Last week I had a chat with one of the Google Engineers on the Android Auto Team and he was kind enough to show me through how they are building a safe car environment for many of us who like to use our phones while we are driving (as if I know how to drive) moving on.
Android Auto is poised to be the baby of the Open Automotive Alliance which aims to bring the Android platform, with already more than 1 billion devices to the car. This deal will help bring cutting edge technologies to the car, making the driver focus more on the driving as I will let you know shortly and create a lot of opportunity for developers on these platforms.
How it Works.
Android Auto right now brings a customized terminal display (tablet-like) screen to the car Dashboard. When a driver is getting ready to drive, they connect their phone to the dashboard via USB and this will connect both devices via Android Auto.
What I liked
The coolest bit about the car to me is how they are trying to take the phone away from the users who try to text or make phone calls while they are driving. With an inbuilt Microphone in the car and a Google search button “Ok Google” just on the steering wheel, Google is trying to use technology to help you make the calls and send texts without touching your phone. The system also has an inbuilt car GPS to locate the car and do navigation from one location to the next. Apps like Spotify are also part of the package to help you play your music still using voice search and a button on your…
Google Revealed a list of car manufacturers who have already joined the alliance and the list was impressive considering there are more than a billion cars on the roads today.
The Challenge I Foresee:
I will use my country Uganda as a case study, many drivers using the phone while driving are either making phone calls or texting via Whatsapp or Twitter or Facebook which require instant messaging and which I found lucking in the suite of apps on Android Wear. This is going to be challenging for the developers on these platforms because making voice instant messaging is yet another thing to be innovated upon.
The other challenge am foreseeing is Google staying on the top layer of the car and not trying to innovate more by wanting to control other parts of the car to make it more automatic via the Android Platform. I have my fears with security and the Internet of things and the one thing I don’t want to have is some hacker controlling my car remotely.
I finally think this innovation around automobiles is a great one and it will make drivers focus on what matters which is the driving without missing out on some things like calls and directions to the nearest gas station.
