
The era of the vehicle as a means to an end is over; today’s drivers and passengers expect far more from their cars than transportation. Professionals see the car as an extension of the workplace. Families see the car as a mobile living room. Commuters see the car as a space to be personalized for greater comfort during their journey. In short, the automobile has evolved from a mode of transport to a new realm of possibility in which Experiences Per Mile outstrips Revolutions Per Minute in differentiating value.

But with this transition from RPM to EPM comes a new set of challenges for OEMs: shorter product life cycles, heightened customer demands, greater competition, cost pressure, and increasing varieties of car models. How can we enable our OEM customers to offer the end consumer the most cutting-edge audio features? How can they provide an ever-more-enjoyable, ever-more-immersive in-car experience through smart, connected, updateable audio solutions? All this while maximizing re-use without compromising on scalability and the ability to perform rapid prototyping. HARMAN Engineers with decades of experience designing and tuning audio systems for OEMs the world over decided to tackle these challenges.
The answer was HARMAN AudioworX.
Designed to simplify audio system development, AudioworX is an open-audio framework platform that unlocks unlimited in-car experiences by facilitating seamless design, implementation and integration of digital tools for car audio systems. This comprehensive tool and functionality suite makes configuring the audio algorithm database and DSP framework easy, simplifies the tuning process, and offers the flexibility of a scalable, modular platform that brings premium sound even to the entry-level segment.
It enables OEMs to pursue distributed tuning strategies especially when domain specific features such as noise cancellation are tuned by different departments than the audio features. The framework also enables OEMs to maximize re-use across multi-generational architectural implementations and at the same time ensures forward and backward compatibility. The versatile tuning tool enables engineers to customize their own tuning panels through a drag and drop approach. Through a combination of both in-house and third-party audio features hosted within AudioworX, OEM customers have the flexibility to pick and choose features of their choice.

Created by HARMAN Acoustic and DSP Engineers for Acoustic and DSP Engineers the world over, AudioworX gives developers, engineers, Tier-1 suppliers and OEMs carte blanche to create their audio products with their own features or even integrate third-party features from suppliers. The open nature of the framework and its seamless integration abilities ensure smooth, hassle-free development with no strings attached.
The AudioworX platform relies on three key pillars to bring audio algorithms to manifold products quickly and efficiently:
- eXTENDABLE AUDIO FRAMEWORK (xAF) – A light-weight DSP framework that can be applied across platforms and projects, accelerating the design process and allowing for a quick transfer to the target platform. At the same time, it is highly flexible and efficient.
- AUDIO ALGORITHM TOOLBOX (AAT) – A rich and diverse standardized algorithm toolbox containing all you need for audio product development, scaling from base amplifiers to sophisticated high-end products with access to both in-house and third-party audio algorithms and features, making interoperability easier to set up.
- GLOBAL TUNING TOOL (GTT) – A powerful tool that makes it possible to design signal flows, configure the audio algorithm database framework seamlessly and intuitively, as well as to measure and tune the algorithm suite, from the comfort of a laptop, smartphone, or PC.
Since its inception in 2018, AudioworX has been deployed in multiple OEMs across EU, NA and Asia. From handling low latency technologies such as Road Noise Cancellation to transporting in-car passengers virtually to renowned performance venues, AudioworX offers the underpinning foundation for our OEM partners to go bigger, better, and bolder with minimal risk and maximum scalability across multiple devices with multiple SOCs sourced from multiple suppliers.
Learn more about Audioworx here : https://harmanaudioworx.com/