TorontoBoy
Well-known member
Software for vehicles is in its infancy stage, so on one hand there is seemingly nothing going on but on the other hand we're on the cusp of a technology cliff. There is a huge battle between Android Auto and Apple Carplay. I've been shopping for a new car recently, and found the integration of smart phone and auto to be abysmal. Sure they are baby stepping their way into better integration, but only slowly. We are at least 5 years early for this technology integration.
Let's take Honda. They have a crappy iphone integration, where you can use your iphone app and have it display on the 7" in-car screen. The nav system is better on your average iphone or Garmin than in the car. And what about Android? You can only use the usb to charge your phone. Thank goodness they have bluetooth, or nothing would connect (other than the lowly aux cable). And how does Honda upgrade their software? A trip to your dealer, if the dealer knows what's going on? How often is their software updated? Not often. In 2-3 years when technology moves on, what do people do? At least Ford offers downloadable USBs so you can that can flash your car.
There i a lot of work to be done in the automotive area for phone integration, GPS and app integration, and we're certainly not there yet. I'm unsure when it will happen, probably within the next 5-8 years, but you should be able to see Android Auto development in your car. It would sure be interesting to customize your in-car display just the way you like it, all using Android Auto.
On the darker side there must be a growing industry in cracking and taking over cars. More care are connected to the web, so someone should test their security. Listen to all those commercials where Ford touts that their cars are a wifi hotspot? With so many computers in a car there's got to be a tempting target there for a hacker.
As for bikes, I'd like to see come kind of collision detection system, similar to what they have on high end cars. Something like a 360 degree sonar that could warn you of possible bad drivers. Hopefully there will be a filter so you don't get beeped every second. Motorcycle riders seem to be smarter, or luckier than car drivers, but we could use as much help as we can get. Go down a road and the road veers right. Our headlight should be able to slightly tilt right so we can see the curve better. I don't see these higher end system on bikes, so the world is your oyster. Motorcycle safety can be somewhat improved, but unfortunately if the problem is the rider, well, technology can't fix that (see examples in the legal section of GTAM!).
We all ride, and many of us use technology. We have a 12v power source right between our legs. Research Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and the Maker movement. Research sensors. Sensors + microprocessor = something good. I'm negative on fashion crap like the Apple Watch, and Google's Android Wear ( both bluetooth tethered watchs), but there's so much more to the Maker movement.
Build something. Maybe with Android Auto? Open source. Arduino, Raspberry Pi.
Let's take Honda. They have a crappy iphone integration, where you can use your iphone app and have it display on the 7" in-car screen. The nav system is better on your average iphone or Garmin than in the car. And what about Android? You can only use the usb to charge your phone. Thank goodness they have bluetooth, or nothing would connect (other than the lowly aux cable). And how does Honda upgrade their software? A trip to your dealer, if the dealer knows what's going on? How often is their software updated? Not often. In 2-3 years when technology moves on, what do people do? At least Ford offers downloadable USBs so you can that can flash your car.
There i a lot of work to be done in the automotive area for phone integration, GPS and app integration, and we're certainly not there yet. I'm unsure when it will happen, probably within the next 5-8 years, but you should be able to see Android Auto development in your car. It would sure be interesting to customize your in-car display just the way you like it, all using Android Auto.
On the darker side there must be a growing industry in cracking and taking over cars. More care are connected to the web, so someone should test their security. Listen to all those commercials where Ford touts that their cars are a wifi hotspot? With so many computers in a car there's got to be a tempting target there for a hacker.
As for bikes, I'd like to see come kind of collision detection system, similar to what they have on high end cars. Something like a 360 degree sonar that could warn you of possible bad drivers. Hopefully there will be a filter so you don't get beeped every second. Motorcycle riders seem to be smarter, or luckier than car drivers, but we could use as much help as we can get. Go down a road and the road veers right. Our headlight should be able to slightly tilt right so we can see the curve better. I don't see these higher end system on bikes, so the world is your oyster. Motorcycle safety can be somewhat improved, but unfortunately if the problem is the rider, well, technology can't fix that (see examples in the legal section of GTAM!).
We all ride, and many of us use technology. We have a 12v power source right between our legs. Research Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and the Maker movement. Research sensors. Sensors + microprocessor = something good. I'm negative on fashion crap like the Apple Watch, and Google's Android Wear ( both bluetooth tethered watchs), but there's so much more to the Maker movement.
Build something. Maybe with Android Auto? Open source. Arduino, Raspberry Pi.
