We upgrade our smartphones every one to two years. Why not our smart cars? Nvidia has developed a chip architecture that could let us boost the brainpower of our connected cars after they roll off the lot. Read more »
A new report from Juniper Research predicts big uptake for in-car connectivity, which may in turn drive big-data-derived revenue for telematics companies and car manufacturers. Read more »
The deal runs counter to bring-your-own-connectivity approach GM and the rest of the Detroit automakers have backed in recent years. Read more »
Gracenote is hacking the Ford Focus to tap into vehicle performance data, which it then feeds into the car’s infotainment system. The result: a car that plays different songs depending on how you’re driving. Read more »
Ford and GM opened up their closely guarded connected car platforms to developers at CES, which means we’ll soon see a plethora of apps appearing in our dashboards. But the automakers aren’t Google. They’ll be careful about what exactly they’ll let into the vehicle. Read more »
Ford has lots of developer programs up its sleeve. After opening up Sync to developers this week, it announced Thursday OpenXC, an open-source software and hardware program that exposes the internal workings of the vehicle to a future generation of apps and devices. Read more »
Nokia’s latest version of its Drive software aims to emulate a full-feature embedded vehicle navigation systems, which leads me to wonder if Nokia has plans to get into the connected car market with a bring-your-own-maps strategy. Read more »
Sprint’s approach to the connected car is certainly odd for a carrier. Instead of focusing on connectivity, Sprint wants to become an automotive infotainment and telematics systems integrator. To accomplish this it’s soliciting a lot of help, starting with Airbiquity, Aeris and WirelessCar. Read more »
RIM’s QNX has pulled the wraps off the developer program for its new connected car platform, Car 2. Launching in early 2013, the SDK uses the same WebWorks tools as BlackBerry 10, creating the industry’s first dev program that bridges the smartphone and dashboard. Read more »
As connected car platforms become more fragmented, Stitcher has an answer to the problem of developing for so many different vehicles. Instead of building to automaker’s in-dash APIs, it’s asking automakers to tap into its own API. Read more »
Honda on Wednesday became the latest big automaker to unveil an in-car connected infotainment system. Called HondaLink, the platform uses Harman’s Aha technology to connect to reams of different content sources and customized software to let new Fit EV customers manage their cars’ power systems. Read more »
BMW will be the first the automaker to incorporate Nuance Communications’ new voice command and control platform into its dashboards. The German car manufacturer said today it is using Nuance’s Dragon Drive voice messaging technology in its luxury and compact sedans. Read more »
A lot of automakers are lining up to support Apple’s new Siri Eyes Free technology, but Ford, the most aggressive company in the connected-car space, isn’t joining the queue. A platform war over the connected-car interface might be in the making. Read more »
Verizon recently has aggressively pursued its LTE-connected-car strategy, buying up Hughes Telematics and on Wednesday launching a new initiative with foreign car manufacturers. But not all automakers are necessarily on board with Verizon’s dream of embedding 4G into every car. Read more »
You can already access music subscription service MOG on your smartphone, tablet, PC, and many home entertainment appliances. Now it’s moving onto the biggest gadget of them all, the car. MOG is launching on Ford’s Sync connected car platform. Read more »
With no fear of federal regulation, carmakers are pursuing their “infotainment” strategy of packing cars with the latest consumer electronics. But it’s not clear that the states — which are already fighting distracted driving by cell phone users — will go along for the ride. Read more »
