We’ve lived in the age of Internet-enabled information and entertainment for more than a decade and a half now. But you sure can’t tell that from the state of car electronics: Even now, the devices built into many dashboards remind me as much of the push-button cassette deck on my first car — an extremely used 1982 Jetta — as they do an iPhone or any other 21st-century gizmo.
Why have automobiles been such underachievers, digitally speaking? It’s not in the industry’s nature to adopt the rapid-fire product cycles and seat-of-the-pants attitude of the rest of the tech business. For some odd reason, people who work in a field where the word crash brings to mind human injury rather than balky software tend to work slowly and methodically.
There’s reason for hope, though. At last month’s International Consumer Electronics Show , more car manufacturers than ever showed up alongside the makers of HDTVs, PCs, phones, and other devices. And they brought goodies with a refreshingly modern feel.
Audi, for instance, provided a sneak peek of the next version of its MMI system; instead of running some cheesy proprietary mapping application, available later this year in the A8 and other models, it will offer Google Earth in all its three-dimensional glory. Toyota’s Entune, also due to arrive later this year, connects to your Bluetooth phone to get online. It will run in-dash apps you can control by touch or voice, including Bing’s search engine and the Pandora personalized radio service. Partnerships with OpenTable and MovieTickets.com will let you plan dinner and a movie after you’ve already in transit.
GM is taking a different approach with its OnStar service: Instead of beefing up the version which it’s long used as a lure to sell Chevys, Buicks, and Cadillacs, it’s making it available to Chryslers, Scions, and VWs. At CES, the company announced that would bring the safety and information service to other manufacturers’ cars for the first time, by building it into a $299 aftermarket rear-view mirror that’s compatible with most vehicles. It goes on sale at Best Buy and other retailers this spring.
Then there’s Ford’s AppLink, a new feature of the manufacturer’s Sync infotainment system. A conceptual cousin of Entune, AppLink lets creators of apps for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone handsets build software that uses Sync’s display and speech capabilities rather than inducing you to futz with your phone when your eyes should be on the road. Early examples include logical offerings such as Pandora and the Stitcher podcast service. Also available is OpenBeak, which lets you listen to your Twitter feed using Sync’s speech-synthesis feature.
