Smartphones are ubiquitous and the platforms that power them are finding their way into all sorts of new devices.
Wearables are flooding into the market,
home automation isn’t far behind, and now cars are shaping up to be a
major battleground. There are more than 1 billion cars on the road and
we spend countless hours in them. Current in-dash technology is
generally surprisingly awful. Why not integrate mobile platforms?
The Open Automotive Alliance
Google announced the Open Automotive Alliance
in January with the stated aim of bringing the Android platform to cars
starting this year. There are some heavyweights onboard already,
including Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai, and Nvidia.
“Millions of people are already familiar with Android and use it
everyday,” explains Sundar Pichai, SVP of Android, Chrome & Apps at
Google on the
official Open Automotive Alliance website.
“The expansion of the Android platform into automotive will allow our
industry partners to more easily integrate mobile technology into cars
and offer drivers a familiar, seamless experience so they can focus on
the road.”
It’s not exactly a catchy name, but it’s clearly designed to mirror
the Open Handset Alliance, which played an important role in Android’s
rapid growth on mobile technology. It looks like there are two central
aims:
- Ensure that cars integrate with your Android devices seamlessly.
- Ensure that the Android platform can actually run on cars.
What’s the problem?
Glance at the forums for any smartphone or car and you’ll find
countless complaints about Bluetooth syncing problems and clunky
features. Car manufacturers are far from great at creating interfaces
and usable software. Even a high-end brand like BMW has been criticized
for its iDrive system.
For a while there, the SatNav firms were trying to move in, but
smartphones are fast overtaking that industry, and they extend the
possibilities well beyond navigation to communication and entertainment.
In terms of apps it has largely been left up to third-parties to
innovate, although recent developments like Motorola Assist on the Moto X
are intended to make things easier by automatically picking up on the
fact that you’re driving and switching to a hands-free mode.
By working directly with car manufacturers to properly integrate Android there’s room to create an infinitely smoother solution.
What can Android offer?
It’s easy to imagine the potential here. Your smartphone
automatically links up to the car when you get in. Perhaps your
smartphone screen is mirrored on the car’s display. The onboard dash can
integrate with Google Now, offering likely destinations and live
traffic updates for the daily commute. Hands-free operation and voice
commands are a no-brainer. Access to your music collection in the cloud,
or other entertainment, should be simple.
At first this is achieved by linking your smartphone and relying on
it for the connectivity and control; down the line you have a full
version of Android running on the car that can be controlled by the dash
panel or through your linked smartphone.
Phone and car manufacturers, and third-parties, can develop
specifically for in-car Android, so there would be scope for apps
covering things like navigation, entertainment, car function controls,
detailed diagnostics, remote alerts, and tracking your car’s position.
You could even have a profile set up that would be triggered by your
smartphone and dictate everything from your favorite radio station to
your preferred seat position (could be ideal for shared cars).
Some of these things are possible now, but not without some work on
your part, potential technical hitches, and a relatively new car.
Imagine how much easier it would be if it came as standard.
What about the competition?
The wealth of valuable data generated by computers in cars and the
lucrative potential of in-car entertainment systems is not something
that the rest of the market is going to cede to Google and the gang.
Apple has announced CarPlay, which enables you to plug in an iPhone
(with Lightning connector) via USB and get directions, make calls, send
messages, and listen to music on the in-car display. Voice control is
offered through Siri. It will be supported on models from Ferrari,
Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo this year, and Apple
has named Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, BMW, Nissan, and a few others as
partners.
This approach is slightly different because there’s no way any
manufacturer will allow iOS to actually run on the car because Apple
controls it so tightly. That’s where the “open” element of Android comes
into play making it an attractive proposition for a platform that will
actually run on the cars.
There are a couple of other industry initiatives. MirrorLink from the
Connected Car Consortium is trying to bridge the gap between
smartphones and vehicle controls and systems. There’s also an alliance
called GENIVI, which is using an open-source in-car platform based on
Meego.
Then there’s Microsoft‘s Windows Embedded Automotive 7, which you’ll
find in a various cars from Ford, Fiat, Nissan, and Kia. Although Ford
recently announced it will switch to BlackBerry’s QNX, which is already
being used by GM, Acura, BMW, and Toyota. Apparently Apple’s CarPlay
system is compatible with QNX.
Can Android dominate?
The current situation is crying out for change. The user experience
is way worse than it has to be and car manufacturers understand the
importance of seemingly small details when it comes to standing out from
the competition. No manufacturer is going to want to choose, they’ll
want their cars to work with any smartphone, and they’ll expect to exert
a great deal of control over any software that’s installed on their
vehicles.
Android is well-placed to make a real dent. As Pichai pointed out,
people are familiar with Android already, and it’s more widely used than
any other platform. It also has a large development community and more
apps than any other platform. By pushing it forward under the Open
Automotive Alliance banner, Google can gain a foothold, but it does have
some catching up to do.
We know Google is all about big data and (just as it did for phone
manufacturers) it will make things as cheap and easy as possible for car
manufacturers to encourage Android adoption. It seems like a natural
move when you consider that driverless cars are already on Google’s horizon.
What do you think? What would you like to see in an Android car?
