to the market.” IHS Markit earlier this year predicted that 315 million light vehicles globally will be supported by “merchant market connected car platform” by 2025, with those connecting generating more than $37 billion in revenues.