There are various chips being implanted in numerous devices in the last period to offer them increased functionality. But one category that will never have enough of them is the transport industry. The advent of the Internet of Things is the motor industry can only be welcomed. The main advantage of having sensors recording the states of the vehicle and communicating with other systems is the increased safety for all traffic members. This is why Continental hires Seval Oz from Google’s driverless car project in the company’s new business unit.

Recently, SKully Systems released the Skully AR-1 smart helmet for motorcyclists. The helmet will provide futuristic information on the visor, but without disturbing the normal view. As such, the driver will have both increased safety due to the live images provided by the rear-view camera, and other benefits as GPS routes.

On Monday, the Obama administration announced that it will provide regulation according to which cars will have to be equipped with basic communication systems. The administration hopes rightfully, we may add, that deadly accidents, as well as repair and hospitalization costs will be avoided as soon as the system is widely adopted. Each car will have to get a standard system installed. The government thinks that initial costs will be around $300 per car, but will decrease rapidly.

There are already a couple of companies working on similar systems. Perhaps Google is the most widely known company, but others are involved in the domain as well. Among them, Continental attempts to be one of the early adopters of the new technology.

Continental hires Seval Oz to implement the ‘Internet of Everything’

Continental decided to assemble an international team which will focus on the newly established division called Continental Intelligent Transportation Systems, based in Silicon Valley. To get a good start, Continental decided to lure a Google employee into the new project. Seval Oz worked for Google in the driverless car project. The 53 years old expert in vehicle networking and automation will head the new Continental team.

“This step is an excellent example of our strategy to make the car an integral part of the ‘Internet of Everything.’ Our key objectives include eliminating road accidents, minimizing energy consumption, maximizing comfort and usability of vehicles, and enabling them to exchange information with each other in real-time,” said Dr. Elmar Degenhart, CEO of Continental. Continental hires Seval Oz from Google to gain a competitive advantage ahead of similar companies such as Bosch and Delphi.