Investigating dropped calls in a production infotainment system
Nextgen reproduced an intermittent dropped-call issue across 20 phones, isolated a connection timing mismatch and provided the evidence needed to deliver a software fix.
An intermittent customer issue
An automotive OEM was receiving complaints about calls dropping on it's recently launched vehicle infotainment system. The OEM asked Nextgen to test the production system exactly as customers were using it.
Reproducing the customer journey
Nextgen's automated testing was used to replicate typical real customer usage, operating the infotainment system via the touchscreen, and connecting a range of mobile phones. Twenty different phones were used, testing typical user journeys while conducting long-duration calls using native Bluetooth and via phone projection modes. Tests included pairing and reconnecting phones, calls of different durations, launching projection modes and exercising other infotainment functions.
Testing ran continuously for five days. All activities were logged including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection traces, infotainment logs, projection mode logs, phone device logs and audio performance.
The root cause
Connection drops were observed and analysis of the results highlighted that some of the latest smartphones were significantly more likely to experience dropped connections. Logs revealed protocol timing mismatches between the phones and the vehicle head unit. The logged evidence helped identify the root cause and enabled the OEM to rapidly develop, test and deliver OTA firmware updates that improved the connection stability.
We do not just test touchscreens.
We use them to test the complete infotainment experience.
Customers experience infotainment as a complete journey. They wake the system, connect their phone, make a call, play music, use navigation and adjust settings. Everything works together or the experience fails.
Software tools and APIs are useful during development but they do not always reflect how the finished system behaves in the real world. Nextgen uses physical automation to operate the infotainment system through the same touchscreen, buttons and controls that customers use every day.
A collaborative robot interacts with the display while vision technology understands what is shown on the screen. Connected devices are controlled as part of the same journey. The result is a test that sees and operates the system exactly as the customer does.
Find out more about how Nextgen’s ATAMConnect and cobot vision system automation can help accelerate testing to find and resolve issues and ensure a premium customer experience. Contact us.
To learn more about Nextgen's infotainment reliability framework, download the guide below:
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