A new Microsoft platform for automotive functions will give Fiat drivers hands-free control of their Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and portable music players. Windows Mobile for Automotive (WMFA) uses a standard hardware reference design and is less expensive to implement than the older Microsoft Automotive platform, but it has only one customer and future versions might be significantly different, raising questions about whether WMFA is truly a platform.

Eight Years of Windows Automotive

Microsoft introduced its first automotive platform in 1998. This platform, now called Windows Automotive, is built on Windows CE and consists of more than 500 components tailored for automotive functions, such as driver distraction control (disabling the full-screen display when the car is moving, for example), a 3D graphics display for navigation systems, and the ability to read and display data from computerized diagnostic systems. The most recent update, Windows Automotive 5.0, was released in July 2005 and added a toolkit for user interface development and support for more virtual memory to enable more sophisticated applications, such as improved speech recognition and 3D navigation displays.

As of Jan. 2006, 61 models of device use Windows Automotive, including aftermarket navigation systems from Alpine and Pioneer and standard or dealer-option devices in cars from eight automakers. However, automotive software is not a major contributor to Microsoft's revenues. In the year ending June 30, 2005 (the last period for which Microsoft reported financial data for Automotive), Windows Automotive and the MapPoint mapping products together contributed about US$80 million in revenues—about 24% of the Mobile and Embedded division's total revenue (MapPoint has since been moved to MSN), and a miniscule fraction of the company's total US$39.79 billion for that year. A 2003 Gartner report pegged Windows CE's share in automobiles at 16%, in a highly fragmented market that includes platform providers such as QNX and Wind River, as well as custom solutions built on Linux.

Nonetheless, Microsoft continues to pursue this market because of the large potential market: nearly 17 million cars were sold in 2005 in the United States alone, and probably more than 100 million worldwide. If Microsoft can get its software into even a fraction of these cars, it could become a significant business.

WMFA Promises Lower Development Costs

In Mar. 2006, Microsoft and Fiat announced that several models of upcoming Fiats will optionally include a system called Blue&Me, which is built on WMFA.

WMFA is based on Windows Automotive, but is built for a specific hardware reference design and supports only a limited set of features. According to Microsoft, this approach will speed time to market and lower development costs for automakers. (Unlike Windows Automotive, WMFA will not be sold to aftermarket companies.)

WMFA includes the following capabilities:

• A speech-enabled user interface based on Microsoft's Speech API (SAPI) 5.0
• Support for several Bluetooth profiles used in mobile phones, including Hands Free Profile 1.0
• USB support
• Digital audio playback (MP3, WAV, and Windows Media Audio)
• Support for GPS location technology
• The ability to send and receive messages using GSM wireless phone networks
• A protocol stack that can read messages traveling among automotive components over an in-car network (known as a controller area network, or CAN)
• Other features necessary for basic operations and support, such as power management, support for diagnostic tools, and the ability to accept software updates delivered through the USB port or via a Bluetooth-enabled phone.

The first version of Fiat's Blue&Me product uses only some of these features. It lets drivers use voice commands to control more than 140 phone models, reads aloud incoming Simple Message Service (SMS) text messages from those phones, and shows messages on a small LCD display. It also lets drivers plug in any USB storage device and use voice commands to play audio files. (However, WMFA does not support AAC, the default audio format used by Apple's iPod family of devices.)

Fiat may expand Blue&Me to perform other functions, such as mapping and automated traffic reports, and the CAN protocol stack could help enable roadside assistance service (for instance, calling emergency services when an airbag is deployed). Microsoft is not interested in providing these services itself, but will leave them to automakers.

Platform or Not?

WMFA supports widely used technologies, such as Bluetooth and USB. Where technologies are not standardized, Microsoft has attempted to minimize the effort required to port applications between vehicles—for example, while every vehicle uses a different CAN, WMFA uses an abstraction layer that maps CAN messages into signals that can be understood by applications (e.g., the parking brake is engaged).

Nonetheless, WMFA currently has only one customer and some features, such as GSM, are tailored for the European market. Consequently, automotive application developers may want to wait to see greater momentum before committing to WMFA.

In the meantime, Microsoft will continue to offer and update Windows Automotive for aftermarket providers, as well as automotive companies (and suppliers) that want to build more customized solutions.

Resources

Microsoft's Windows Automotive home page is at www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/windowsautomotive/default.mspx

A 19-page white paper about WMFA is available in Word document format at download.microsoft.com/download/8/5/7/857685fa-85a6-4366-bd71-c8aaf446e657/WMfApaper.doc.