Amazon Launches New Tool to Help Carmakers Remotely Diagnose Vehicles to Prevent Recalls, Improve Safety

Amazon Web Services has launched a new cloud-based data service that could help automakers remotely diagnose issues in their vehicles to prevent recalls and improve safety, as well as manage related data, the company told Reuters.

Called AWS IoT FleetWise, the latest tool in the company's newly branded AWS for Automotive portfolio of products and services for the transportation industry is being rolled out on Tuesday at Amazon.com Inc's annual re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.

FleetWise enables customers, including auto suppliers and transportation providers, to collect, organise, and transfer vehicle data to the cloud, while standardising different data formats to simplify data analysis, according to Mike Tzamaloukas, general manager of AWS for Automotive.

“As vehicles become more intelligent and advanced, the sheer amount of data produced from vehicles equipped with cameras, lidars, and radars is growing exponentially,” Tzamaloukas said in an interview. FleetWise was developed to allow customers “to easily access fragmented data across the different fleet models and vehicle types,” he added.

FleetWise also was designed to complement data-driven services offered by automakers, including General Motors's OnStar and Ford Motor's Ford Pro Intelligence, he said.

The new service joins a broad range of in-vehicle and cloud-to-vehicle offerings from AWS for Automotive and 185 business partners, according to Dean Phillips, worldwide tech leader for the business unit.

With a greater focus on the industry's growing shift to software-defined vehicles and systems, “we're trying to make it simpler and easier for our customers to discover solutions to their problems,” he said, citing development of self-driving cars and “digital customer engagement,” including streamed services.

The AWS portfolio includes cloud-based computing, data storage, analytics, and application development.

While Amazon does not break out the value of its automotive cloud services business, the company's AWS unit continues to grow.

In 2020, AWS reported operating profit of $13.5 billion (roughly Rs. 1,01,065 crore) on sales of $45.4 billion (roughly Rs. 3,39,880 crore), up 47 percent and 30 percent respectively from the previous year. Through the first nine months of 2021, despite the ongoing pandemic and global supply-chain disruptions, AWS's growth was even more robust: $13.2 billion (roughly Rs. 98,800 crore) in operating profit on $44.4 billion (roughly Rs. 3,32,340 crore) in sales, nearly matching its full-year results in 2020.

According to Synergy Research Group, more than 60 percent of the $45 billion (roughly Rs. 3,36,805 crore) in enterprise cloud services spending in the third quarter was funneled to three large tech companies: Alphabet's Google, with 10 percent, Microsoft with 20 percent, and AWS with 33 percent.

On Tuesday, AWS, one of the biggest buyers of data centre processors, also introduced new custom computing chips aimed at helping its customers beat the cost of using chips from Intel and Nvidia.

© Thomson Reuters 2021