DKV Box Europe: upgrading features Over-The-Air

Those familiar with the trucking sector in Europe, will know the DKV Box as the hardware piece to activate the services of DKV Mobility. Until now, its main functionality offers payment facilities for Europe’s 16 toll systems.

Upgrade

DKV now adds telematics functionalities to the DKV Box. “DKV Live” acts as a full-fledged telematics device and delivers digital fuel management, geolocation and route planning. The fleet planner has now the option to guide the chauffeur to preferred fuel stations, and can get updates when a chauffeur arrives at their destination. The fleet planner can also check routing, and optimize where required.

OTA

The DKV customer however will not need to acquire additional hardware; the current Box can be updated over-the-air (OTA) and can be configured to the preferences of the customer. This technology is commonly used to update the software of BEVs and other connected vehicles, but the concept of adding features without bringing a vehicle to the shop, will become increasingly commonplace as it is an important profit center for vehicle manufacturers.

Security, System Architecture and other new concerns

Because our vehicles become software-update dependent, cybersecurity becomes a concern as OTA updates open up an attack vector for malicious firmware to be installed. In addition, the updates, which are patches of code, need to land correctly in the vehicle’s onboard systems. As such, an update of the speaker system requires a different type of treatment than installing software for the breaking system. Consequently, OEMs need to segregate the different types of updates as well as the system architecture of the vehicle. In addition, as OTA updates become more common, the OEM will have to consider if the hardware of older vehicles is compatible with the latest software.

Picture credit: DKV Press Release / Square Egg Communications