The MIH Alliance of Foxconn continues to expand, with over 200 suppliers currently supporting the cause, and is seeing no signs of deceleration in incorporating new forces, including global traditional automotive manufacturer Dana Incorporated, as well as Eaton. Foxconn also announced for the first time today the logo wall for the working partners of the MIH Alliance.
The MIH Alliance of Foxconn started receiving successive contact and induction of various major international suppliers subsequent to the public announcement on October 16th, including the recently joined renowned global transmission manufacturer Dana, who has been cultivating in the particular field for over 115 years for the provision of professional services that include gear boxes, low and high voltage motors, variable-frequency drives, controllers, and thermal management for US, European, and Japanese companies. The incorporation of Dana will introduce more advanced solutions for the MIH open platform.
▲ Foxconn’s MIH Alliance announces the logo wall for the first time. (Source: Foxconn)
Eaton, a major international company known for its energy management technology, is also a member of the alliance, apart from Dana. Eaton is dedicated in the development of power transportation technology, and has locations in 175 countries. The collaboration between the two parties will provide MIH platform users with electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical management that are more reliable, efficient, and safer.
The MIH platform will be stipulating a mutual specification with SGS-CCS and TÜV Rheinland, as well as providing relevant education training and certification services, pertaining to testing and inspection standards as well as regulatory accreditation services, in order to ensure the conformation of universal standards for each component and system developer, including the obtainment of functional safety process certifications of IATF 16949 and ISO 26262. As for software applications, the MIH platform has incorporated Amazon Web Services (AWS), and will be integrating with CarOTA’s leading computing technology in the future to reduce the size of packets, as well as provide safe and reliable one-stop OTA upgrades, and remote diagnosis and solutions.
In addition, the collaborative team formed with Tier IV, AutoCore, and ADLINK, has become affiliated with the autonomous driving system of the MIH platform, and will divide labors in various layers, where Tier IV is responsible for defining the functional requirements of software applications, and AutoCore is in charge of providing design solutions for calculation platforms, whereas ADLINK will contribute hardware and communication modules. MIH will further develop autonomous driving functions of Level 4 and above alongside these working partners subsequently.
Besides from the support received by major global suppliers, and the continuous growth of the alliance ecosystem, Foxconn is also planning to release the result of the latest R&D in January 2021, which is the first development tool for electric vehicles, EV Kit. The product is expected for pre-orders starting from February, and delivery will begin from the end of April, for which the software interface, hardware specifications, and system architecture will all be provided by the alliance.
Developers had to consume a significant amount of resources and time, and were unable to alter in-car settings, should they wish to obtain in-car system information when integrating the developing systems with car end systems in the past. Hence, Foxconn’s EV Kit will be providing developers of the alliance with confirmation and testing carriers for EV vehicles of advanced architectures, including drive-by-wire, autonomous driving, and IVI system, as well as simultaneously supporting finishing vehicles, systems, or single technical services. The EV Kit is also able to expand and customize electrical and electronic architectures, including autonomous driving system kits, to the users’ preferences.
(Cover photo source: Foxconn)
