The US technology blog ReadWrite today published a review article entitled "How Smartphones Take Control of Cars Step by Step", saying that in-vehicle applications have become a general trend and have great potential, but many obstacles still have to be overcome in the development process. The following is the full text of the article:
It seems that overnight driving performance of the car gives way to application compatibility. Whenever possible, I will open my Honda Pilot and give up the Volvo XC90 because the former can connect to my smartphone via Bluetooth and have a better navigation system. Volvo has nothing, it only focuses on driving.
Automakers are already aware of this trend, recognizing that applications are playing an increasingly important role in consumer car buying decisions. Accenture's December survey confirmed this trend.
Developers also want to take advantage of this wave, but they have encountered big problems. Market research firm VisionMobile said in its latest report that the automotive application market is small for developers, but fragmentation is serious, and it faces great resistance in terms of channel and commercialization.
In other words, the automotive application market is a nightmare. However, it is not entirely hopeless.
Integrated mode
From the current stage, the best channel for integrating applications with cars is the in-vehicle infotainment system. Although QNX Car and Microsoft Windows Embeded AutomoTIve are lagging behind in the mobile market, they are leaders in the automotive field. However, this situation will not last long.
Considering the importance of in-vehicle technology and its slow pace of replacement, more and more car manufacturers are turning to smart phones to drive innovation. Although the frequency of people changing cars is very low, it is possible to replace a smart phone every two years or so, making these products an ideal place for in-vehicle application innovation.
Ford Developer Program Director John Ellis explains: "The only thing that comes with software on the car stereo is Ford. We don't allow you to access the car stereo directly, but instead need to pass a dedicated set of APIs (application programming) In the concept, the car audio should be driven by the mobile phone, and the car audio is just the display. The innovation speed of the mobile phone is much faster than that of the car audio. We are very optimistic about this mode, and people have already seen this mode start to work. ""
As stated in the VisionMobile report, there are three ways to integrate a car with a smartphone:
1. Use the buttons on the steering wheel or built-in voice recognition to control the phone application.
2. In turn, use the phone's voice recognition feature (Apple Siri or Google Google Now) to control in-vehicle infotainment applications.
3. The built-in infotainment system can be the second display for mobile applications, either by using the API or by projecting the mobile app directly onto the car display.
Connection standard
Of course, the premise is that there is a uniform standard for the seamless connection between the car and the phone. However, there are currently several competing standards, and Ford, which recently opened the AppLink system source code and renamed it SmartDeviceLink, played a leading role. In addition, a number of consumer electronics companies and automakers have jointly formed the Automotive Connectivity Alliance (CCC) and introduced the Mirrorlink standard.
But in addition to these car manufacturers, Apple and Google have also developed two major platforms, CarPlay and Open Car Alliance. However, both projects have limitations: any family with both iOS and Android devices will not want their car application platform to be compatible with only one of them. For these families, an open source platform like SmartDeviceLink might be a better choice, after all, it can integrate different smartphone operating systems.
Future prospects
If you want to maximize the potential of the car market, smartphones are undoubtedly the best entry point. However, the current status quo is very unfavorable: although the global new car production in 2012 reached 84 million, only a small part can support the application mode. According to market research firm ABI Research, in 2012, less than 8 million cars worldwide were equipped with on-board telematics systems.
If you want to promote new technologies and applications through car manufacturers, the process will undoubtedly be very slow. Apple and Google are more likely to connect applications directly to the car via OTT mode, possibly via the onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) port. The OBD-II port was forced to be installed in the car more than 10 years ago, which also opened the door for application developers to connect directly to the car without waiting for approval from Ford, Fiat and other automakers. Currently, nearly 200 apps in the Google Play app store use the OBD-II port.
Although OBD-II does not allow applications to directly control the car, it allows developers to gain sufficient permissions and more freedom of development, which is the key to promoting innovation.
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