Microsoft Teams With Automakers To Put Windows, Office In Cars (microsoft.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Today Microsoft announced partnerships with several companies to bring Windows 10, Office 365, and Azure to cars. Volvo is having their Call Universal App integrate with Windows 10 smartphones and Microsoft Band 2 watches to let drivers interact with their cars. Harman, a company that builds infotainment systems, will allow drivers to access Office 365 services (while parked or while the car is driving itself). IAV, a similar company, will let users stream Windows 10 Continuum from their smartphone directly to a vehicle's dashboard. Finally, Nissan's LEAF and Infiniti models in Europe will run their telematics system on Azure. "The common thread between these announcements is that Microsoft is pitching Azure as an enabling platform, tossing in analytics and focusing on its core productivity strengths. Aside from the Microsoft Band 2 partnership with Volvo, Microsoft is taking an enterprise behind-the-scenes approach to the auto industry."

Comments

Re:It'll be out of date

[sims 2]

Hmm an 06 corvette needs a map disc that's juuuuust 179.99 + 3.95 S&H and they dropped support and now the last map update came out in 2013... Good luck finding those roads from 2014 & 2015....

Re: Microsoft office is for Cars which lock you in

[Rei]

Not likely. One of the biggest weaknesses in the auto industry is its strength in this regard. The auto industry does not work with integrated wholes when it comes to electronics - everything is a separate unit, because the auto industry is based around bolting together various completely independent boxes from various manufacturers onto a frame. It's normally a huge weakness because it means a huge amount of component duplication, unneeded power draw (ever notice how much power cars draw these days?), huge wiring harnesses (you wouldn't believe how heavy they are, all together... also adds a lot of manufacturing cost), lost capabilities (for example, many units might find a net connection useful but can't justify adding it in for just their own use, or whatnot), etc. And it goes without saying that most are basically "sealed boxes" that you can't improve later without a hardware swap - no "app store" or even bugfixes or the like.

We're starting to see the first moves in the direction of unification and upgradeability, but the auto industry is such a dinosaur, it changes direction so slowly. And don't expect any "naive implementations". First off, safety-critical systems will be the last to be integrated, if ever - and a lot of systems on cars are classified as safety critical. Emissions-related systems also will be a pain to get unified due to the regulatory maze. Also, even for the non-critical stuff, redundancy and fault tolerance will be required to be far greater than with home computer systems. And they have to be built to higher standards because they face more wear and tear, vibration, G-forces, etc.

The auto industry has largely been rather mindless in the aspect of interfaces... but there are hopeful signs for the future on this front, they're starting to self-regulate out of fear of forced regulation from safety concerns. The concept of big touchscreens on a center console being operated by a person who's driving means that you're asking them to turn their head so that they can see it (they certainly generally get no tactile feedback) and make sure they hit the right thing. Really, in this day there should be no center console at all. Passengers (at least the front passenger) should have their own screens, just dumb terminals to the main computer - in bulk buy to industrial consumers, screens are cheap nowadays. These should be located in front of them - they shouldn't have to turn to a center console either. The freed up center console space becomes a huge gift to designers. Unlike the passengers, the driver's "screen" should be simplified and ideally concentrated within a few degrees of the windshield in front of him, reducing the distance his eyes have to move and increasing his peripheral view of the road when looking at the console (and vice versa). The usefulness of buttons on the wheel should be maximized in controlling the interface to avoid having to "peck touchscreens or distant buttons with fingers", and multiple types of feedback - visual, tactile, auditory, etc - should reinforce the driver's sense of what actions he's taking in what context.

They'll get there. But there's going to be a lot more garbage before then. Planned out by teams of overpaid people eating at absurdly expensive restaurants followed by overly expensive drinks at the bar followed by concluding the details at a strip club (pretty much standard practice in the auto industry :P)