If you've ever tried to sync your smartphone to your car's head unit, only to find the two don't speak the same language, then the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) has good news for you.
The consortium, an organization that includes some of the world's biggest automakers and cellphone manufacturers, unveiled an open standard last week that's aimed at making it easier for vehicle head units and smartphones to communicate. Engineers involved in the CCC compare their standards to those that married keyboards to PCs: With the new standards, there will be less concern over incompatibility, they said.
"There are a large variety of handsets out there," Floris van de Klashorst, director of Nokia Automotive's Mobile Solutions Group, told Design News. "The new standard tries to reduce that fragmentation and create one standard way to connect to the head unit."
Known as MirrorLink, the new open standard eliminates the need for owners of multiple cars to buy separate smartphones for each of their vehicles. With it, car owners will be able to bring their phones into their vehicles and connect, not only to the center console display, but to the steering wheel knobs and buttons that control various vehicle functions. Nokia and car-auto maker Alpine Electronics are the first vendors to publicly announce products supporting MirrorLink.
Moreover, the makers of smartphone applications will have access, as well, as long as they adhere to the testing and certification specifications called for in MirrorLink. "There's a large opportunity here for the developers of applications," van de Klashorst told us.
Engineers at last week's unveiling said that MirrorLink will make it easy for developers to create applications that can be used in the car. Instead of having to develop separate applications for all of the phone manufacturers and automakers, engineers will now be able to develop one app that works in the majority of phones and vehicles.
Sixty percent of the smartphone market and 60 percent of the auto market have already joined the CCC, which includes such industry giants as Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors (GM), Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Delphi, Alpine, Clarion, Denso, Garmin, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, Panasonic, Renesas, Samsung, Sony, and many others.
Nokia's Car Mode simplifies access to voice-guided car navigation, traffic updates, music, and voice calls through its smartphones. (Photo courtesy of Car Connectivity Consortium.)
Suppliers have already started developing applications based on MirrorLink. Nokia, for example, announced Nokia Car Mode, a standalone application with a user interface that simplifies access to voice-guided car navigation, traffic updates, music, and voice calls through its smartphones. Similarly, Alpine Electronics has rolled out an in-car infotainment system, called Alpine ICS-X8 App Link Station, which is also based on MirrorLink.
One advantage of the MirrorLink certification process is that it enables the auto industry to filter out applications that aren't appropriate for in-car use.
"Technologically, there is no limit, but there are driver distractions that need to be taken into account," said Mika Rytkonen, director of the CTO Office for Nokia, as well as CCC chairman and president. "There are certain responsibilities that belong to the players."
Plans are for the standards to evolve quickly. A new version of the standard, expected to be introduced later this year, will offer improvements on WiFi performance and application certification, as well as the ability to tap into some of the car's data. Soon, CCC members expect the standard to allow for access to a vehicle's CAN databus, which enables vehicle microcontrollers to communicate with one another.
"If the phone knows that the vehicle's traction control system has turned on, it might be able to alert the driver," explained Alfred Tom, investment analyst for GM Ventures. "But you have to be able to access data without harming it. In the end, the auto manufacturers will still have control over the content so that you can drive safely."
While I'm no dummy to think people aren't going to email/text/surf while at the wheel (I'm guilty as well) and I applaud standards that make it easier to connect, the trend of serving up more technology while driving scares me. Even with headsets, built-in consoles, etc., it's totally distracting to figure out what buttons to press or how to activate the voice commands. It's a technology trend that's likely unstoppable, but that doesn't mean it's good for driver/passenger safety.
For this very reason, the consortium should develop the new standards leaning toward large-font, single-instruction, audio-augmented, screen-based, naturally-intuitive user interfaces. Take lessons from jet-fighter cockpits, and be able to make selections with a nano-second glance.More Human Factors considerations for dummies like me who clumsily STILL can’t find the ¼’ black button I’m looking for to change the mode setting. Although my wife can skillfully put on make-up, talk on the phone, and have sandwich while cruising the interstate, I still mis-pick my intentions when offered too many alternatives in a tightly arrayed button layout. (…why texting causing fatalities…)
I recently purchased a 2011 Corolla and didn't expect this commuter car to have as much tech as it does. The head unit connects via bluetooth to my not-very-smart texting phone for both voice activated calls and music files. The USB port works seamlessly with my son's iPOD and also with my Android tablet.
Depending on the day, my 45-min one-way commute can devolve into a 2-hour marathon. Having these communication options along with Satalite radio helps immensely. I'm delighted design engineers have recognized that in addition to style, performance, and mpg, driver and passenger entertainment is a very important component.
I think that Beth is more correct, in that what we really do not need is more driver distractions. Multiple times every day I see folks driving while paying a lot of attention to their phone call. Safe driving requires a great deal more attention than they are giving it. The sad reality is that cell-phone driving is distracted driving. It has very little to do with the physical handling of the phone, and a whole lot to do with having a full duplex conversation going on. The only way to make cell phones even close to safe in a car will be to change them to simplex, that is, "push-to-talk" operation.That mode is much less distracting.
Actually, going to simplex might make people a lot more polite after a while.
I agree William. In my city (Albuquerque) we have a law restricting cell phone use except for hands-free phones. But the conversation is the problem, not the hand holding the phone. If it were the hand, they'd outlaw the coffeee I drink while driving.
One thing I find interesting is how a cell phone conversation is can so distracting while a conversation with your passanger is not distracting.
Evidently the second part of my previois comment did not have much impact. That was the part about making the phones SIMPLEX. What simplex means is that only one party can talk at a time. This is how most commercial two-way radios have functioned for over fifty years, and how amateur and citizens band (CB) radios have always worked. The huge difference is that while one is talking they can not hear, and while they are listening they can not talk. The result is that much less attention is required. Of course, it also has a tendancy to make folks more polite, because interrupting while the other is talking is simply not possible.
So changing automotive cell phone conversations to simplex is my suggestion for making cell phones safer. Of course, it could greatly extend battery life, which would be a handy tradeoff, in exchange for being able to interrupt constantly. Actually, the only hardware change would be to add the talk button to existing cell phones, the rest could be a simple software change. And the beauty is that when one was not driving the old duplex mode could still be used. So mostly it would just be a hardware change, and a cheap one at that. Probably less than 20 cents. The big change would be in the code running the phone, which would need to be revised. Actually, the really major change would have to be in the users, learning to stay quiet and listen, instead of constantly interrupting the other person. That change in style would probably benefit most of us.
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