He "washing machines matter" It’s Here: A Common Standard for Saving Energy and Automating Home Appliances

It is very useful to control from the mobile what we have at home, but it is a nuisance having to change the application because we have products from different manufacturers. In the case of speakers and smart bulbs, it has been solved since the arrival of Matter, a unified standard that allows all these devices to be managed regardless of brand. However, there are many products such as washing machines, refrigerators or ovens where each brand has its own way of making them work.

Fortunately we already have a solution. Just this 2023 the first specification has been presented and although there are still not enough compatible models, for the coming years smart home appliances from different brands will be interoperable with each other.

What is the Home Connectivity Alliance

Created in 2021, the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA) is the replica of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). We are facing an alliance of the major brands of household appliances to create a common standard, in the same way that the CSA has ended up imposing Matter.

Somehow we can describe the standard prepared by the Home Connectivity Alliance as the “Matter of washing machines” or the “Matter of household appliances”. While the original allows you to synchronize, for example, Google speakers with Philips light bulbs, this new standard It will allow, for example, to synchronize the Samsung refrigerators with the Haier ovenbeing able to control one or the other from the application of the competition.

In early 2023, during CES in Las Vegas, the first HCA 1.0 specification was presentedin relation to the energy efficient features. It’s just the first step in what the appliance industry plans to offer in the coming years.

Because if the standards have something, it is that they are usually accepted by the main manufacturers. And the largest have a presence in the HCA. We will find from manufacturers of HVAC systems (in English, heating, ventilation and air conditioning), manufacturers of household appliances and televisions. Three sectors that will benefit from the HCA standard.

Who is part

Currently there 15 marks that make up the Home Connectivity Alliance: AEG, American Standard, Arcelik, Beko, Electrolux, Frigidaire, GE Appliances, Grundig, Haier, Leader, LG, Resideo, Samsung, Trane and Vestel.

Technology brands such as Samsung, Haier or LG are both in this HCA and in the alliance behind Matter. But while in the original alliance we also have Google, Amazon, Apple, Signify or Somfy, here they have a presence traditional brands in the world of household appliances such as Beko, Electrolux or AEG.

The only thing missing is the presence of brands such as BSH Appliances (Bosch, Siemens, Balay) or Whirlpool. In the case of the former, it is because they intend to promote their own standard HomeConnectalthough the support received is almost nil beyond the brands of the group itself.

Among the objectives of this organization is the eliminate closed ecosystemsallowing brands to make their appliances interoperable with each other.

The idea of ​​HCA is to work together with Matter. It is not considered a rival, but a complement intended for various household products. While Matter is dedicated to connectivity, speakers, light bulbs and other smart devices with light, image and sound; This HCA standard (which at the moment does not have a more specific name) is focused on household appliances, mainly in terms of being able to program them and synchronize energy functions, but in the future they could also exchange information such as washing programs, food detection or temperature control.

These are functions that are not currently included in the first specification, but taking into account what the different companies already offer separately, it would not be surprising if they are incorporated into the planned plan.

More facilities for the user

As described by the alliance, the main objective is to ensure that “any app, works for any device”. Initially they will “focus on the 25% of the functions that 80% of people use”, according to Yoon Ho ChouHCA President.

This is a official example of what the HCA is trying to achieve: “Let’s take a consumer who purchases a brand A washer and connected dryer and receives features such as notifications that alert you when the wash or dry cycle is complete. Unfortunately, these notifications can only be enabled through brand A platform. Interoperability allows consumers to purchase a brand A washer and a brand B dryer (or vice versa) and still receive the convenient notification of completion of the wash or dry cycle, either from brand A’s platform or brand B’s platform”. If we look at brands, it means that Samsung and LG appliances will work from both SmartThings and LG ThinQ.

This new standard has just arrived but it anticipates a much more comfortable connected home for users. A home where if we have the fridge, oven, washing machine and dishwasher of the same brand, we can have many synchronized functions, but if one of the products is from another brand, at least we can also access the main functions from any application.

In Xataka | Matter is now official: this is the new standard that will allow the devices of all major brands to be interconnected