Arlington, Va. — The Consumer Electronics Association announced a new digital network standard for aftermarket car A/V components, which will allow these products of any brand to communicate with each other.
The standard, called the CEA-2012 MOST Network, is based on the MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport) standard — a fiber-optic network used in many luxury vehicles.
The CEA-2012-MOST Network application was approved today by CEA’s Mobile Electronics Committee (R6).
In addition to creating a digital platform by which all car A/V components can interface (e.g. a Pioneer head unit with a Sony amplifier), the standard represents the first step in allowing aftermarket products to seamlessly work with factory OEM radios, telematics, video and other products.
In the future, the MOST aftermarket products could plug into a gateway in the MOST automotive network, said CEA staff director for the mobile electronics division, Chris Cook. CEA is attempting to create this gateway. “The first effort was to create an aftermarket standard. The next step is to work with the MOST Corporation to develop a gateway between the aftermarket MOST network and the automotive MOST network,” he said.
Pat Lavelle, president and CEO of Audiovox and chair of CEA’s Mobile Electronics division board, said “the CEA-2012 MOST standard will allow the mobile electronics aftermarket to develop products that can safely and quickly interface with the ever more sophisticated vehicles being designed today. Although this is just a first step in the process it will ultimately prove to be the most important.”
According to CEA, over 30 vehicle models currently use the MOST network, which delivers A/V signals at data speeds of nearly 30 megabits per second. Competing car network standards include IDB-1394, an automotive-grade version of the high-speed 400 megabits per second IEEE-1394 standard, which is also known as Firewire.
The MOST standard is currently used in cars from BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar and Saab. Other automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Land Rover, Porsche, Volvo and Volkswagen, are also expected to employ MOST in the future, said CEA.
On the aftermarket side, Delphi started production last year of harness assemblies and connection systems using the MOST network, said CEA.
CEA-2012 is available from Global Engineering Documents here.
