Auto Makers To Standardize On Open Source 160
Lucas123 writes "There are efforts underway within the auto industry to create a standard, Linux-based platform for In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems so that cars will act more like smartphones instead of having only about 10% of that functionality today. For example, Tesla's Model S IVI system, which is based on Linux, is designed to allow drivers to navigate using Google Maps with live traffic information, listen to streaming music from any online radio station and have access to an Internet browser for news or restaurant reviews. Having an industry-wide open-source IVI operating system would create a reusable platform consisting of core services, middleware and open application layer interfaces that eliminate the redundant efforts to create separate proprietary systems by automakers and their tier 1 suppliers like Microsoft. By developing an open-source platform, carmakers can share upgrades as they arrive."
No, bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Just make the damn thing take in bluetooth and HDMI. The car infotainment should have no brains. Just let it run off of a normal device the user already owns.
"carmakers can share upgrades as they arrive"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Just like your phone, a vehicles IVI can be updated months or years after the car drives off the line... but how likely is that?
We've come to expect a ~2 year update cycle with phones... and many a manufacturer will simply stop issuing updates well before that time as an insentive to upgrade to the latest & greatest.
Cars have a much longer lifetime on the road, do we really think that the currently shipping Model XYZ from AutoCo with all of the bells and whistles is going to get the latest IVI update in 3, 5 or 10 years?
"Sorry, but you need an IVI 3.2 based system for that upgrade" will be the excuse.
Yes... even with OSS "you can just upgrade it yourself!"... which assumes the average user has the knowhow, skill & a vehicle that is so easily upgraded.
Show of hands ... (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, show of hands, how many of us want our cars to behave like smartphones?
Now, the second show of hands, how many of us think this is probably not what you want in the dash of your car?
Driving your car is not the place to be reading restaurant reviews, and once some moron can text from his dash, we'll get the same problem we have with people with their phones now. Hell, from what I can tell if you put most people in a car with the radio off, they still wouldn't be able to safely operate the car.
I don't imagine it would be long before places started outlawing using the screen in your car for some of this stuff while you're driving.
Me, I think most forms of 'infotainment' in a car is a potentially fatal combination. I see enough drivers that can't actually stay within their lane now, let alone while trying to catch up on Breaking Bad while in their car. The last thing most drivers need is even more shiny things to distract them while driving.
Re:No, bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Co-mingling entertainment and car controls seems like a bad idea to me. I think I'd want anything that controls the car to be linked to only a pedal or button of some kind.
Re:they CAN share but WILL they? (Score:4, Insightful)
Bingo! Worse leading to the kind of fragmentation we see in the Android world where the phones may be running Android under the hood, but buying from X means you have access to an even better app store, while Y gives you a more polished front end which removes almost all traces of Android from text, logos and UI look & feel.
All I need is a temperature and oil pressure gauge (Score:2, Insightful)
I know how to drive. All I need is a temperature and oil pressure gauge, keep it simple stupid!
Re:Better than now but it ain't gonna solve it (Score:4, Insightful)
Touch screens are solid state so last a long time. You will be able to control the air con, play music, connect to GPS satellites..
Anyone who thinks touchscreens should be involved with anything that is likely to be manipulated while driving should be hit (At low speed. We want them to learn, not die) by a driver who was looking down to fiddle with one of their stupid creations.
Thou shalt not require visual feedback. Anything the driver is going to use while driving shall be usable blind. That means buttons and knobs that do exactly one thing and provide tactile and/or aural feedback.
The only things that the driver should be looking at are the road, the mirrors (or equivalent. Well-positioned exterior cameras can give much better visibility than mirrors), and the gauges.