It's Car, It's an Android, It A Cardroid or is it an AndCar?

Android Devices May Control Some GM Car Functions

Adam Dickter
Newfactor.com
05/13/2010

There's never a dull minute at Google headquarters, it seems. In between developing and improving its search engine, a budding online cell-phone business, planning a tablet computer, a pending e-book store, and ongoing computer cloud operations, the Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation appears to be working with General Motors to add more computer functions to cars.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Google and GM hope to pair OnStar, GM's onboard communication, security and navigation system, with Google's increasingly popular Android operating system to make smartphones into remote controls for some car functions (but not driving).

'Significant News'
The report was not confirmed by Google, but OnStar President J. Christopher Preuss announced on his Facebook page that the company will have significant news next week, the Journal reported.

It's unclear from the reports whether the OnStar-Android collaboration would mean more online operations inside the car, as Ford and Microsoft announced they would do with Ford Sync. That announcement was in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Safe-driving advocates like the American Automobile Association have raised alarms about the integration of cars and computers at a time when driver distraction, including cell-phone use and texting, is already being blamed for more than one million accidents per year.

"If done right, there's little or no distraction issue," said Michel Gartenberg, a partner at the technology consulting firm Altimeter Group. He said cars are one of the last frontiers of unconnected time in the lives of increasingly wired Americans.

"Car screens are among the last of those that are disconnected. In a world of 33 screens and a cloud, that won't stay the case for long," Gartenberg said. "Vendors are going to find ways to make the auto a connected device and a key part of their strategy going forward."

But Avi Greengart of Current Analysis sees the Android-OnStar marriage as potentially rocky. "The problem with automotive and consumer electronics is that they are on radically different development cycles," he said. "Cars are designed over a three- to five-year period while CE is developed in 12- to 36-month time frames. That said, Ford has done a nice job turning electronics-feature content into a competitive advantage, so it is no surprise that GM would want to compete here as well."
 
Call Your Engine
An OnStar mobile app unveiled at CES will let owners of the Chevrolet Volt, a state-of-the-art hybrid car that hits the market in November, to start the car, open the trunk, keep track of the car's battery, and check mileage and maintenance statistics. An enhanced Android-OnStar system may soon allow such interaction with gas-powered vehicles.

Ford has announced plans to let consumers integrate their digital lives with their driving experience "by modeling ourselves after the consumer electronics industry." Some cars will allow USB broadband modems to create mobile Wi-Fi hot spots for devices used by passengers. Others will have dashboards with enhanced navigation and satellite radio, as well as web surfing and downloading -- enabled only when the car is in park.
Ford is working with Microsoft and Sony on its Ford Sync entertainment and communication system. Its MyTouch control system, which will be available in the 2011 Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, and the 2012 Ford Focus, is intended to greet the driver by name and remember settings and preferences.