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which is a lot of connectivity);
and systems integration, which,
he explains, allows them to lower
installed costs.
And while he stresses that there is
a broad product portfolio within
Continental itself, they've worked
to become capable of working
with various architectures and
partitions, with their specialization
being in functions.
He cites, for example, that they
developed an open infotainment
program. This means that when an
OEM customer wants, say, Apple
CarPlay, it is readily handled.
While it may be tempting to have
a proprietary system, Matschi
points out, "Proprietary systems
run into a dead end—fast."
He explains, "We've used the term
'open' for many years because we
knew once we placed chips on one
solution, we'd only have a narrow
opportunity. If we bet on one
area, might win—but for a limited
time. No one can predict fully
what will come. But things within
a vehicle need to be integrated.
"Our role is integrating things into
vehicles independent of what's
coming. We like this current
period of time because we can be
fexible. More is changing, which
requires more systems integration.
There's never been such a variety
of operating systems and demands
for multimodal or connectivity."
He points out that this demand
is going to accelerate as it is
anticipated that in 2017 there will
be more vehicles being produced
with telematics capability than
without. And as there is a
transition from 4G to 5G, there
will be sufcient data band width
and reduced latency times such
that it won't be necessary for
every function to be running on
board a vehicle. "The dynamics of
connected systems are becoming
larger," he points out.
And to think it was just once all
about a magnet afxed to the end
of a rotating cable that created
a torque that turned a cup that
moved a spring-loaded needle . . .