Hard Drive Use Growing

In today's cars and trucks, “storage space” usually is real estate in the glove box, a center console or the trunk.

With the introduction of Chrysler Group's MyGIG infotainment system and its integrated hard disk drive (HDD), storage has taken on a whole new meaning, cited in gigabytes (GB) rather than cubic feet.

While growth in the media storage segment is moving at an unprecedented rate, auto makers and electronics suppliers are grappling with myriad technologies, standards and the pace of customer demand.

HDDs are the preferred high-volume data storage method for desktop and portable computers. For vehicles, other technologies, such as CDs, DVDs and flash memory compete for storing gigabytes of data.

Toshiba Corp., the pioneer in small-form factor HDDs for vehicles, anticipates strong automotive growth. Toshiba has shipped more than 4 million automotive-grade hard drives, primarily for aftermarket installations, and boasts more than 80% share.

Other drive suppliers such as Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), and Seagate Technology also are involved in automotive-grade HDDs.

Market research firm Telematics Research Group Inc. (TRG) has identified 75 automotive models globally that will have factory-installed HDD systems, including 15 models to be offered in North America by 2008.

“There are really three options for storage in the vehicle, says John Rydning, research manager for market intelligence firm IDC. “Historically, it has been a CD or DVD type storage device. Now hard-disk drives are starting to take on a greater role for storage.”

Rydning also sees long-term possibilities for flash memory, the semiconductor-based storage technology that Apple uses in its iPod music players.

Today, whenever a customer plugs an iPod into the on-board audio port, such as the one used by Ford Motor Co.'s Sync system, they add several GBs to the total flash memory in the vehicle. Flash memory already is used extensively in the embedded computing chips in every vehicle electronic system.

The growth of onboard HDD technology depends on a number of factors, but navigation has been a primary reason for requiring gigabytes of memory storage.

“The use of hard drives is originating overseas in the navigation space,” says Scott Wright, Toshiba's product marketing manager for automotive hard-disk drive storage. “It started off in Japan, with Europe following pretty quickly.” The lack of sequential street numbering or an orderly layout in Japan and Europe requires more complex navigation databases and HDD storage.

Toshiba shipped its first generation HDD automotive units in 2001, a 10 GB, 2.5-in. (6.35 cm) drive. “All of our automotive modules have been 2.5-in., or in the PC world, notebook class platforms,” says Wright. He sees 2.5-in. drives as the likely size for vehicles for the foreseeable future even though drives as small as 1-in. (2.5 cm) already are offered for portable consumer products.

While similar in appearance, an automotive-grade HDD is quite different from a notebook HDD.

“They use the same form factor and the same parallel ATA interface as many notebook-class drives,” says Wright. However, the automotive grade drives have a much broader operating range that dictates design changes for both mechanical and electronic components.

For example, at low temperatures, starting the spindle motor to rotate the hard-drive platter requires special consideration. “These drives rotate at speeds up to 1,400 rpm,” says Wright. “So you have to design motors for low-temperature operation.”

At sub-freezing temperatures, supplying enough power to spin the motor is an issue. At high temperatures, the lubrication system for the motor provides additional challenges. Both extremes have been addressed. The operating temperature range for Toshiba's automotive drives is between -22° to 185° F (-30° to +85° C). In contrast, aftermarket products have a narrower temperature range from -4° to 158° F (-20° to 70° C).

With the availability of automotive-grade HDDs, auto electronics designers quickly realized the benefits of this additional capacity. Multi-function or multi-mode, in-dash modules provide the ability to share that storage across other applications. This allows drivers and passengers to copy files from CDs in the vehicle and essentially create a virtual audio jukebox.

Video is another driving force taking advantage of the HDD. “The real capacity driver for infotainment systems is video,” says Rydning. “It is not being done right now, but we're on the cusp of that trend.”

Rydning predicts within a few years, an onboard device could serve video to different screens located inside the vehicle. Video applications will require much more than 40 GB of storage. That will not be a problem for drive makers because they are continually upgrading their non-automotive drives. However, this may cause problems for auto makers.

“If you buy a car today that has a 40 GB hard drive, five years from now you will have a very difficult time finding a 40 GB hard drive,” IDC's Rydning says. One of the possible solutions for increased storage capacity on a vehicle with an installed HDD could be a removable hard drive.

Japanese OEMs offered removable drives but identified problems with the pins bending either on the host side or the drive side. Because of the failure potential, removable HDDs no longer are available.

Portable hard drives provide an alternative to a removable HDD or permanently installed drive.

“Portable HDDs can address many of the functionality and price challenges facing embedded systems, as these systems can be removed from the vehicle and easily connected to a home PC for file transfer,” says Clare Hughes, an analyst in the Global Automotive Practice of Strategy Analytics, a research consulting company.

But the portable approach conflicts with OEMs' efforts to increase the electronic content within the vehicle — and potential profits. As competitors seek to differentiate their navigation/infotainment offerings, the 20 GB HDDs offered in the U.S. will become 30 GB and then likely 40 GB.

“By 2010, you could expect to see 100 GB drives on the high end,” Rydning says. In the short term, the competing technologies could limit HDD growth.

“The last 12 months has seen automotive activity shift from in-vehicle HDD to removable storage (SD/MMC cards) and USB solutions,” Hughes says. “While electronics suppliers are focusing on multimedia card storage solutions, most notably Secure Digital, automotive OEMs are showing a preference for USB ports.”

Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia Card (MMC) are industry standard flash-memory storage formats, and the Universal Serial Bus (USB) can connect devices with both flash and HDD memory to a host computer.

Phil Magney, president and principal analyst, Telematics Research Group, agrees. “In spite of this influx of vehicle hard drives, the preference for flash technology remains strong throughout the industry,” Magney says.

Even with the technical issues and competing technologies facing HDDs, analysts still are optimistic about their future.

“In-vehicle HDD Jukebox entertainment systems will see strong growth over the next five years, across North America, Europe and Japan, with shipments increasing from 2.5 million in 2006 to 12 million in 2012,” says Hughes.

TRG's Magney sees applications that take advantage of the unique capabilities of hard drives increasing the OEM attachment rate to more than 26% by 2011. One application already identified for HDDs is the Advanced Driver Assistance System.

ADAS improves navigation accuracy and requires more memory. With highly precise GPS and map data indicating curves in the road, if the driver is approaching a curve too fast, the vehicle would warn of the danger or could even automatically reduce speed.

“Some of those systems are actually in test now in Japan.” says Toshiba's Wright. “Once you have this kind of storage and detailed map data and processors to support this kind of real-time assistance, I think anything is possible.”

Freelance writer Randy Frank has been involved in automotive electronics for more than 25 years.