
Smartphones To Replace Your Car Dashboard - techiediy
http://www.techiediy.com/mobile-devices-to-integrate-into-your-vehicles
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worksaf
While it would be nice to have some minor integration with my car using
something like Bluetooth I do not want a fully integrated system between car
and phone as it will of course be proprietary and locked down tighter than
anything you have ever seen. With a fully integrated system it won't take long
before car's come with their own "Parental Controls". You could restrict any
car function, music/radio content, phone functions, more stuff than I can
imagine.

I don't even want to imagine what Automotive Bloatware would be like.

Think of the children legislators would jump on the opportunity to enact a ton
of new laws to "protect" us

Its bad enough that cars with the "old" iPhone dock connector are now
permanently obsolete, these new integrated systems will likely be the same.

Its going to be interesting to see what develops

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VLM
"Its bad enough that cars with the "old" iPhone dock connector are now
permanently obsolete"

They need something like ISO 7736 which about thirty years ago was formerly
known under some now obsolete DIN standard, so naturally 30 years later we
still call it single or double DIN mount.

I'd be happy with a secondary ODB-II port for charging and read only access.
The physical side of car audio is pretty standard via the ISO standard aka
"DIN mounts", but the electrical side is eternally messed up with embrace-
extend-extinguish every decade another fad connector.

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TheCapn
In a sense we're already there. I use my Android to stream music, run GPS and
display car diagnostics while driving (via bluetooth in OBDII port). I put in
a fairly good stereo headunit not too long ago only to be disappointed that
the majority of its software is tuned for Apple devices.

I've already seen DIY articles on mounting tablet's in-dash and hooking them
to the existing car sound system so having a plug and play interface for cars
and tablets wouldn't be a difficult task for someone experienced in such
fabrications. Hell, having 3D printers so prevalent now will speed this up
even more.

After all, a lot of the challenges car manufacturers need to overcome in the
car computing world have already been solved by the likes of Apple and Google.
Voice command, music, navigation, camera support, bluetooth, phone
calls/SMS... its all already solved. Having a device that can then interface
to an existing ecosystem just makes it even more appealing to the buyers who
are able to be swayed simply for the gadgets.

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mikestew
First, I found the article to be weak, bordering on link bait. No real
details, other than the mention of the electric scooter. "You can plug your
phone in and...it'll do stuff." Additionally, no mention of the iPhone
integration that Apple announced at WWDC.

That aside, I'll wait until it shakes out and actually comes in a car I buy.
The cynic in me sees a system of "partners" so that I get NASCAR on my car
dash just like I can on some carrier phones, with no way to remove it.

The optimist in me sees the LCD display on the dash as a satellite display for
my phone (which is what I envision "iOS in the Car" to be). My Nissan Leaf
(and other current cars) is so close to that now, what with Bluetooth music
playback and call integration (Siri even works in the Leaf). Throw in a little
AirPlay and we're good to go. Just leave out the proprietary bullshit and
"partnerships", please.

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kungfooey
Am I the only person in the galaxy that wants a car that simply gets me from
point A to point B with reliability? The more gadgets and whiz-bangery built
into the car, the more possible points of failure, which leads to a higher
cost of maintenance. I'm still driving a 1995 Honda Civic with a stick shift,
no power windows or power steering, and nearly 200k miles on it.

As much as I'd like to get a newer vehicle I'm not sure I want to buy
something with a dock that will be obsolete within the first quarter of the
car's life.

~~~
bebna
Thats probably why Dacia got so popular...

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ChikkaChiChi
This cannot happen fast enough. I don't want to buy Yet Another Proprietary
Lack-Luster Service such as the one available in my 2012 Ford Focus when I
have a smart phone that would make Ford Prefect green with envy.

Let me Bluetooth (or even USB) into the car and pass through my Sync Voice
Command button with Siri or Google Now.

Is that too much to ask?

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btbuilder
Lose your phone and you can't drive home? :)

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VLM
Some likely outcomes:

Product tieing (tying?). Lease a (megacorp) sedan for 5 years with a sprint
iphone contract.

Serious issues outside urban areas. Poor Verizon coverage in rural area? Phone
won't finish booting, no phone means no dashbaord, no dashboard means you
can't keep your eyes off the road for 30 seconds wildly flicking thru screens
trying to find the headlight control. So you're stranded until you can get
towed to a place with better cell coverage.

Better NSA tracking, now you know for a fact the phone is connected to the
car.

Most likely sleezy apps "partnered with the car mfgr for your convenience"
taking non-car functions of your phone over. Oh, you'd like to have the
"megacorp motors" app installed, well that contractually means your search
engine will be Bing

Sleazy in general stuff like loan sharks who will now have apps to lock you
out of both phone and car when you don't pay the car loan. Not only will you
be unable to get to work to earn the money to pay the car loan, you'll be
unable to even phone into the boss to tell him. This should increase
profitable repo activity.

Rather than getting into accidents because of spending 45 seconds looking at
the phone to text, people will start crashing because it will take 45 seconds
of inattentiveness to turn on the windshield wipers.

Themeing and style... Sure the 2014 and 2013 model year MegaCorp Motors cars
are basically identical, but the new phone animations with shinier even
lighter blue icons are only available on a 2014 model. Why? Because we felt
like it.

Rooting your phone now considered equivalent to possession of car
theft/burglary tools.

I'm not really looking forward to it. It'll screw over the middle class and
make rich people richer, so its culturally inevitable at least in the USA. But
its still going to suck.

