SaaS Platform for Connected Cars: ATS Garage Onboard the GLM Electric Roadster

BERLIN and TOKYO, January 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

• Official launch of the open source-based SaaS development platform for the mobility and IoT industries 

• ATS presented a proof of concept in conjunction with Japanese design EV maker in Tokyo 

• Latest version offers significant benefits with OSTree, in stark contrast to the usual approaches for wireless software and firmware updates 'over the air' (OTA) 

With the launch of its new software as a service (SaaS) platform for connected vehicles, Berlin software technology company ATS Advanced Telematic presented a proof of concept with Japanese electric vehicle manufacturer GLM as part of the Connected Car Japan exhibition. Both companies agreed to explore future collaboration with regard to connected driving, paving the way for the development of an OTA updating system for GLM's next-generation EV platform. The start of the meetup series "Open Source Tech for Anything Connected" was announced last week in Berlin at the official product launch event of ATS Garage. Offering a free and ready-to-use cloud-based software service, ATS Garage has been created for development departments of automotive manufacturers and suppliers, research institutes and startups in the mobility and IoT sectors. Upon launching the SaaS platform, which is based on open standards and open-source technology, users can deploy over-the-air updates for wireless soft- and firmware updates for connected vehicles and devices. The current version of ATS Garage supports OSTree, a new mode of wireless updating of soft- and firmware that meets the highest security standards, as well as saving memory and reducing bandwidth.

"OTA updates are essential for software-defined cars. Carmakers are already realizing the advantages of utilizing shared platforms and open source technology. Automotive Grade Linux demonstrates this, with increasing engagement from OEMs like Daimler and Toyota. ATS Garage's SaaS solution is a perfect example of how the industry can benefit by realizing cost savings and preventing proprietary lock-in," says Dominique Bonte, Managing Director and VP at ABI Research.

High level of interest in proof of concept at the leading Asian expo for connected cars 

Japanese EV manufacturer GLM, which impressed crowds at the Paris Motor Show with the unveiling of its GLM G4 concept, is one of the first industrial users of ATS Garage. At the Connected Car Japan expo in Tokyo, GLM President Hiroyasu Koma emphasized the central role of software development in future automotive development, as well as the continual updating of soft- and firmware, in the innovation process of connected vehicles. Speaking to this point, ATS's CEO Armin G. Schmidt said that the use of OTA technology providers creates a secure distribution channel for new software-based vehicle features and consequently additional business models (see press release here). The OTA solution from ATS is part of the open Automotive Grade Linux software platform supported by Daimler and Toyota, among others.

Product launch event and start of the Meetup series "Open Source Tech for Anything Connected" 

For the official product launch of ATS Garage, ATS invited friends, partners and the community last Thursday to the Ahoy! Berlin innovation space. The event also marked the beginning of a new series of events for the embedded open source software community. "After receiving strong, positive feedback from users of our closed beta, we're delighted to be able to make ATS Garage available for anyone to use and deploy. We believe it represents an important technological innovation not just for the automotive and IoT industries but also the wider technology community, and we have created the public Meetup series 'Open Source Tech for Anything Connected' to reach out to developers and see how we can support their projects," said ATS chief technologist, Arthur Taylor, before a hundred guests at the Ahoy! innovation space.  

ATS Garage arrives at the product launch with new OSTree technology 

OSTree provides significant advantages over other common approaches to over-the-air updating. Package-based systems are generally considered undesirable for embedded devices, given the risk of leaving the system in an unknown or inconsistent state. Systems that must reboot into an "Update mode" to apply an update are safer, but are inconvenient for the user, and are unsuitable for automotive applications. Dual-bank systems provide safety and are more convenient for the user, but come at the cost of having to size the root filesystem at manufacture time, as well as taking up a large amount of eMMC storage and generally having high bandwidth requirements. With OSTree, all of the safety and atomicity guarantees of dual bank systems are retained, but without the high bandwidth and storage requirements, and without the inflexibility in sizing the root filesystem. "We've integrated OSTree into the Yocto build process, thereby improving development, QA, and production deployment workflows by allowing minimally-sized incremental updates to be pushed to devices as soon as they are built," said Christian Hugger, Product Manager for ATS Garage.

Test and use ATS Garage for free today  

ATS Garage is free to use in an experimental setting, such as by mobility and IoT start-ups. Since ATS Garage is a cloud platform based on open standards and open source technology, it can be fully integrated and used in just a few steps: simply register at http://www.atsgarage.com, download the ATS Garage client, integrate the client into the vehicle or IoT device, and immediately connect with the device via the cloud.

About ATS Advanced Telematic Systems 

ATS Advanced Telematic Systems is a German automotive-focused software company specializing in open source and open standards-based software solutions for the mobility industry. ATS developed OTA Plus, the only open source client/server solution for over-the-air software updates for OEMs and Tier1s. ATS collaborates with international industry alliances of leading automotive OEMs and suppliers. It is the first cloud-only service provider to be accepted into the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), leads the OTA activities inside GENIVI and Automotive Grade Linux (AGL). Headquartered in Berlin, ATS operates a regional hub in Tokyo.

Company website:  http://www.advancedtelematic.com

Product website:  http://www.atsgarage.com

Meetup website:  https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/Open-Source-Tech-for-Anything-Connected/

ATS Advanced Telematic Systems on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ats_news

Press contact:
Eric Eitel
+49(0)175-16-70-891
[email protected]

SOURCE ATS Advanced Telematic Systems GmbH