or simply to remain part of our always-connected world.
Automobile networks are currently mostly focused on the first category—
in-vehicle systems—which are presently implemented using relatively slow
technologies not found outside the automotive industry. As the inner
workings of cars become more intelligent and complex, they increasingly
demand improvements in the networking area. But any new technology used
here needs to be not just faster, cheaper, and capable of connecting many
nodes—it also needs to be standardized and widely adopted, to enable
compatibility and connectivity among diverse suppliers and industries.
As I have been saying for 40 years: “If it’s networking that you need,
Ethernet is the answer; what is the question?” In this case, we there might be
consider two related questions: “What took the automotive world so long?
And how will it now use Ethernet going forward?”. This book provides the
answers to these questions.
Ethernet comprises much of the Internet’s packet plumbing, and its reach
is enormous. It has also been evolving rapidly since its invention as a
personal computer LAN back on May 22, 1973, and doing so quite
successfully as a set of open standards under IEEE Project 802. It has also
been adapted from wired to wireless in the form of Wi-Fi, also known as
“wireless Ethernet”, which will play a key role in external automotive
networking in the future. More than a billion wired and wireless (Wi-Fi)
Ethernet ports now ship annually, and the automotive industry represents the
potential for this number to increase significantly.
This book is about Ethernet, and how its many advantages and innovations
will move in-car networking to the next level, setting the stage for a true
revolution in the capabilities of vehicles and how we use them. It provides
essential reference material for the intersection of the automotive networking
world and the Ethernet world, and points the way to the future of the
connected vehicle. It is a guide to the next big thing in the Gigabit Internet:
Automotive Ethernet.
Bob Metcalfe
Inventor of Ethernet Technology
Professor of Innovation, Murchison Fellow of Free Enterprise
University of Texas at Austin
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