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Why Apple's Next Revolution Should Be In Your Car

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-one-button dept.

New submitter eetc writes "This article surveys the sorry state of car makers' stereo and navigation systems: 'It's clear that most of the auto companies that offer more than a car stereo want to lock you into their interface and services — as awful as they are. The rest don't care. The aftermarket stereo and nav systems are no better. Stuffed with even more buttons and light-show gewgaws, they're sure to keep your eyes off the road and may not work easily with your stuff. Add to that mix the split focus of also having to use a separate GPS unit in most vehicles, and you have to wonder what keeps our roads so relatively safe.' The answer in one word: iCar. This is just the sort of broken market that Apple specializes in taking over."

23 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Apple will decide where you can and can't travel by crazyjj · · Score: 5, Funny

    Driver: Siri, why is the car slowing down?

    Siri: I'm sorry, but this road has not been pre-approved by Apple for use with your Apple vehicle. Would you like me to suggest an alternate, approved route?

    Driver: Wait, you can control my car...the WHOLE car? Which one of these wires will unplug you anyway, bitch? ....Hey, what is that coming out of the air conditioner?

    Siri: I've detected an illegal attempt at vehicle modification. This will help you relax while I drive you to the Apple Store for sanction.

    Driver: waait..iah...stoppp

    Siri: Your end-user license agreement specifically stated at purchase that your Apple vehicle was to be used for the sole purpose of engaging in Apple approved activities. Any attempt to modify this car is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and may result in penalties from a fine to death.

    Driver: deaaathhh?

    Siri: Penalty will be determined through third-party mediation, which you also agreed to at purchase. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
  2. Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by bazmail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they said that about the living room a few years ago, what happened there?

    1. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Have you actually used an iPad with the AppleTV? The Airplay functionality alone makes it worth having an AppleTV.

    2. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by imamac · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just because Apple didn't help change your living room does't mean it didn't change a lot of others'. Between Apple and Netflix the cable company lost my business. And I'm not the only one.

    3. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by AdrianKemp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sorry to piss *in* your corn flakes, but by saying that you've proven you've never tried the system.

      iPad + AppleTV is so, so, so so so so so so SO SO much better than any other single/combination of set tops in existence it's embarrassing.

      Mind you, it comes with a price tag that depending on what you've got rivals the TV itself... But to say it isn't good just proves you've never used it.

    4. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by bennomatic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      +1 on the AC comment. One of my guilty pleasures is watching Grimm on NBC, but it's rare that I'm available to watch it on Friday night. So if I've got a free hour some time later in the weekend, I fire up the NBC app, switch the AirPlay setting to play through my aTV, and I can watch it all on my big screen TV whenever I want.

      Of course, if the majors would work with Apple to provide aTV-native apps, it would be even easier. It's going to happen eventually, I think. I can live with commercials; I will sometimes buy shows that I can't get via streaming. But if I'm going to watch a show, it's got to be time-shiftable, and I have NO interest in buying a device whose only purpose is time shifting broadcast TV, a-la Tivo.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    5. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by King_TJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Umm... Apple never quite succeeded in that "changing the living room" promise not because of any real failure on their own part, but because of the content industry's stubbornness. When Apple first introduced legally purchasable digital music downloads from the iTunes store, they were able to talk the recording industry into (very tentatively at first) going along with them on it. In fact, just to get THAT much done, they had to code in concessions that frustrate users to his day (such as not being allowed to sync music BACK to a copy of iTunes FROM your iPod).

      By the time they were interested in TV content, THAT industry dug in their heels, determined not to lose control over some of their content and advertising revenue to Apple, who had now proven they could make BIG money off this stuff, once you gave them the opportunity.

      Netflix is another company struggling with the same issues.... If one of these streaming services REALLY took off (and Apple, of all people, might just be able to do it, since they're known for building devices easy enough to use so the average Joe wouldn't be intimidated by them), it would put an end to the entire cable TV industry as we know it. No longer could they FORCE you to take a bunch of channels you didn't want in a package to get others you wanted. No longer would people be content to pay for "premium" channels like HBO or Showtime. Instead, they'd just pay for specific shows they offered that they liked. (Sounds a little bit like what happened with music, doesn't it? People could just pay 99 cents for that one good single on an album instead of being forced to buy the whole thing for $13.99.) And don't forget - the satellite and cable providers currently make some nice extra revenue charging extra for additional boxes or boxes with DVR recording capabilities in them. That would all be taken away from them as well.

    6. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by jasno · · Score: 4, Informative

      I just changed my mom's living room experience with a Roku box. I got her the extra fancy one that can play Angry Birds for $99, along with a year of netflix. I have to pay for a Hulu account for work, so I'll be setting her up with that, too. She's nearly 70 and didn't have a problem figuring it out.

      I've got a Samsung TV loaded with apps. Netflix, Vudu(not with Ultraviolet, so the stuff I buy isn't tied to a company), Hulu, etc... Using my Synology NAS and my Android phone, I can even remotely playback media through the TV using my phone as a remote.

      The cable company may lose a few more customers, but it won't be because of Apple.

      --

      http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
    7. Re:Sorry to rain on Apples parade n all but... by Vancorps · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And those of us using XBMC have this functionality without the need to force everyone to use an iPhone. All of the major platforms have XBMC remotes, any other platform can use upnp to stream content in the exact same way as airplay. Naturally you can do this from any device with a web browser as well. Displaying a gate camera on screen while watching a movie when someone rings the buzzer? No problem! Press a key on the remote and you can even open the gate.

      The problem with the Apple way is that you have to do it the Apple way or it becomes much more difficult than the alternatives. There are way too many different configurations in the living room. As far as the car goes, there's certainly room for improvement and it's a problem Apple has shown they are capable of solving, since there are inherent standards in place they might be able to pull something off. I doubt they are that interested since most cars already support iDevices right off the lot these days. Navigation wise they have a long way to go to catch up but they also have a lot of money.

  3. Drink holder by Toe,+The · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stereo? GPS? Car companies can't even make a cup holder that actually works.

    It is strange, because as far as I can tell, people have been taking beverages into automobiles for at least... 12 years... perhaps more? And yet, car companies keep trying to reinvent the cup holder, usually horribly.

    WTF? How can it be that difficult to engineer something so simple after so much time?

    1. Re:Drink holder by Reece400 · · Score: 4, Funny

      My Oldsmobile Alero had a cup holder right in front of the gear shift - if you put anything larger than a small 12oz cup in it you'd either crush it when you tried putting the vehicle into park or not get that far and end up with your vehicle in reverse. The cup holders in the back seat were semi circle shaped with little rubber flaps that were supposed to hold the cup - they didn't. I don't understand how anyone at GM could have though this was a good idea, but somehow they decided to design it this way anyway. Thinking back, I'm amazed it took as long as it did for GM to go bankrupt.

    2. Re:Drink holder by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Cup holder? Dude, that's the CD tray!

  4. Car systems need to be simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's wrong with getting a bit old fashioned - volume control know, tuning knob, slide controls or dials to control the heater (back to the '80's anyone).

    Anytime you get buttons involved and a touch screen you need to look at it. Any buttons should have a unique "feel/texture" so you can differentiate by touch without looking.

    1. Re:Car systems need to be simple by AngryDeuce · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not only that, but when they fucking break (and they will), how much is that going to cost to replace? $2,000?

      A friend of mine had an SUV with a digital dash (think it was a Jeep but I don't remember), it was just so fucking cool...until it died on her. Then she took it in and found out the replacement alone was gonna cost a grand, not to mention how labor intensive it was going to be (probably another grand on top). It was literally more expensive than the value of the vehicle as a whole (she put a lot of miles on that car). She obviously said, "uh, no thanks" and, for a while, she literally had no instrumentation in her car at all and had to eyeball her speed, get gas every few days to make sure she didn't run out...

      While a car is under warranty, great, but some of us like to drive cars until they die, not trade them in every other fucking year.

  5. Not a novel approach to subject. Vanity link. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg in October 2011:
    http://ma.tt/2011/10/whats-next-for-apple/

    "This is the most far-out, but I think most certain. Voice-controlled search through Siri and Apple Maps provide the hands-free framework for a rich interactive experience while driving. Walk down the car stereo aisle in Best Buy and see what $800 gets you, or a $300 GPS from Garmin, vs an iPad or iPhone. The screens feel like a TI-92 calculator. The typography makes my eyes bleed. I find it morally reprehensible how bad these products are because it’s one of the areas of technology where a bad interface is most directly tied to injuries and deaths. Car folks are making their iPhone/iPod integrations better and better, which may be a glass of ice water in hell, but they’ll never make the jump to providing a beautiful marriage of media, search, and navigation that a great in-car experience needs. Right now you can spend 110k on a Tesla Roadster, a car of the future, and for an additional $4,500 (9 iPads!) get this Alpine head unit. (Watch that video and try not to laugh at how bad the interface is.) Retail it only sets you back 1.4 iPads. That’s just sad."

    I think if editors are going to post non-news blog opinion pieces, they have a duty to do a little due diligence--is the argument novel, or have other people made it before? Is it well explained, or not? Is Galen Gruman a heavyweight? Is Infoworld? Are their arguments likely to provoke further discussion amongst heavyweights?

    Not to say that the issue is any less germane than it was in October 2011, but just accepting a link because it was submitted and it seems reasonable enough is not good editorial practice.

    The article linked doesn't really add anything to the one I just posted, it's split over two pages for extra ad impressions, and the site is incredibly visually busy filled with social widgets and tags and ads and everything, in contrast to the one I posted which is clean.

  6. Harder! Screw us harder! by jmorris42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > It's clear that most of the auto companies that offer more than a car stereo
    > want to lock you into their interface and services — as awful as they are.

    Uh huh. So if Apple locked you into THEIR interface and services it would be insanely great and you would be lining up for it.

    P.T. Barnum was an optimist.

    --
    Democrat delenda est
  7. Fuck no by smooth+wombat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't want integration. I want my radio to be my radio and my GPS (if I had a GPS) to be my GPS. I don't want co-mingling of technology.

    Haven't we learned anything from Battlestar Galactica? You don't network everything. You keep things separate.

    Or, if you snerk at that example, haven't we learned anything from Unix/Linux where each piece does it's thing, and ONLY it's thing?

    We've seen what an absolute shitfest things become when we try to make things "new and improved", "Now with more features you have to look at and try to decipher while driving!" Hey Ford, how's that wonderful technological tour de force radio and navigation interface working out?

    Engineers and developers need to get their heads out of their asses and go back to the ultimate rule: KISS

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  8. Re:Harder! Screw us harder! by HCase · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not entirely sure you understand the difference here. You do realize the auto company interfaces don't have images of fruit stamped into them? Right?

  9. Actually, Microsoft. by AdrianKemp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have ford SYNC (microsoft SYNC), and it's fucking brilliant.

    I never touch my stereo, between the 4 steering wheel controls (volume,next/prev,voice command,hang up) and the frankly kick-ass voice control I just never need to.

    I never have had it misdial, only very occasionally does it have trouble when I ask for a specific album (and then only when it's not a native language name) and generally just had it be all sorts of awesome all the time.

    So no, Apple can sit this one out (and this is coming from someone who's entire computing existence is apple, I own the iphone/ipad/appletv/macbook/imac). Microsoft has done a great job already.

  10. Apple is the wrong company for this. by Annirak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Apple's speciality is in seamless UI's. While people seem to like this for mobile phones and tablets, it's not the right solution for a car. Cars require tactile interfaces so that they can be navigated using touch while the driver keeps his eyes on the road. Apple has the potential to bypass this concern using Siri, but that comes with additional problems.

    Siri and the maps used by Apple for GPS navigation are both delivered via cellular connection, which would imply that a driver would lose all voice recognition while driving outside the range of cellphone towers--e.g. through the mountains. The GPS navigation is a similar problem. Since the navigation data is delivered via cellular data, you would lose navigation in the mountains.

    Much as I hate to admit it, I would prefer the Microsoft self-contained automotive voice recognition system to getting Apple iCars. Ford has demonstrated those in the past. I've also seen a reasonable implementation (non-Microsoft) on an Acura about five years ago. I'm not sure that this is a market where we should care about fragmentation. Just don't buy a car with a UI you don't like.

  11. Re:Apple will decide where you can and can't trave by ArcherB · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How is this insightful? Funny? Yes. Insightful? No.

    "Insightful" gives a better boost to Karma than "Funny" so a lot of mods use "Insightful" in its place.

    --
    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
  12. Re:Apple will decide where you can and can't trave by Eponymous+Hero · · Score: 5, Funny

    no, they'll say you were holding the steering wheel the wrong way

    --
    insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
  13. Re:Apple will decide where you can and can't trave by Zcar · · Score: 3, Informative

    Microsoft's already there. It's known as Ford's MyTouch and Sync.