Hey, what's a STORAGE company doing working on Internet-of-Cars?

It’s the coming internet of driven things; HDS is working with the Clarion car audio biz on Internet-connected cars. What’s a disk array manufacturer doing getting in bed with a car radio/satnav firm? Well, connected cars will be big biz; IHS projects that 152 million of them will be on the highways by 2020. HDS and Clarion …

[Trevor_Pott]

“Exhilarating and entertaining driving experiences.”

"Benefits:" Underwriters: Risk management

Translated: "none of your accident claims will ever be approved again, your premiums will be punitive and we have the "data" to prove it. Objective analysis legislation is never going to pass, we promise you."

Sounds exhilarating and entertaining for those who own insurance companies...

[strum]

Re: “Exhilarating and entertaining driving experiences.”

I already have a tracker in my car, and it reduces my premiums by about 20%.

[regadpellagru]

Really ?

"With predictive maintenance, auto manufacturers will be able to gain insights such as key maintenance data points and the ability to predict wear over time. The outcome is lower costs of service and support, and increased driver satisfaction."

Let's wait until we see this for real.

I have yet to own a car which is able to signal about my brake pads being gone, so the M2M hype is probably gonna wait another couple of decades ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Really ?

Mine does, and so did the one before it. If you hear a high pitched squealing noise (typically you need the window open to hear it, or someone outside your car notices it) that goes away when you hit the brakes, it means you need new brake pads.

Not sure if all makes of pad work that way, but they all should. No need for "big data" to get involved here, though I wouldn't mind if there was an "idiot light" for this since you won't hear this noise in the winter as you're driving around with the windows down and the heater blowing.

[John Tserkezis]

Re: Really ?

"Mine does, and so did the one before it. If you hear a high pitched squealing noise..."

Ahh, if only everything worked as originally intended...

The steel plate backing of the brake pad has lips that curl and touch the disk along the edge just before the pads run out. The grinding noise is supposed to be an indicator - at the cost of your disks. This isn't a problem in Europe, as the vehicular trend is to replace the pads AND the disk at the same time. However, that's not how things work 'round my side of town where disks last (with care) at least several pad changes.

I've had mechanics speak of people drive in their (grinding) cars, hand over an entirely spent brake backing, and say "This fell off my car. What does it mean?".

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Really ?

The squealing starts before the disc is being damaged. If you ignore that high pitched squeal and it becomes a growling grinding noise then your disc is being damaged, but you had ample warning from the harmless squealing.

There's no fix for stupid, people will drive with low tire pressure or a lit check engine light for months, too.

[Richard Conto]

Why?

What? No one jumped on that old adage of a station-wagon full of (media) barreling down the highway?

They're going to compete with Cisco/Foundry/etc by filling an EV station wagon full of storage arrays. If they make it a plugin-hybrid, they'll be able to advertise a REAL PHYSICAL FIREWALL too.

[Anonymous Coward]

It always kind of kills me that people tend to forget that the parent company of HDS is Hitachi Ltd, who own companies that all told, pretty much build anything you can think of. A large portion of the electronics in any car is made by a Hitachi company. Same with brake lines.

HDS isn't just a disk array manufacturer, they have converged architectures, server and blade lines, and plenty of software ranging from data protection to other stuff. If you have two companies under your umbrella that can complement each other, you want them to work together.