The Record - Issue 20: Spring 2021

73 AUTOMOT I V E vehicles. Effective use of data is key, for example, in the development of autonomous vehicles. FEV Europe has developed a mini data logger that records all of the sensor data on-board auton- omous test vehicles, sending signals via mobile radio to a software solution based on Microsoft Azure. An algorithm running in the Azure envi- ronment monitors these signals, continuously searching for indications of critical driving sit- uations. Only data which contains these critical situations is then stored in costlier and perma- nently available storage, flagged for engineer interest, or processed at higher priority, while raw data can be stored in a cheaper archive. “We never considered developing our own cloud infrastructure, due to the time and resources required,” said Dr Thomas Hülshorst, group vice president of intelligent mobility/elec- trification for FEV Europe. “What we sought was a professionally operated, turnkey environment. We ultimately opted for Azure, because the plat- form – with services such as IoT Hub or Stream Analytics – provides precisely the functions that are so crucial for the data logger project.” Microsoft is also helping automotive organ- isations to improve the efficiency of their communication and collaboration with the Microsoft 365 suite of products. Familiar tools such as Office, PowerPoint and Word are included within the suite, but newer tools include Microsoft Teams, which has helped to enable secure remote working during the Covid- 19 pandemic. According to a 2019 report by Forrester Consulting titled The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Teams , an organisation that made Teams available to 5,000 workers would see savings of $30.3 million, with time savings of up to four hours per week for information workers resulting from improved collaboration capabilities. These capabilities will be enhanced by the announcement of Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform which integrates with the productivity capabilities in Microsoft 365 and Teams, delivering a unified experience across four key areas: engagement, well-being, learning and knowledge. Modules for Microsoft Viva will include Viva Connections, which will provide a personalised gateway for access to internal com- munications and resources, and Viva Learning, which aggregates all the learning resources available to an organisation in one place. A Microsoft technologies can help to give front-line workers access to the wealth of data now available