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Renault Opens Up the 'Car As a Platform'
pbahra writes "Renault has launched what it describes as a 'tablet,' an integrated Android device built into its next range of cars, effectively opening the way to the car-as-a-platform. At the Le Web conference last year, Renault's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, announced the company's intention to open up the car to developers, safety considerations not withstanding. 'The car is becoming a new platform,' said Mr. Hoffstetter. He said the seven-inch device can be controlled by voice recognition or by buttons on the steering wheel. 'We need help now,' he said. 'We need developers to work on apps.' When it launches, there will be about 50 apps bundled with the device, mostly written by Renault. 'We will open a Renault app store for people to download their own apps,' he said."
While I like the idea of such apps for certain purposes — a maintenance interface, less-inconvenient navigation and stereo controls, interesting driving stats — I'm skeptical of the average driver's ability to use one of these without turning his car into a 3,000-lb angry bird.
The automotive market is ultra-saturated, fewer people buy cars because of the crisis these days, so we'll come up with any useless concept to sell them.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I have to agree with the poster ....... the more gadgets you put in a car, the more accidents you get.
One example, people driving off cliffs and into lakes .... because the GPS told them too.
I don't really want a lot of intelligence built into my car. Instead of having a screen built into the dashboard I'd rather have a standard way of docking my phone so that I could use its built-in navigation and audio functions.
The real problem is that the hardware will be hilariously outdated in 18-24 months, whereas the car has a much longer expected lifespan.
While I'm a big Android supporter, having Android in your car sounds (mostly) like a downgrade. The in-car systems now are VASTLY more reliable than and smartphone/tablet I've come across, and running very reliable real-time OSes like QNX. Unlike phones, they have to meet the regulatory requirements of all other new car parts... being fully functional for 10 years, and working on the last day of the 10th year exactly like they did on day 1. It's a very different model.
The desire to have better in-car navigation systems is completely understandable, but car companies are well aware of this need as well, and will soon be addressing these concerns without throwing away their entire systems. (No, I can't provide any details)
The fragmentation of smartphone platforms is much more significant of an issue than in-car systems. Apps need to be cheap or free to entice end users. But when it's bundled with your vehicle, even a couple hundred bucks for an app is lost in the noise of the car's sticker price. With that kind of money available, in-car systems can be as fragmented as the manufacturers want, and they'll still attract developers because the smaller market and specialized skills are more than made up for by the larger sale price.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
You could fall if you stand over a moving platform
Speaking as a road user who is not in a 4,000lb box - this is the last thing we need. Apps for your car? Seriously?
Hang up the phone.
Drink the coffee at your home/work/coffee shop.
Stop texting.
Stop picking out your favorite song on the playlist.
DRIVE. YOUR. CAR. Please. Your car is not an entertainment system, smartphone, web browser, etc. It's a powerful, heavy, moving object. Capable of inflicting life-altering or mortal injuries and enormous property damage, which must be piloted accurately to within less than a few feet at speeds humans were never designed to travel. Treat it as such, which means PAY ATTENTION and keep BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL and your EYES ON THE ROAD. Nowhere else, any time your vehicle is moving.
I'm tired of people telling me, "gosh, bicycle? It's SO DANGEROUS!". Yeah, guess why? It's because the same person who declared it "dangerous" can't for one second take seriously piloting a machine capable of so much death and destruction, and instead is texting someone while sipping a mocha grande while checking out that cute person in the shop window.
You want to know why it's so dangerous to jog or walk or cycle along the road? Look in the mirror., across the table at dinner or a business meeting.
It doesn't help that running over a cyclist or (sometimes) a pedestrian is an almost guaranteed way to get away with murder. 99% of the time, the most the driver gets is a traffic ticket for saying "oh, I was changing radio stations" or "the sun got in my eyes." Hell, one asshole in Colorado recently claimed it was "new car smell" in his Mercedes S-class that caused him to pass out, hit a cyclist, and then drive on without stopping until he was across town, where upon he put the damaged bits of his car in the trunk and called for roadside assistance (not 911) for a tow.
Please help metamoderate.
Another case where a walled-garden approach to apps is best. Let someone other than the developers and the drivers decide what is reasonably safe and what isn't.
Translation...Your car will now cost even MORE to keep fully functional.
Seriously, retired automotive mechanic here.
Does anyone really think auto-repair shops actually fix this stuff? They do not, for one reason--they are far too complex for the average mechanic to understand, let alone repair. Stuff like this, and others (electronic compasses built into rear view mirrors, sound systems, navigation systems, etc) are simply removed from the vehicle and replaced with a new one when they have failed. At best, the device is sent off to the original manufacturer for repairs--the cost of repairs and shipping is passed onto you. Cars now require specialists, much like the medical field, as a result of the continuing "advancements" and most shops cannot afford to employ these specialists. The result is not having any choice but to bring the vehicle to the dealer for "repairs".
On another note, most new-car dealerships make more from their repair departments then their sales departments.
As a walker, I've noticed it is usually drivers of upscale vehicles (BMW is especially bad) that try to kill me as I cross streets.
I always assumed it was that only assholes bought status symbol cars, but maybe it isn't just that. Maybe those cars with all the silly worthless crap like windshield wipers for the headlights have more worthless, but distracting, entertainment crap inside them too.
I kinda agree, but on the other hand this could provide real world relief for the distractions that people are going to do anyway. I dread to think how many people have died because of retarded interfaces on car radios. This is something that's gotten harder over the years. A nice voice-activated or large-button touch interface OTOH would mean people taking their eyes off the road for less time.
On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, the quicker we hand over the actual driving to the computers the better.
Between those two extremes there's room for apps that add safety. That warn of a driver that's likely to jump a red light. That alert the driver to vehicles in blind spots etc.
Heck I think satnav has added to safety. Whilst it has distracted some people, it's also stopped other people trying to read paper maps whilst driving.
I see a lot of virtually identical comments about driver distraction, but none about reducing it. What about a PID climate control system that learns what temperatures you expect and when, and how quickly the cabin can get there based on outside temp and coolant temp? Sure, climate control is becoming more common but it's not everywhere yet. What about a better road atlas that's easier to use so that the driver spends less time dicking with the computer? Tune the stereo based on the GPS region. Hell, tune the engine based on the drive history and the traffic conditions. Use the vehicle logging system and fault codes to give the driver information that's useful right now instead of lighting a little picture of an engine on the instrument panel. None of these are new ideas but being able to put them all in one computer and be able to replace pieces of them if they suck is a fantastic idea.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
SAAB was first with this concept, in their IQON system:
http://media.saab.com/press-releases/2011-03-01/world-first-saab-saab-iqon-open-innovation-car-infotainment
Too bad it will likely never see production since SAAB is probably going to be dead next week. (one could argue SAAB is already dead and the mortician just hasn't declared time of death yet)
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I do that every morning while shaving on my way to work. I assure you that it didn't help me avoid all the joggers and cyclists that stupidly got in the way of my car though.
They won't be running all car computer systems on this, only the display/console bit. Brakes, engine, climate and all those computers will still be the same, connected via CAN buses and all that.
The worrisome bit is that car manufacturers are once again getting away with proprietary hardware hookups, so it's hard to replace your "car stereo" or "navigation device" once it becomes obsolete. There was a time where you could just get a DIN or double DIN car stereo and put it in your car, regardless of what brand car or what brand stereo you'd like to get. It seems those days are over and we'll once again be forced to use overpriced proprietary devices that age much quicker than the vehicle.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
For the record, I'm a lifelong cyclist (learned at 5, never stopped), but I don't live in US. I live in Finland, and we have cyclist safety quite well thought of. We usually have a cyclist lane on any major road that does have a separate one, and when there isn't one we can legally drive within one meter of right end of pavement.
Reality is, it's about attitudes. Those of cyclist him/herself, AND those of car drivers. Here, most cars will let me pass, and follow the rules, and I give them the same courtesy. As a result, I've never been in an accident, and only one "close call" where it was driver's fault.
As a result, I would argue that the biggest problem on the road is not the level of lethality of each moving object, or difference between them, but the attitudes of people driving those.
1. I want the car to function in some capacity even if all the modern electronics go *zap*.
2. I want access to sensor data so I can turn the built-in screen into... wait for it.. a REAL GUAGE PACKAGE instead of "idiot guages".
3. I don't want access to certain control systems. Passive readouts only. If my *job* were writing control systems for autos I think I could do it well. I'd still want several engineers reviewing my code, and I pray that's how the professionals at the car companies do it. I certainly don't want to program engine, transmission, or braking systems as a hobby. I don't want to be on the road with cars where those systems were programmed as a hobby.
4. I do want access to less vital control systems such as wipers, headlights, and for cryin' out loud I want some way to disable the "cryin' out loud" of those damn alarmed systems they build into cars these days.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Most people here are negative, but I say it's about time. I've been thinking about something similar for years now.
There is a lot of interesting potential in it, if they do it right. For example, allow apps to read (not write, just read) car data, like for example real time fuel use, speed, gear, engine rpm, voltages, brake events, and so on. I can already think of a few apps using that data.
And, many modern cars come with electric control of seat height and angle, mirror position and so on. Why not make a profile system of it? You set things just so, save it, lend it to your son.. And when you get it back (and fixed that bulk on the side), you can just select your profile, and everything turns back the way you wanted it. Steering wheel, radio channels, mirrors, seat, climate control... You could even have different profiles for different situations. One for driving to work in the morning (a bit stiffer back angle, higher temperature), driving around for fun in the summer (own playlist, lower seat, a bit stiffer steering wheel)..
There are a lot of possibilities in it, but most people here only seem to think "Angry Birds on a car!" for some reason.
It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
They are just bundling a tablet with the car, there s nothing in the article indicating that the owner will get access to the inner functions of the vehicle.
you know what sucks more? having to deal with that onboard computer a decade later when the car is still driven by someone on the roads.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Confirmation bias has made you stupid. The benefit of the doubt does not go to the bicyclist. Reality has a well-known pro-bike bias. When the bikers do something dangerous, they know they are and take more care. When the cars run over a biker riding on the shoulder, they blame the biker for being on the road.
I don't bike now, but I commuted for a year in Dallas (one of the least bike-friendly places I've lived) and saw it all. And the cars cause most of the problems themselves. Asses like you demanding they always follow the law would be pissed if the bike rode in the center of the lane all the time like a car, as it would slow you up. You demand things you don't want people to actually do.
Learn to love Alaska