Rolling Wireless and TomTom

Since July 2022, it’s been mandatory for all new vehicle types brought to market in the EU to be equipped with an ISA system. And every new car sold from July 2024 must be outfitted with the same technology.

While ISA is vital for keeping vehicles safely under the speed limit, integrating this tech can pose a big burden for carmakers — especially when it comes to entry-level vehicles. These vehicle lines tend to be equipped with less powerful hardware platforms that don’t always have enough resources to support the demands of ISA systems.

It means that carmakers find themselves faced with the need to integrate additional dedicated hardware on board, driving up expenses and efforts.

Rolling Wireless is the world’s leading supplier of Network Access Devices (NADs) to the automotive industry, with over 50 million automotive-grade cellular modules shipped to date. Their wireless modules can be found onboard millions of vehicles, where they’re used to enable various automotive connectivity scenarios.

For years, onboard NADs (including those made by Rolling Wireless) have been used to enable cellular connectivity for another important safety feature: eCall, an in-vehicle system for making free 112 emergency calls.

TomTom and Rolling Wireless recognized a great opportunity here. Entry-level cars could use their pre-installed NAD to run TomTom’s Virtual Horizon Online software. This solution would give vehicles access to the map and speed limit data required for ISA compliance, while requiring minimal onboard hardware and resources.

That POC was a success. It proved that it is possible to deploy a fully functional ISA application by integrating TomTom Virtual Horizon Online on Rolling Wireless entry-level 4G and 5G NADs with limited resources.

As far as is known, there have yet to be any deployments of an ISA system on an automotive connectivity module — making this a first-of-its-kind solution.

The combination of TomTom Virtual Horizon and Rolling Wireless NADs offers an easy, fast and low-cost path to ISA compliance. In fact, based on the results from the POC, this joint solution has the potential to drive down costs 10-fold for carmakers. By avoiding the need to purchase and integrate additional hardware, it's possible to pass ISA compliance at the lowest cost possible.

It is also a future-proof solution, as it runs on the lowest possible hardware footprint of a NAD. Plus, ISA compliance is just one potential application. A similar solution could be designed to support other safety-focused use cases, such as a lightweight system that alerts drivers of local hazards on the road (in compliance with Euro NCAP requirements), as well as powertrain optimization and cruise-control-assisted driving capabilities.

In time, this could pave the way to even smoother driving experiences and safer roads for all.

By successfully integrating TomTom’s Virtual Horizon software on Rolling Wireless’ 4G and 5G NADs, our joint proof of concept demonstrates how car OEMs can use hardware already present in the car to run ISA applications. This offers a straightforward, cost-effective path to ISA compliance for the entry-level vehicle segment.

Olivier Helleux
Product Marketing at Rolling Wireless