The Network Is the Car

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by Janice J. Heiss

From the moment the Sun concept car booth opened at the 1999 JavaOne^SM developer conference, to the time it closed, there were lines of people, often five to six deep, on each side of the car, eager to sit in the passenger seat while a member of the demo staff from Sun Microsystems Laboratory ("SunLabs") put the car's hardware and software through its paces. Overall, the reaction was extremely positive. "Typically," says Guy Martin, staff engineer with SunLabs, "people said, 'Wow, I didn't think you could do all that with Java technology!'"

No More Highway Nightmares

The Sun concept car, a technically souped-up version of GM's electric car, EV1, has the potential to turn nightmares into pleasant realities. For instance, imagine you are stuck on the highway with your car broken down. Upset? Not at all. You simply call AAA and ask, "What's wrong with my car?" After checking your car's Web page, the person on the other end of the line informs you that there is something wrong with your power management system and sends someone to fix it.

The EV1 Sun concept car, a research project of SunLabs, offers a range of new and robust functionality -- including a diagnostic report of the car's condition on its own Web page. The EV1 Sun concept car was created as a test platform to evaluate new features that Java technology can deliver to automobiles, from diagnostics to security to infotainment systems. While developers have used Java technology for specific features like navigation, Sun's concept car is the first to attempt the large-scale use of Java software architecture in a car. "This is all about putting the network in the car, and Java technology is critical to that," notes Martin. "We are trying to establish a network architecture that allows us to plug in components and provide services."

Under the hood: SunLabs' concept car software architecture

Why did Sun choose GM's EV1 electric car for the experiment? "The EV1 has a rack of batteries that are easy to deal with for the power requirements of our prototype," observes Martin. "But there is nothing about our use of Java technology that is specific to the EV1 -- we could apply the technology to other cars. Also, the car doesn't have to be electric -- we chose it because it is non-polluting."

"The Swiss Army Knife of Networking"

The Sun concept car grew from a recognition that existing systems produced by car manufacturers are all proprietary and developed for particular car lines. To develop systems for other car lines required starting from scratch. "We wanted to take off-the-shelf components and figure out how to network the car in a way that was practical," explains Martin. "We used three different forms of wireless Internet connectivity -- it's the Swiss Army knife of networking."

Wireless networking also allows services such as map databases and route calculation to be moved off the car. This lowers the cost for in-vehicle systems and has the potential to fuel explosive growth of the market. Separating not only the communication channels but also all the user interface devices -- displays, voice recognition, text-to-speech -- from the functional devices, allows upgrading of these devices over the vehicle's 12+-year lifetime. Over time more money will likely be made upgrading cars electronically rather than selling them new.

As yet, no one has created the magic silver bullet of wireless networking. Some systems work well when the car is still, while others work when it is moving, but none work all the time with sufficient bandwidth. "We use wireless ethernet for when we are docked close to an office or a library," says Martin. "The car becomes part of whatever network you have that has a wireless ethernet base station. We use this for uploading diagnostic information from the car or downloading various files such as MP3 files. When you are docked for short periods of time, you have a very fast bandwidth to the car."

A second form of wireless connectivity involves a Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) modem that functions well when the car is moving at highway speeds. "This provides slow coverage at 14.4 and a lower BAUD rate, but it is good to use while driving," Martin explains.

A third feature, at the far right of the back deck of the car, is a little black box containing a Metricom ricochet modem, a 28.8 modem that works when the car is standing still.

New systems can be easily added. "All the applications are designed to use TCP/IP, and all the application suites are written in PersonalJava technology," says Martin. "There is a server in the car, and a Local Area Network (LAN). And we have enabled a component network in the car where we can plug in additional components if a passenger wants to bring in a laptop. We can give the laptop an IP address on the car's LAN. Our concept of guest services includes access to the Internet, plus a printer in the trunk if your guest wants to print something."

The car's server is a SPARC microprocessor-based system that sits in what looks like a shoebox. "We chose it because Sun had 100 of them as research prototypes," comments Martin. "We were able to put the latest versions of Java technology on it. We run Java Embedded Server^TM and PersonalJava technologies on top of that. The SPARC processor-based system operates the display in front of the driver and is the primary server in the car." SunLabs is currently in the process of migrating their server architecture to a Cell Computing single-board computer with a Pentium processor. "Moving from the SPARC processor-based system to the Linux box is relatively straightforward because the apps are already in the Java programming language," Martin explains. "The Cell Computing single-board system listens to the car's diagnostics. Putting the network in the car is the key, because you can then deliver new software to the car."

Security Through the Java Ring

The Sun concept car's security is based on a Java ring that contains a profile of the user. You connect the Java ring to a ring receptor in the car, and the car knows, based on your profile, what you are allowed to do. For example, a ring given to a mechanic or valet allows that person to see the dashboard and drive 40 miles per hour within a one block radius, but no faster or farther. In a family where both the husband and wife drive the car, each has individualized settings, so that when they enter the car, their environments are configured to the profiles on their rings. Java rings are authorized through Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) so that no one can steal a person's ring and run off with the car.

Sun representatives are also talking to automakers who are developing automated rental cars. In this potential market, a driver can use his or her ring to access a vehicle and simply leave it when done. Billing, reservations, vehicle monitoring, vehicle location, and all other functions are done via wireless communication. The net result is a very inexpensive rental car for local use by residents and tourists. This will create a new business for rental car companies competing for business travelers in the saturated airport rental car market.

Talking to Your Car

All of the Sun concept car's software features are speech-enabled using the Java Speech API, so that drivers can switch between applications using speech commands. Drivers ask the email reader to read a message and hear it through the car's speakers. Or they can ask the navigation system to zoom in and out to show them where they are. The maps plotting the car's position are up-to-date since they are not stored locally in the car, but instead accessed from an Internet site.

The car has a speech-enabled calendar and address book, and SunLabs expects to integrate the Java Telephony API into the network so that drivers can verbally instruct their cell phone to make a call, hands free.

Jini Technology on the Way

And where does Jini technology fit into the Sun concept car? Martin is enthusiastic: "We currently have a network in the car -- that is the precursor to having Jini technology in the car. Jini technology is the next step."