philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The past, present, and future of in-car infotainment

Speech recognition for vehicles has been in development for a while now, with companies like IBM andMicrosoft, and more recently Apple and Google, helping out. Apple's Siri in particular is popular, although Audi seems to be forging a closer relationship with Google. And increasingly, cars are being designed with their own integrated connectivity rather than relying on a customer's device. Chrysler announced in-car EVDO hotspots back in 2008. And both Audi and Chevrolet have introduced mobile data to company products, each appearing to buck industry trends of debuting these sorts of features in range-topping supersedans.

As autonomous cars become more of an everyday reality, it’s probable that we’ll see drivers being able to enjoy more visually dependent entertainment, but even that can only happen with adequate safeguards to prevent someone from binge-watching Breaking Bad right into a pileup. And speaking of driver line-of-sight, expect to see developments in heads-up displays (HUDs), too. Right now, some Chevrolets and BMWs have HUDs, but they’re small and only display salient information like speed. Google believes that Glass can display text to people driving without it being distracting, and if they’re right, presumably that can be adapted for a more panoramic view out of a windscreen. As you'd expect, this may require some rigorous study before lawmakers can be persuaded it’s safe to unleash such an experience on our roads.

See the full story here: http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/06/the-past-present-and-future-of-in-car-infotainment/2/