Intel, Toyota & others create 'big data' consortium for self-driving cars
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A number of supreme tech and automobile companies like Intel, Toyota, Ericsson etc on Thursday announced that it would join hands to build a “big data” ecosystem for self-driving cars. This ecosystem will also support related technologies like driver assist and mapping using real-time data.
Other partners in this initiative known as Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) include Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo and auto parts maker Denso, according to Toyota. The Japanese automaker said that the online link up between vehicles and cloud servers will cross 10 exabytes per month by 2025, creating the need for “new architectures of network and computing infrastructure” to support it.
The group will also “define requirements and develop use cases for emerging mobile devices with a particular focus on the automotive industry, bringing them to standards bodies, industry consortiums and solution providers.”
Along with this Intel also revealed that it has laid out plans to put over 100 self-driving vehicles on roads. This would be the first batch that would conceivably rely on cloud infrastructure launched by the new consortium.
This announcement comes with a potential barrier for Apple’s self-driving car plans. While the company is currently only testing a platform on a handful of existing vehicles, a commercial launch —whether through a self-designed car or in partnership with others —could require vast amounts of high-bandwidth infrastructure on top of its modern data centers. It’s unlikely to turn to third parties however, given its policies towards data security.
Apple might be able to reduce cloud demands with local processing and machine learning, something CEO Tim Cook hinted at in a recent interview.