BETTER PARTSNew infotainment systems and networks Complete communication
Complete communication
Still the car is at the heart of the Geneva Show. But vehicles and engines are no longer the only theme of the Spring Fair. Long the car manufacturers have discovered the information technology itself.
The Internet has revolutionized the computer and the world of work. Now the car is tuned. At the Geneva Motor Show this year three major trends in the networking of vehicles.
For years, cooked the automaker in the infotainment systems in their vehicles each their own thing. With the result that Navis, music systems and online services hopeless technical development lagged. This should in future be better, because more and more manufacturers are in the IT electronics on cooperation with specialists from Apple, Google and others
Thus, Mercedes, Volvo and Ferrari have announced the launch of the Spring Fair, to want to integrate Apple's new service Carplay in their vehicles. The infotainment systems of the cars are on the extension of the smartphone. In the future, takes over the mobile operating system control of the now standard in many small cars central screen. The driver sees there then the familiar from his mobile phone image, can use its apps that drive their music collection or use the maps from Apple for navigation. Expensive house developments can thus be avoided, the faster development cycles electronics companies are used. That about an expensive navigation system is already outdated by a few months after buying a new car should be a thing of the past.
Even Apple 's competitors Android is on its way to the car. Developed under the leadership of Google operating system will in future be used in vehicles from the General Motors group, Honda and Hyundai.
Apart from the improved integration of mobile phones into the on-board electronics is in Geneva, a second mega trend observed: the communication of the car with its environment. " The cross-linking of the automobile ushers in a new era - yet the car was isolated from the environment in the future it will interact with it ," says about Wolf-Henning Schneider, head of automotive technology at automotive supplier Bosch. Central to this is the so-called Car-2-X technology that enables the networking of vehicles with each other and with roads, traffic lights and other infrastructure units. The car should his driver can warn about black ice, congestion and other hazards so in the future. Bosch refers back to studies that assume that such a technique could reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90 percent. And the traffic flow is expected to improve by about 80 percent, as when the car long before the traffic lights know the speed with which it must approach to catch the green phase.
© Bosch Also keep apps increasingly moving into car Although the fully networked road traffic is expected as is the self-propelled car be still in the future, but already in the coming months, the car will have to tap into the vast data cloud. Because from 2015, be equipped with the automated emergency call system eCall by the will of the EU all new cars. The technique consists in an accident an emergency call automatically and sends the same also its location to the emergency services.
Because the technology makes anyway the installation of an always-on mobile module in each vehicle necessary, the automaker's online connection will equal use even further. Third big trend is therefore networking services that you want even greater loyalty motorists to their manufacturers. Mercedes has some specially launched the new brand " Mercedes Me" to life, to bundle its online services. One of the core building blocks is a communication module which allows the driver to remotely check vehicle data. So will then allow the current tank level, the site or the tire pressure by mobile phone query from the breakfast table. Similar offers in the future also Opel with the service Onstar.
Privacy advocates see such a technique but critical. Theoretically, the mobile module unlimited collect data and send it. This allows some movement profiles create, collect information about the driving style or - at least in principle - listen to conversations inside the car. The manufacturers assure, however, to want to be careful with the data and evaluate only on request. So it might in future be more favorable insurance premiums for customers who use networking technology in the sense of accident data recorders.
Exactly how the business models look behind the online services, but has so far not yet clear. At least partly likely to be paid for the use, if it goes beyond the simple emergency function. Because in order to share data, they must be sent via mobile. And this is not in vain in the rule.