Thanks to the evolution of the digital world, vehicles are becoming more that a mean of transport: the social life of vehicle users shall be part of the journey transforming the travel experience.

The in-car advanced infotainment and multimedia management system (IAIMM) offers innovative media contents and services focused on tourism to enhance the user experience while travelling in-car and exploring new locations.

Imagine you are in a foreign city; you have a limited time before your flight and want to make the most of it exploring the city and visiting the main attractions. The service will offer you the best possible experience driving you through a tailored touristic itinerary. The service reconciles virtual and physical touristic visits based on your preferences, interests, available time and mobility needs. During the trip you will be able to interact with multimedia contents in an immersive way, in sync with other passengers and external users. The experience will expand beyond the car to entertain you!

Figure 1: A set of components and sensors implemented on the AORP platform

The main technological challenges are:

• Dynamic and real-time access and management of data on the move
• Minimization of data transmission delay to optimise the quality of content delivery
• Service continuity even in limited connectivity coverage
• Data privacy and security

The technological solutions proposed by the ICOS project are:

• Optimized distribution of multimedia content through intelligent orchestration among cloud, edge, and connected cars. ICOS offers a high-quality resolution and smoothest interaction with the contents and the other users, achieving an optimal user experience.
• Allocation of computational and storage resources in the cloud and edge nodes to reduce the need for complex architecture in the car, minimizing the required resources and the energy consumption.
• Loading and pre-processing data at the edge to ensure service continuity in every situation, even in locations with limited connectivity coverage.
• Security layer and multilevel data management to provide secure multi-user communication and guarantee data trustworthiness and privacy.

By intelligently managing the continuum between cloud, edge, and connected cars’ nodes, the ICOS project is working to ensure that high-quality multimedia content is accessible even in the most challenging connectivity scenarios. The infotainment experience will be adaptive to the dynamic needs of users on the move. The ICOS project is paving the way to deploy a vision of cars with a user experience that goes beyond entertainment.