The Computer in your Car

How open APIs and smartphones can create the ultimate “connected” car

I just bought a new car. Well, a used car that’s “new” to me.

When it rolled off the factory floor, it probably was one of the most sophisticated cars of 2011. It had everything:

• a CD player that would rip the music to internal storage, so you can call up any of your music from memory and not have to carry CDs
• 2 USB ports for accessing an MP3 collection from a stick drive or smartphone
• a GPS system that quickly calculates routes to addresses and points-of-interest
• Bluetooth connectivity to your smartphone to make calls, display your text messages, show your calendar entries or email on a dashboard display
• voice commands to control any aspect of the car, from the radio to the air conditioner
• and network connectivity to get the latest real-time traffic updates (extra charges apply)

I thought I was getting the ultimate “connected” car.

Yet, every feature listed above performed poorly. And in fact, they were all completely unnecessary in the smartphone era.

Just about every single one of these capabilities of my in-car computer was replicated, and handled much more easily, by the smartphone in my pocket.

Who has CDs anymore? With Rdio and Pandora all of my music, or the music I want to listen to, is available at my fingertips.

USB is great for charging my phone, but do I want to take 10-20 minutes to transfer my Gigs of music to the internal storage? No thanks. It takes me 2 seconds to start streaming music to my mini Bluetooth speaker in my home and there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do the same in my car.

The GPS system is out-of-date the day they roll the car off the factory floor. I’ll have to pay for network connectivity to get the traffic reports. Oh, and lovely, I have to update the computer in my car every so often to get new maps and POIs. Again, FAIL. Google Maps and Waze deliver the same capability, updated immediately when the data changes, and with all the real-time traffic information I can handle.

And don’t get me started on the on-board voice control. Its archaic command structure and constant questioning of my commands like “did you mean to say?” or “do you want me to call mom?” are so behind the times, its sad. Google Now finds just about any information and can make calls from voice commands with a much better accuracy and less frustration than my in-car system.

For an add-on, in-car computer system that probably runs the consumer another $1-3k (depending on the car & the system), this is pathetic. I’m convinced the car manufacturers are living in fantasy world where they are the only ones that can deliver these types of features and services.

And when talking about the luxury car manufacturers, and you know who you are, I’d argue almost all of their customers have a more sophisticated computer in their pocket (i.e. the smartphone) than you, the car manufacturers, would ever put into the dashboard of your expensive vehicles.

So, here’s my plea to the car manufacturers:

make the in-car computer a portal through which all of the smartphone apps (and network connectivity) can reach the user in a simple, engaging user experience accessible while driving.

I’ll even give you the formula to making this happen:

1. Create APIs to surface app UI in a car setting and to have all voice commands pass through to Google Now/Apple Siri. These will be the way people will interact with applications in the future. Deal with it.
2. Build new, intuitive data displays. This is where you can differentiate! The easier to see information, use the apps, and the better UI elements in your car (i.e. — HUD projection on windshield), the more you’ll stand out from other cars on the lot.
3. Publish UI standards for the in-car UI layer on the apps that make efficient use of your input controls (i.e. — dials, 4-way nav, radio presets, etc.).
4. Work with ISVs to communicate to the in-car system using standards, such as local area networks, bluetooth and data transfer protocols. If they’re simply broadcasting their UIs, streaming music or triggering your text-to-speech capabilities (more on that next), there’s no reason to make this proprietary. The more that can participate, the more valuable your in-car system becomes.
5. Develop the leading Text-to-Speech engine. This is your value: keeping us safe on the road. Its dangerous to take our eyes off traffic or that kid about to cross the street. You should focus on making it less likely that we’ll have to look at a screen. To do this, you need to transform what usually needs to be “seen” into what can be “heard”.
6. Leverage the smartphone network connectivity to provide unique services. Your nominal extra fee to get real-time traffic data is not going to fool many people. Give up. The consumer has already paid for a network connection and has many ways of getting traffic data for free. You should co-opt this network to deliver your concierge, emergency or maybe even your own shopping service. Maybe “Car Mall” (a take on “Sky Mall”) for making impulse purchases when you’re stuck in traffic? Ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but you see where I’m going.

The inevitable outcome will be a in-car system that costs MUCH less to produce and maintain, rapid expansion of applications and services that will WANT to be available in-car AND happy consumers. Oh, yeah,remember those? Happy customers?

I’m not one of them, so here’s to hoping you realize that and give us the in-car system we need to truly have a “connected” car.