“Google Inc. is laying the groundwork for a version of Android that would be built directly into cars, sources said, allowing drivers to enjoy all the benefits of the Internet without even plugging in their smartphones,” Alexei Oreskovic and Ben Klayman report for Reuters. “The move is a major step up from Google’s current Android Auto software, which comes with the latest version of its smartphone operating system and requires a phone to be plugged into a compatible car with a built-in screen to access streaming music, maps and other apps.”
“Google, however, has never provided details or a timeframe for its long-term plan to put Android Auto directly into cars. The company now plans to do so when it rolls out the next version of its operating system, dubbed Android M, expected in a year or so, two people with knowledge of the matter said,” Oreskovic and Klayman report. “If successful, Android would become the standard system powering a car’s entertainment and navigation features, solidifying Google’s position in a new market where it is competing with arch-rival Apple Inc. Google could also potentially access the valuable trove of data collected by a vehicle.”
“Direct integration into cars ensures that drivers will use Google’s services every time they turn on the ignition, without having to plug in the phone. It could allow Google to make more use of a car’s camera, sensors, fuel gauge, and Internet connections that come with some newer car models,” Oreskovic and Klayman report. “By tapping into the car’s components, Google could also gain valuable information to feed its data-hungry advertising business model. ‘You can get access to GPS location, where you stop, where you travel everyday, your speed, your fuel level, where you stop for gas,’ one of the sources said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, um, good luck with that “plan,” Google.
I can’t wait to get a free car fully loaded with advertisements I have to watch before I can start the car or is forcing me to stop on the freeway to watch unskipable ads.
Friends this day is coming soon in beta version at every Samsung car dealer near you.
That’s the day I bring my hammer and chisel and dig the GoogCrap out of the dashboard.
They’re not aiming for JUST the dashboard.
You will have to watch ads before you can use your hammer or chisel.
“I can’t wait to get a free car fully loaded with advertisements”
then, you’ll enjoy iBeacon.
iBeacon doesn’t control your car though it might tell you where the cheapest gas is.
it is your contention then that iBeacon will not be used for advertising?
My understanding (from googling Beacon FAQ) is that it takes an app to respond to an set of iBeacons so nobody will get spammed with iBeacon ads unless they download an app to get them.
I certainly hope that is the case. Between AppleTV and iTunes Match I have almost forgot that its normal for other people to watch/hear advertisements.
iBeacon only works with apps you’ve downloaded and agreed to use.
For a while I thought you were just trolling, there is no way anyone can be this clueless. It has become evident you really are the dumb ass you appear to be.
Chevy won’t get the buttnutbread OS updates.
Lincolns won’t get the hellokittybubblegum OS updates.
Fords won’t get the gummybearballs OS updates.
Mazdas won’t get the reesespiecesinmyass OS updates.
What a mess. I’ll pass, thanks.
That will make it easier to decide which vehicles I will not be buying!
Oh, great, now we will have Android malware and hacks all over the place in moving vehicles.
Now who takes the liability?
How will they drive and look at all those tuned to the driver adds at the same time?
Talk about distractive driving.
Google car can certainly do it.
💀
Google car is a myth that will never happen. They say they have driven x miles already safely, but what they don’t tell you is that is the same streets over and over, and they have not mapped the rest of the country, nor will they ever as there are far too many miles of road and the mapping has to be very accurate.
Google car is vaporware and has no future.
More Google crapology infecting the mobile tech space like a data mining cockroach. Let’s hope the automakers aren’t as gullible as they so far have shown themselves. D’Oh!
This idea sounds strangely familiar. What could it be like? What does it remind me of?
Oh, I remember, MS Sync!
And we all know how many cars Ford sold because of “Sync” technology.
Actually it appears that Sync actually hurt Ford’s sales.
Unfortunately I already bought an android car, it is called Tesla Model S.
I detest the androidiness of it.
I don’t plan to use the built in Google maps much. Otherwise I love the car.
Heres hoping Apple buys Tesla. They could do so much with it.
Apple is collaborating with Tesla on battery design and manufacture! Maybe some day.
I didn’t know tesla had android in it…bummer. I was interested in the model X but I will need to research this further…
The clear evolution of this product is one where your Google car takes you only where the advertisers pay for you to go. The doors won’t unlock until you’re delivered to their destination.
Plus they won’t open to let you back in unless you’ve bought enough of whatever, from wherever.
allowing drivers to enjoy all the benefits of the MALWARE without even plugging in their smartphones
<<>>
>>>CRASH<<<
Call the bonemobile.
And as an upgrade, you can pay extra to have the system removed …
So that’s what a heads up auto display is for, ads. Who knew. Maybe Gaagle will sponsor military aircraft and they can put ads into the visor displays.
Once we use google search for anything we are suddenly enunciated with ads on most sites promoting that product. In a car, they will track you via GPS and when you drive near one of their paying advertisers you will get a brief commercial telling you to pull off the next exit ramp and enjoy a meal at ***** or stop and buy something on sale at *****.
Better that on a web site because when they notify you….you are,practically there.
I meant inundated not enunciated. Sorry!
I hear Google is starting with efforts to get Android Auto into the Edsel!
Android “M” stands for Malware right?
“Google could also potentially access the valuable trove of data collected by a vehicle…It could allow Google to make more use of a car’s camera, sensors, fuel gauge, and Internet connections…Google could…gain valuable information to feed its data-hungry advertising business model. ”
Fook that. Any automaker that signs up for this gets crossed off my list.
FORD will be first in line. Yes because they are that stupid and hate Apple For some reason. 😛
Why Ford is dumping Microsoft for Blackberry’s QNX OS …
http://www.computerworld.com/…/why-ford-is-dumping-microsoft-for-blackberr...
Feb 26, 2014 – Ford is reportedly set to replace the Windows-based Sync platform in its cars with an open standards-based system used by several other …
This might have worked before the iPhone came out, but with nearly half all smartphones purchased today in the US being from Apple, who really believes this fantasy is remotely likely anytime soon?
I was very interested in a new Lincoln when I was last in the market for a new car, but dropped the idea when I discovered the infotainment system was from Microsoft, who basically cares nothing about the user experience.
As an iPhone user, it is extremely unlikely I’d ever ever consider a new vehicle now where I couldn’t make use of my Apple infrastructure. So, the QNX core allowing CarPlay and Android’s car integration are clearly the way for auto manufacturers to try to get customers of all mobile devices interested. An added benefit is that phones can be / are updated regularly by their manufacturers. Integrated car systems are virtually never updated unless a bug makes them inoperable. In short, car makers view the built-in infotainment system as a one time profit upgrade, not a system to be maintained and upgraded in software over the life of the vehicle.
I think this is an excellent business fantasy for Google to pursue, but I can’t see any rational auto manufacturer falling into the trap of alienating half of their potential customers to benefit Google, unless Google throws in a lot of money to underwrite the effort, basically guaranteeing a percentage of their advertising revenue generated by the data they’d be collecting for the infotainment system’s use.
I guess we’ll see, but I’d personally never pay for a standalone Google infotainment system in my car, when my iPhone’s services give me access to my music and the world.
Because there’s too many clueless people that believe that, ultimately, Android will win out and Apple will be relegated to a niche brand with less than 5% of the market.
Whatever that car is, or even that car company, just turn around and don’t go back.
In a related story, google plans to have Google Glass implanted in the rectum of all newborns, achieving a lifelong goal of Sergi and Larry of having everyone’s heads up their asses. Eric Schmidt calls this a feature. Rumor is that this will be called the Google Mole Hole.
Malware running a muck in my car?
No thanks!
Deja Vu – Microsoftian initiative heading for epic failure.
I don’t know why google doesn’t go back to building barges.
This will give a totally new meaning to the “Remote Start” feature. After a little hacking, someone in Albania can remote start your car.
And then “drive” it away, with Google “Auto-Pilot” ?