SmartDeviceLink consists of two distinct software elements: a core automotive piece which wraps in-vehicle services and integrates to the in-vehicle HMI, and a mobile proxy,
which executes APIs to access and use services on the automotive head unit.
It is a project intended to standardize and wrap the many in-vehicle interfaces which may exist in the automotive context. The end goal is to provide an expandable software framework to both
mobile application
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
developers and automotive head unit creators for the creation of brought-in applications that appear integrated onto a head unit.
Features
In-vehicle core
The in-vehicle core has some of the following features:
* Manages the physical discovery and logical transport connection to a
mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
application
* Can support white-labeled, multi-function but single application use cases, as well as single app, single function use cases
* Provides a consistent interface for applications to understand the capabilities of an in-vehicle head unit
* Manages and maintains the state of connected mobile applications and notifies applications of appropriate state changes
* Wraps in-vehicle services such as buttons, displays, voice, menu systems, audio controls and other common vehicle inputs and outputs to a common messaging format and API
* Is expandable to allow for specific OEM or head unit manufacturer APIs or messaging
* Creates a template- and meta-based UI that creates consistent developer experiences regardless of the actual HMI representation
Mobile proxy components
The mobile proxy components support some of the following:
* Provides a common, abstracted interface to the
in-car entertainment
In-car entertainment (ICE), or in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), is a collection of hardware and software in automobiles that provides audio or video entertainment. In car entertainment originated with car audio systems that consisted of radios and c ...
system to integrate to SmartDeviceLink-enabled mobile applications
* Is available for Android and iPhone applications
* Supports TCP, Bluetooth and Apple-specific protocol implementations for transport, and can be expanded to include other transports
* Simplifies transport discovery, connection, and protocol use
* Is expandable to allow for specific-OEM or head unit manufacturer APIs or messaging
Operation
*
Smart device
A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols (such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, near-field communication, Wi-Fi, LiFi, or 5G) that can operate to some extent interactively an ...
and car connect via standard protocols such as
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
and
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...
.
* Application makes requests to the vehicle and the vehicle responds (
Remote Procedure Call
In distributed computing, a remote procedure call (RPC) is when a computer program causes a procedure (subroutine) to execute in a different address space (commonly on another computer on a shared network), which is coded as if it were a normal (lo ...
s). Application appears to be running inside the vehicle, but all business logic is contained on mobile device.
* User interacts with the vehicle, and it notifies application of any system or user events
* Application reacts by sending requests to modify application behavior or appearance in the vehicle.
References
Tim Stevens
Ford races to create standard for connected cars CNET, 26 November 2013
External links
* GENIVI Alliance, now called COVESA (Connected Vehicle Systems Alliance)
SmartDeviceLink* {{Cite web , title=Sygic Car Navigation Partners with Ford Motor Company as the First Navigation App , last=Horak , first=Andrej , website=Sygic , date=5 January 2017 , access-date=2 October 2020 , url= https://www.sygic.com/sk/blog/2017/sygic-car-navigation-partners-with-ford-motor-company-as-the-first-navigation-app
Application programming interfaces
Automotive software