Broadcom on Thursday unveiled a new Bluetooth-based platform for connecting Android devices with automotive computing systems providing entertainment, navigation, and other in-vehicle applications.
The chip maker’s Automotive Bluetooth software stack can sync in-vehicle systems with Android smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices like smartwatches, “enabling seamless in-car connectivity,” Broadcom said.
The new platform is an extension of Broadcom’s existing “Bluedroid” Bluetooth software stack for embedded systems, developed as part of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
“The choice of in-vehicle technology is becoming more important as consumer demand for seamless mobile and wearable device connectivity continues to rise. Auto makers and tier one suppliers are looking for robust, feature-rich and flexible operating systems that are relatively painless and easy to deploy,” Richard Barrett, Broadcom’s director of Wireless Connectivity, said in a statement.
“Our Android Automotive Bluetooth software combines Broadcom’s proven expertise in software development and widely deployed wireless connectivity with high performance profiles optimized for use in the evolving automotive environment.”
Broadcom said the release of the new software stack, available now to qualified customers in versions optimized for Android, RTOS and Linux, would eliminate “poor audio performance and interoperability barriers” across devices resulting from the fragmentation of Bluetooth software available today.
“Broadcom’s Android Automotive Bluetooth software removes these barriers, delivering a significant improvement in audio quality for hands-free calling and streaming music,” the company said.
In addition to providing better syncing with handheld mobile devices, Broadcom said the platform will also make integrating wearable devices with in-vehicle systems easier, opening the door for wearable apps used to “monitor driver health and biometric indicators such as driver fatigue and blood alcohol content.”
For automakers eying Android-based in-vehicle systems, Broadcom further noted that using its Android Automotive Bluetooth software stack would “eliminate potential licensing and royalty fees when used with Broadcom silicon.”
Also this week, Broadcom introduced a new Bluetooth-equipped System-on-a-Chip (SoC) as an addition to its WICED family of products for wearable technology and Internet-of-Things (IoT) products.
The company’s new BCM20736 WICED Smart chip has a tiny ARM Cortex M3 application processor, with the CM3 microcontroller unit integrated with radio frequency (RF) circuitry and Broadcom’s Embedded Bluetooth Smart Stack in a single chip.
