Continental Attends EICMA With Its Always-On Motorcycle Connectivity Solution

New luxury and midrange vehicles come standard with connectivity to the internet – the feature allows drivers to go online quicker and fully benefit from the manufacturer's connectivity services without having to use their mobile phones. With its new hardware and software platform, Continental seeks to create the same experience for motorcyclists.

Harry Krickl, the Director of Sales, Motorcycles, and Off-Highway in Continental's Commercial and Special Vehicles business segment, said, "We're well on the way to closing the gap between motorcycles and the internet, without having to depend on smartphones. This is the first step towards ensuring that motorcycles are 'always-on', that mobility on two wheels becomes really smart, and safety and ride comfort are noticeably increased."

The Connected Infotainment Box uses a complex combination of hardware components that ensures a connection to a cloud backend so that the telematic modules can be accommodated.

Due to Continental's typical platform approach, the technology won't be hard to adapt to individual bike classes. The company also stated that the innovation wouldn't be available solely to high-end bikes – it aims to benefit all bike riders with the always-on solution.

Continental believes that closing this technology gap will result in a significant increase in digital services for motorcycles. It's a win-win situation for both parties – manufacturers will have more planning security during the development of customers value-added services, and more connected services and infotainment applications can supplement the basic service offering. This way, motorcyclists can have a similar user experience to car drivers and increase comfort on the two-wheeled machines.

Some functions that will become part of the Connected Infotainment Box are smartphone-independent rider-to-rider communication and over-the-air updates. You'll also be able to opt for optional features such as stolen vehicle tracking – the motorcycle will send a message when it detects movement when the engine isn't running. Moreover, an eCall (emergency call) function can also be implemented.

So, what are the advantages of using this complex setup? You'll be able to save up your phone's battery and data capacity as the box will act as an intermediary. Suppose you were to use telephony and messenger services connected to a specific mobile number.

In that case, your smartphone will use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to link to the Connected Infotainment Box, which will display information on the instrument cluster. The same goes for the turn-by-turn navigation service, which requires an active connection to the smartphone.

Updates to the platform's operating system can be downloaded and installed directly and remotely using the built-in wireless interfaces. Moreover, other control units in the vehicle can be updated by using the OTA (over-the-air) function if requested.

The Connected Infotainment Box will make many functions technically possible, as connectivity will be available at all times. We'll have to wait for the technology's release and see if it can trigger a service boom for motorcycles.

Of course, wireless and remote connectivity can impose some security risks – you wouldn't want hackers to connect to your vehicle and have access to your personal information. In this regard, Continental can use the cybersecurity expertise of its Elektrobit and Argus Cybersecurity subsidiaries to make sure that security breaches aren't possible.

If you wish to find out more about the Connected Infotainment Box, you can find Continental's booth (Hall 9, Booth M60) at EICMA in Milan, Italy, which started today and will last until November 13. Continental representatives will be there to answer any of your questions.