
Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment - codeka
https://www.media.volvocars.com/us/en-us/media/pressreleases/228639/volvo-cars-to-embed-google-assistant-google-play-store-and-google-maps-in-next-generation-infotainme
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nimish
Finally a car manufacturer realizes it can't out-compete a software company at
making good software.

The reason infotainment sucks so hard is that car companies want to "own the
experience" and also want to cut costs, so they underinvest and create poor
experiences.

~~~
Dwolb
Nope. There's a current mismatch between automotive hardware life cycles and
consumer software life cycles.

This Volvo hardware is going to be a minimum of 3 years old before it ships
and will have to function for 10 years+.

How good is your 10 year old phone? How does it match up to the average
consumer experience today? How's the speakers, camera, audio, OTA software,
and display compare to what's available today?

Not owning the software ecosystem is a good first step but will be severely
hampered by not aligning hardware development cycle expectations.

~~~
lgleason
This, Android things, for example, is only offering guaranteed updates for 3
years which is not nearly enough support time... and people usually Volvos for
15-20+ years... Even Microsoft understands this better.

~~~
TrainedMonkey
Is there a reason why head-unit of the infotainment system cannot be easily
upgraded?

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Arainach
Everything in a car has to be certified for safety. Infotainment systems
integrate deeply with cars - they consume and expose a lot of information that
isn't guaranteed to be expressed over standard protocols, and most of them
aren't even in consistent sizes or shapes.

~~~
denkmoon
Yet I can buy a double DIN head unit running android auto and just whack it in
my 2012 corolla.

I think the major problems here aren't safety or engineering, they are purely
economic.

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asfdsfggtfd
There is a difference between can and should. Third party entertainment
systems should not be a problem. In reality they are because of bad designs.

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jimmies
If you want Next-Gen infotainment with Assistant and Maps, you need to buy a
new shiny Volvo car... or, you know, just use your Android phone and hack a
Raspberry Pi and install Crankshaft on it.

Crankshaft does all of the above, plus it doesn't talk to the cloud, doesn't
require you to be connected to "the cloud," doesn't collect your data, doesn't
ask you to buy a new expensive car, doesn't nudge you to subscribe to any
service, and has a stallmanism approach to software freedom.

Disclaimer: I made it.

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josteink
You might want to consider adding a link to it then :)

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mrnaught
[https://getcrankshaft.com/](https://getcrankshaft.com/)

~~~
the_new_guy_29
From your own site:

"Can I trust it to work?

It is alpha-level software, so no. It's not an official or even related to or
certified by Google or Android. It's totally a hobby. But we hope you give it
a try and have fun with it when it's safe to do so."

It's nowhere near the commercial applicability car manufacturers require.
Nobody really cares about private users because thats not where the money is..

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jlward4th
The switch to Google Maps will definitely be nice since their current maps are
crap. Not sure about the other pieces but it probably can't get worse than it
currently is. I have the newest XC90 and the on-screen stuff is absolutely
horrible. I run into many bugs every day and the response from support has
been abysmal.

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jatsign
My wife got an XC90 about 2 years ago and I have to agree. Even changing the
channel on the radio is bad - I press next channel, next channel, and it takes
me back to the first channel repeatedly.

The car looks and handles great, but we won't be getting another Volvo just
because the electronics are so bad.

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jasonjayr
Considering the lifecycle of a car vs an Android device, they better just
build in a touch screen w/ a HDMI + USB connection, and let the compute brains
get swapped out inexpensively ...

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dawnerd
already solved for, just support android auto or carplay and let the consumer
decide.

~~~
mantas
Hopefully either of those will still work with latest gadgets 10 years from
today.

Think of all the car owners with iPod connectivity crying in their new 5 years
old cars all over the world. By the way, today's iPhones do not support iPod
connectivity. And I'm talking about protocol, not about hardware port. Which
is a hassle to replace in quite a few vehicles too.

~~~
ridiculous_fish
My car has a 2005 Kenwood head unit with a 30 pin connector. It has worked
fine with every iPhone including my iPhone 7, using a 30-pin to Lightning
connector. What support is missing?

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mantas
Thanks, I'll have to try an adapter. Does it support basic functionality like
play/pause or browsing songs as well?

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favorited
It will be interesting to see how useful this will be vs. vanilla Android Auto
& CarPlay.

I've had CarPlay for the last couple years, and I use it exclusively now. Even
for things like radio, I've started using the Sirius app via CarPlay instead
of the native radio interface. I don't use built-in navigation either, I just
use my phone's on the same head unit.

What kind of benefits can the deliver through a tighter integration? And will
they be able to keep it up-to-date as easily I keep my phone up-to-date? Will
be interesting to watch.

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bitmapbrother
The level of customization an OEM can do is pretty remarkable. This is Android
Auto in an Audi Q8 and it looks nothing like Vanilla Android Auto or Carplay
for that matter.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY)

~~~
gdrulia
I know this is not what you trying to point to in your comment, but I just
watched that video and I'm really surprised at how bad the system is.

Yes it looks completely different, but delay between user action and response
is horrific, sometimes over a second and sometimes doesn't even do anything.
It's like those cheap Chinese after market systems, that runs poor hardware
and just barely works. And all of this in a new 2017 car, imagine this after 5
or 10 years, will be totally useless... Hopefully Volvo will do a better job
with usability of the system.

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bitmapbrother
Can you cite where in the video where these long delays were?

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gdrulia
~20sec music play and then followed pause. Just not sure what to say about
that. Even the guy narrating gets confused and almost clicks for the second
time to start the music. Then followed menu selection, not as slow, but still
noticeable slowness in response. Later one when he clicks other buttons action
follow much more rapidly, which indicates to me a weak processor.

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tokyodude
I feel like all I really want is Chromecast/AirPlay and otherwise the car
should mostly be a dumb terminal.

Install the Volvo app on my phone, pair, done.

don't really want random apps running in my car.

~~~
alex_duf
Same, I'd much rather it relies on my phone's computation power and act as a
display to show the map and blast the music in the speakers.

I don't care if the connection is cable, bluetooth wifi etc.

~~~
icc97
Yeah - I was thinking 'if only they had some simple way that you could upgrade
the internal hardware every few years' aka buy a new phone.

Plus you can stick the phone/tomtom on the windscreen. I find that rather than
being something in my view that's annoying I end up using it as a heads up
display, so I don't have to look down at my speedometer any more as it's right
there on the windscreen.

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mistrial9
Why can I trust a multi-national company to track movements and locations over
time of a personal vehicle ?

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gregknicholson
I genuinely don't understand why cars suddenly have to have tablets built into
them.

How is this better than just sticking your phone on the dashboard?

Is driving so tedious that drivers are crying out to be infotained?

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michaelt

      I genuinely don't understand why cars suddenly
      have to have tablets built into them.
    

Back in the 1990s, in-dash sat nav was a premium feature only available on
high-end cars. The first all-in-one TomTom wasn't introduced until 2004, and
before that people in sales were willing to pay a big premium for sat nav, as
a business expense.

Hence, car companies _think_ an executive/luxury car needs to have a screen in
the dashboard because that's just how it's been for as long as they can
remember. And they think putting premium car features in midrange cars makes
them more appealing to buyers.

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remir
What's Volvo's plan regarding OS and security updates?

If I'm going to have a car connected at all time to a LTE network, I want the
software on it to be secure.

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jacksmith21006
Looking at how bad car companies are at security it makes sense to have
someone that knows how it is done

[https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/volkswagen-
an...](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/volkswagen-and-audi-
cars-vulnerable-to-remote-hacking/) Volkswagen and Audi Cars Vulnerable to
Remote Hacking

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iamaelephant
With the rate at which Google deprecates software this seems like a bad idea.

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bitmapbrother
Here's a demo of the Volvo system

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BuRMdjij4g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BuRMdjij4g)

Here's Audi's system

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY)

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kuwze
Man I was really hoping they would bootstrap something awesome. Since they
were acquired by Geely I was thinking that they would go there own path and
pave a way for AI cars in China’s future.

Maybe they are just evaluating it to get an idea of what to copy in the
future?

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jacksmith21006
I need Google maps more then most as have poor sense of direction. But so
dangerous looking at phone. Love to just have Google maps built into the car.

~~~
dexterdog
How is looking at them on the car any safer?

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Someone1234
Unrestrained Objects can cause or worsen accidents (e.g. phone under the brake
pedal). Plus there's better integration with steering wheel controls and a
closer microphone for voice control.

Phones themselves aren't a problem if used safely, such as running Android
Auto (full screen app version) and having it mounted so it can hear voice
commands.

The problem is that people try to jerry-rig a poor man's version using Google
Maps app, a phone sitting loose in the cup holder, and no voice commands ("let
me pick it up briefly to pick a route").

It is the difference between ideal usage and real world usage. Built into the
vehicle gives you closer to ideal usage every single time.

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r00fus
Just about everyone I know has a car mount. Used to be they required all sorts
of extensive setup/install. Now however you have that mounts that you can get
for 2 for $8 on Amazon.

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chiefalchemist
I own a Volvo but not a mobile device? Any "advanced" tech baked into a
vehicle makes zero sense to me. Tech runs in to 2-3 yr leap cycles. An auto
can last you (+ a 2nd or 3rd owner) 10+ years.

Why would a manufacturer intentionally hurt the Blue Book value of their
vehicles?

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Sylos
So, can I replace these or are they embedded-embedded?

The Google Assistant seems to have custom code, so it would be understandable,
if I can't replace that, but then it's hopefully at least possible to turn it
off.

If not, I'm not buying a Volvo in my lifetime.

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leowoo91
I was thinking about getting a volvo, not a google car, so this is a deal
breaker for me.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Can you follow up on that? What if the Volvo, other than Google's involvement,
was otherwise the best vehicle for you? Would you get an otherwise worse car,
just because of the G stamp on it?

~~~
jacquesm
Probably yes. I don't think cars need 'bundled' software any more than
computers do.

Open standards such as the DIN dash mounts for in car entertainment systems do
just fine. I've never seen an integrated audio system that I like, usually
they're junk to begin with and they are obsolete long before the car is and
hard - or sometimes even impossible - to get rid of.

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Theodores
Interesting considering that Volvo are Chinese owned. Since their parent
company are at the front of EV development and since the 5 year plan of China
is 80% of the global EV market it looks to me like we will have lots of Waymo
cars in due course. Maybe they have decided to go with mere Carplay for now
with a view to future Waymo tech being what the real deal is to be.

In car tech is set on autopilot features which stymies development of anything
that does not share that future. You can't invest $$$ in the next dashboard
gizmos if you know that autopilot is going to 'change everything'. So it makes
sense to just hnd it all over to Google now.

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SpikeDad
Nice. Stand by for roadside billboards linked into your Google account which
flashes custom advertising as your car nears.

Google - "You are our product"

