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Harman works to integrate digital life into car cabin
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FROM the radio player in the 1920s to the cassette player in the 1970s, the navigation systems of the 1980s to the 7-inch smartphone-like touch screen introduced by Tesla in 2013, the evolving image of the vehicle head unit is also the storyline for Harman’s development.
Having equipped 25 million cars around the world, the company is the largest supplier of car audio and infotainment systems. Riding on an annualized growth of 53 percent over the last six years, its China-related revenues pulled in US$700 million in the 2015 fiscal year with more than half coming from the infotainment business — an indicator of the increasing integration and complication of electronics for a head unit.
The launch of its Suzhou Global Product Development Center yesterday in an industrial zone in Jiangsu Province will give another boost to its transition from a hardware company into a connected service company.
Dinesh Paliwal, chairman, president and CEO of Harman International, said he expects Harman’s Chinese business to grow at least two times faster than the country’s GDP as Internet-savvy millenniums are asking for more integration of their digital life into the cabin, which is Harman’s specialty.
It is a trend trickling down from high-end foreign brands to middle-range joint-venture carmakers, and even to domestic carmakers focusing on entry-level products but eager to move up.
Harman’s client list includes Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Geely and Great Wall.
Paliwal summarized their latest on-board demands — powerful computing environment, personalization of the car, productivity of work under safe circumstances and protection.
“Audio is no longer just about listening to your favorite songs. It is more of sound management,” he said. With cloud-based applications, one can stream in live performance into cars, turning it into a virtual venue; drivers and passengers can even have their own individual sound zones, a patented technology of Harman which was first introduced in Volvo XC90, and a quiet environment for conference calls.
A study by Nielsen found that 80 percent of Chinese consumers think the audio system is important to their cars, said David Jin, Harman’s chairman and president of North East Asia and China.
Video streaming without disturbing drivers is also a possibility even before the arrival of the autonomous driving era. Harman has developed a patented technology of individual “visual” zone that provides different screen display for the driver and the passenger looking from different angels.
The company has tied up with Microsoft for cloud-based Office 365 services in the infotainment system that will enable users to work without bringing other devices.
Harman is also active in acquiring technologies to expand its area of expertise. Besides cloud-based applications, its investments also go to cyber security, data analytics and sensor technologies.
“I personally believe data will be the new oil, more precious than oil in the next ten years,” said Paliwal.
By making sense of all those car data and consumer data, companies like Harman can share their insights with carmakers, dealers, repair and maintenance shops and insurance companies. The profitability model is wide open.
With the integration of sensors into the head unit, Harman can distinguish its offerings from smartphones with advanced driver assistance system. It represents deep data integration that may eventually lead to autonomous driving.
This is one of the fields that need localized research and development because safety issues are very country-specific, Palwal said of the newly launched product development center.
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