“Google’s bid to counter Apple’s iOS in the Car strategy with an Android-based solution gained a new head of steam Monday with the announcement of the Google-led Open Automotive Alliance,” Shane Cole reports for AppleInsider. “Word of the initiative first surfaced last week with a report that Google and German marque Audi would soon announce a partnership aimed at bringing Android-powered ‘infotainment’ systems to the carmaker’s vehicle lineup.”
“With the addition of General Motors, Hyundai, and Honda, Google now counts 4 of the top 10 auto manufacturers in the world as backers,” Cole reports. “The Open Automotive Alliance appears to be modeled on the Open Handset Alliance, a Google-led consortium that drives commercial development of Android for mobile devices.”
“It is unclear what Monday’s announcement means for Apple’s iOS in the Car program,” Cole reports. “GM, Hyundai, and Honda were among the manufacturers previously tabbed as Apple partners and have already announced vehicles sporting the iPhone-powered system for release in 2014.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nothing precludes both iOS and whatever fragmented morass of malware and user tracking Google shovels to automakers from existing in the same vehicle. It’s not a stretch to imagine Google plastering Home Depot, McDonald’s, etc. ads on your car’s control screen as you approach each location. Or how about Totes umbrella ads whenever you turn on your wipers? Ah, the price of “free.” Hopefully the carmakers will allow owners to disable the fragmandroid “solution” if its “features” are not desired.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple battles Google to forge vehicle ties – December 30, 2013
Apple patent application reveals in-vehicle holistic ID for ‘iOS in the Car’ – December 12, 2013
ABI Research: Apple’s ‘iOS in the Car’ to be No. 1 in-vehicle system by 2018 – November 1, 2013
General Motors adds Apple’s Siri Eyes Free to more vehicles following ‘remarkable’ customer response – October 16, 2013
Hidden contacts revealed within Apple’s iOS in the Car – August 8, 2013
Automakers integrate Apple’s iOS in the Car to minimize driver distraction, increase customer satisfaction – July 30, 2013
Why Apple is planning aggressive 2014 launch for ‘iOS in the Car’ – July 26, 2013
Why Tim Cook described Apple’s iOS in the Car strategy as ‘very important’ – July 25, 2013
Apple has its eyes on automakers with ‘iOS in the Car’ – July 5, 2013
Ford plummets to 27th in J.D. Power vehicle quality rankings on Microsoft-developed ‘MyFord Touch’ woes – June 20, 2012
I fear my car will crash !!
ROADKILL!
That is what you ought to fear!
For Crookle to avoid malware in in-car systems, they will have to re-write Android from top to bottom and then deny access to the development kit to all non-automotive business.
This will necessitate new droid handsets that will be compatible with it or a new gadget that may or may not be a smartphone, leading to FRAGMENTATION yet again.
If Crookle decide to address as large a base as possible by allowing “Tom, Dick & Harry Android developers” to have access to new Android code, then ROADKILL, literary is what we can expect as motorists fiddle about with settings, skins and preferences in a bid to avoid each automobile manufacturers skins created to prevent compatibility with other cars.
Malware on top of that could lead to an increase in accidents caused by car controls that have been cloned in a bid to juice out valuable motorists personal information and bank details.
Heaven help us all if that were to happen! the scenario of android robots running faster than human beings would recede into the good ol’ days as people begin to fear out of control droid cars!!!
Sorry to usher in the new year with a ‘doom and gloom’ analysis.
Surely car manufacturers need to support both? Both Android and iOS have large numbers of users so if they want it to be a selling feature they need to accommodate as many people as possible. I am unlikely to not buy a car because it doesn’t support my phone fully (although I might if torn between two, one that does and one that doesn’t), but I’m also unlikely to change my phone. Ultimately, if my phone doesn’t work I just won’t use it.
If the auto industry gets it right, you’ll be able to choose either iOS or Android in base trim models. It should be a choice like the vehicle’s paint color.
Realistically you should be able to use either at any time. It’s basically only going to be software, plus any hardware buttons they may or may not want (which will likely be the same on either system). Android and iOS updates are free (where available), but of course, auto manufactures charge and charge for everything.
You don’t see smartphones with both iOS and Android operating systems on them. I don’t see these car systems being implemented differently. Optimally, you should be able to use either at any time, I agree. But I’ll take a guess that it’ll be an either / or scenario, regardless of what would actually benefit the customers more (resale value & etc.).
Who cares what the OS is for the car? As long as your iPhone syncs, you will be happy. It’s not like many buyers know what’s behind the dashboard today.
“Who cares what the OS is for the car?”
Smart people.
Great, what software company wrote the OS for your car’s central computer? Your radio?
Hint: they’re not written by the company whose sticker is on the hood.
It’s a Pioneer and I like it 😉
… think of it like a car radio with multiple brands to choose from.
I think MDN’s take is spot-on. I hope car manufacturers will offer iOS in the Car and other OS-based systems as options a buyer can add to a vehicle. They have every incentive to provide both platforms to avoid alienating people.
Agreed, look folks this is not hard.
Because cars can easily have a wireless connection, it will be up to the vehicle buyer to download to their vehicle the OS type for the device integration they prefer. This would also be necessary so that when you sold the vehicle, the new owner could change which OS they wanted to use. I would assume you would have user names and passwords that would allow for integration and rock solid privacy protection.
What will be critical is that the owners of these vehicles delete or remove any traces of previous owners so that the new owners don’t get any personal information left in the system.
Personally I need my vehicle to integrate with my (Apple) devices to make my life easier and safer for everyone. What I am concerned about is if these OS’s actually will cause issues with the operation of my vehicles computer system and if I can removed and control what information the system stores or sends to the manufacturer, my insurance company, advertisers, and third parties. Also, if the system is secure so no one can wirelessly read or control or access the information.
Which would you trust? I guess this is the same decisions you have to make when you purchase your devices, correct?
Sorry for Apple, but iOS in cars forces people to buy Apple products and that is not the task of a car brand …
Wait, but Android-in-the-Car forces me to buy an Android phone. Ew. So I have to conform in order to enjoy a vehicle?
Among the vast majority of people I know there is much stronger loyalty to Apple than to their favourite automotive manufacturer.
That’s a huge shift.
If the manufacturers are smart they’ll offer Apple’s system, to “force people” to buy their automotive products.
I would really not want my car to be opened up to the kind of malware that Google promotes, thank you very much.
I will avoid any and all automotive that is branded Google & Android. The influx of $$$$$$ must have been HUGE$$$$. If you can not innovate …. then bribe your way in.
I’m sure Gaagle is throwing money around, just like M$ did with Ford.
That’s why Ford is not an option when I’m looking for a new car. I’ll never support brands with exclusive mafiasoft or gaggle in the car. If I don’t have iOS in the car option, then the brand is out of an option.
“Open Automotive Alliance”.. LOL!
Open, as long as you like to use Google ONLY.
First off, the OAA is about connectivity between cars, where Android and Google would rain supreme. Android is completely open sourced, and you may be forgetting its simply Linux. (key word being OPEN). Auto makers will be able to completely customize it (as will the user i’d assume). And does Google really sell anything, everything they do is free!? I’d assume the OS will be built into the car, so there will be no real need to plug your phone in. Your media will sync automatically, and you can choose where you buy your music etc from. Apple is great but this comment is nonsense.
I’d rather have a 1958 Chevrolet Impala with no bells, no seat belts, no catalytic converters, no Android, no government-mandated anything…you open the hood and actually see the engine and can fix it.
oh yeah, and a Rand-McNally in the glove compartment.
The big, tabloid-size Rand-McNally atlas is still the best resource for planning trips that don’t use the shortest, fastest route. Charles Kuralt said it best, “If you want to see America, get off the Interstate.” If you want to take the most scenic route, R-M should be your first planning tool.
Bot – government mandate aside, seat belts are a good thing.
re: seatbelts, it is not the function of government to protect an adult from himself, I don’t require a nanny.
How long is it going to take before google gets banned from using the word “open” to describe their products? Android is “open” as long as you follow googles set of rules.
As far as cars go, Google tracking everywhere I go is not a feature I’m looking for
I was considering get a BMW or Audi , but after they announce that Audi will be partner with Android , it makes the whole brand cheap and unsafe, thanks for the early insight for me to make my decision to cross out Audi 🙂
What’s in this for Google? I can see phones being valuable to Google (search based ads) but I don’t want ads in a car when getting directions. I also wonder about fragmentation car OS 1 only works with Android OS 4 not to mention phone manufacturing skins causing trouble.
“What’s in this for Google?”
They blatantly want to track your every move and invade your privacy. This benefits Google’s customers, namely advertisers and the NSA (and NSA’s ilk).
Only fuel stations, restaurants etc who pay Google will be suggested when the user is looking for something. (I think it’s called extortion.)
Me Too! Me Too! Me Too!
I hope this isn’t some exclusive thing nor do I hope they both exist at the same time in the car. I love my Hondas, but if Google is running the car, my next one won’t be a Honda.
This will most likely fail into obscurity for the same reason Apple has the lion’s share of mobile profits; The BOGO crowd doesn’t spend money like well heeled Apple users.
So they won’t be buying brand new cars with these features.
Prediction: Android available on low-end models, iOS on luxury brands.
Google is already 3 years behind Apple on this.
Looks like I may have bought my last Audi.
People who buy their cars based on infotainment are only hurting themselves. Of all the critical functions and features of a car, the electronics are amongst the easiest to customize to your liking via aftermarket options. If you want to have the latest and greatest, don’t cheer for Apple to be embedded in the dashboard. Insist that the dashboard be a blank spot onto which anyone can install the device — Apple, droid, garmin, tomtom, radio only, satellite radio, CD only, you name it. Apple will never offer a comprehensive selection of what car buyers really want, so stop pretending that an Apple dashboard will be the “best”.
Before Apple announced it wanted to deploy iOS in cars, few here had such deep religious fervor about car brands, but now suddenly we have idiots declaring their purchasing decisions before any facts are even revealed.
The internet is OS-agnostic. Shouldn’t automobiles also be? Android implements bluetooth just as well as iOS. Does an Apple symbol automatically make handset-sycing superior? As long as your handheld gadget interfaces with your car’s OS, what do you care? Do you realize you’re interfacing now with an MDN server that is NOT an Apple system either?
Given the choice, I would ALWAYS select the “infotainment delete” option. No matter what is offered, even an Apple-branded interface, it will be obsolete before your car is delivered.
-“but now suddenly we have idiots declaring their purchasing decisions before any facts are even revealed”
ummm.., no we don’t. We have people stating they won’t be buying a car with Google embedded into it. Given this is google, the facts of how much they track and profile you are never revealed, though i guess it a lot more than 90% of people are comfortable with.
refer to “macdoctors” comment above. Case in point.
My point you mean? yeah.. thanks…? he wont buy a another audi due to having google embedded in to it… case in point.
+1
One more point, all of that infotainment/ads, etc. that isn’t a voice-based GPS (and this includes old technology like maps), distracts the driver from what they should be doing … driving defensively.
Another reason is that you are such a Gaggle troll.
Screw you, silverhawk.
you’re the one who ALWAYS snipes at people who don’t share your narrow Apple worshipping opinions. Apple ain’t perfect, buddy.
always without backing up your position with any data whatsoever
The infotainment system on a car is so tightly integrated with the car that it’s very challenging to change it on existing cars.
Everything from air conditioning to windscreen wipers is connected to the infotainment and automations systems. Radios are no longer standard modules that can be swapped afterwards. What you get when your car leaves the factory is what you will be having for the remainder of that car’s life.
If you buy a car with an infotainment system that’s not well thought out, you will grow to despise that car as it will irritate you every time you use it. Therefore it’s critically important that car manufacturers choose infotainment technology wisely. We’ve already seen how Ford and BMW have made mistakes in this way. Other manufacturers should learn from those mistakes and go for quality.
There are currently three Honda-branded vehicles in my driveway, but it does not have to stay that way.
I do not want Android-anything (or Windows-anything) in my vehicle.
If Google monopolize the car industry with their crap, Im done with new cars. I’m keeping my Yugo and gonna trick it out instead. Stick a V8 Turbo and Super Fat Tire, 1000Watt Sound system and I’m rocking the street!
So car manufacturers are cosying up to Google while at the same time Google is developing its own car. Hasn’t anyone learnt anything from the theft of the iPhone idea?
Over the last 10 years, my last three cars have been Audi A6s. I love them. I hope that I have the option to use iOS in the car as an option, because that would weigh in my choice. If not, that Testla model S I’ve been eyeing for awhile is beginning to look mighty fine!
I don’t know why people have a problem with Google using the word “open” when referring to Android. Android is free & completely open. Google has developed the software free of charge all that Google asks is that OEM’s & software developers support their business model so that Google in turn supports them. This a completely reasonable arrangement. If you don’t want to support the Google software it’s ok no one is going to stop you from taking it & forking it to your desire look at Amazon & Xiaomi who have flourished using Android without using Google services
ok so now we know what cars to avoid both in the showroom and in the street !
Distracted drivers.
Another way to make driving even more dangerous.
It will be interesting to watch the anger when gasoline rationing finally returns, this time it will be permanent on the oil downslope.