Video: Intel-backed Volkswagen infotainment system gets demonstrated
By Darren Murph 
posted May 20th 2009 6:41PM
posted May 20th 2009 6:41PM
[Via CNET]
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Needs more tray icons.
i though the same thing
I got a fever, and the only prescription is more tray icons!
you took the words right out of my mouth....
last time i checked, vw was with apple on this...
I don't understand why companies use off-the-shelf OSes for custom tasks, seems so stupid.
My buddy had a hacked Magellan Nav unit so he could use a stylus to scroll thru and select video files from Windows Explorer -- yeah, exactly what I want in my car!
Integration is probably far quicker. Plus if they transition to Windows 7 multi-touch devices they will be able to improve the number of gestures one can do.
Plus they can still move the most used controls to the steering wheel. Looks like a nice feature.
Why? Peripheral support. That's why.
If you'll look at the screenshot, that's Sprint Mobile Broadband. Good luck getting AT&T or Verizon mobile broadband USB dongles to work in a Linux environment. And I'm talking about Plug-and-Play ease-of-use, not hunting through goddamned Linux forums and HOPING for a driver/solution. I'd go the extra mile to get it to work, but you certainly can't get average people to. All they care about is that it doesn't work. I'm not picking on Linux, the same holds true for any non-off-the-shelf/popular OS.
Whoa! Looks like StreetDeck to me!
This is really cool until you crash into the guy front of you, run off the road or fail to stop at cross walk and run over a pedestrian. While you where trying all the cool features... I watched someone almost crash the car I was in while messing around with the GPS...
Intel invents windows xp for the car
And apparently StreetDeck for the frontend. I think it's funny how the Intel guy is claiming that this is their software, when really all that's Intel in there is just the CPU and different chipsets. I'm surprised that it took them six months to get something going; these headunits and software have been available for a long time. It should only take a couple of weeks to get a "prototype" (read: demo) going.
"comes to in-dash entertainment, and while it's latest initiative isn't totally far-fetched, it's still worth a peek. The automaker..."
It's "its", not "it's"
That one pisses me off than your/you're or there/their/they're, for some reason :~|
Don't you mean:
"That one pisses me off _more_ than your/you're or there/their/they're, for some reason :~|"
I'm just sayin, if you're going to correct someone else's work you're best to check your own. :)
TOUCHE!
Too many post-work beers for me! Just sayin'
In Craw's defense, he did get his second "it's" correct.
The "carputer" is about to come to glorious, in-dash OEM, HD, mainstream fruition.
I think Google should work on bringing Android into this space. Well, by that, I mean, they should work on bringing Android to everything from cars to picture frames, and refrigerators.
Sure, you can say MS or Apple should do it, too, but given that Google is open source, I think it's realistic that we see Android doing it first.
Android might (kinda) suck right now, but that's just because it's so immature. The next 2 years are gonna be reeeeeallly interesting.....
apparently VW invented yahoo widgets
Man its gonna be awesome when this thing BSOD's and locks up the car and you crash and die.....
Electronics and VW don't go together .. They cant even get normal wiring right
So sick of goddamn widgets. Who told all these technology companies that a bunch of random widgets with no consistent form of interaction or design was a smart move? Who wants to spend half their time moving things out of the way of other things. Now we're seeing widgets on mobile phones - this is a huge fallacy of scale issue. Stop making tiny desktop computers, and treat the devices as what they are. A big step backwards, I say.
Wow...congrats VW, with all your budgeting resources you've managed to do what thousands of people have been doing for years now. And you even managed to create a custom StreetDeck skin! AMAZING!!
I've been running this very same setup in my 2000 VW Jetta TDi for about 2.5 years now. This is NOTHING special. My streetdeck skin even looks SUBSTANTIALLY better than what they're using. This is garbage. Shame on you VW for thinking this is original.
Why don't VW concentrate on making good cars, like you know the ones with engines and transmissions that don't fail, instead of ripping off ideas from the "Carputer" world that have been around for at least 10 years?
Please describe a 10 year old carputer, because you make it seem like what they're showing here existed 10 years ago. GTFO.
btw, I agree with you that VW is overpriced, for the shoddy quality. But don't spit bullshit.
VW's problem is inconsistency. Some of their vehicles are of fantastic quality, while others are crap.
Gypsy from VW was cooler
http://digg.com/tech_news/VW_s_New_gypsy_dashboard_interface.
Not even running the latest version of StreetDeck. StreetDeck 2 is far superior for navigation than StreetDeck 1.
So pretty soon you'll need anti-virus for your car. Great.
People have been using carputers for a while now (several years). The navigation software and interface they showed on the video is a custom skinned version of StreetDeck 2 - so if anyone is interested in picking up that software they can, just go to streetdeck.com (I have it on my UMPC and use it as my carputer software)
That's definitely StreetDeck version 1. You can tell by the navigation screen that shows the old Mappoint plugin driving directions panel at the bottom of the screen.
LOL at Eric's expression in the freeze-frame at the beginning of the first video! Looks like he just ate a lemon!
Why do they need gestures to control music? Whatever happened to steering wheel buttons for music, etc? It's far better if you ask me, than to remove your hand from the wheel and fiddle with the screen. Stupid!
It's just a repacked Carputer with Atom processor that VW will prolly charge an arm and leg for.
You're prolly right, but then again, I'm sure there are a lot of customers who will prolly be very interested in this technology, and won't mind paying a premium for it.
awesome... i wish 2 have one of those...
I agree with all the others who said that for technology such as this, off-the-shelf OSes work better in terms of Plug-and-Play compatibility. But the fact that they still wanna stick to xp (even netbooks only use xp) just goes to reinforce the fact that Vista is probably the worst thing to happen to computers.
Even so, I don't see the big deal with this:
Okay, so it can play music and videos, and comes with GPS and a built-in broadband connection. So? You could hook up a netbook to a GPS and do the same thing!
Bonus: It wouldn't even be stuck to the car all the time.
Also, it'd be cool if Apple decides to make an infotainment system like this, coz they'd probably wanna hook it up to iTunes and all their existing services.
"it's" should read "its"
Disappointing to see VW fall to the dark side.
This is exactly what I was doing for few years now. I think that my custom (C++) applicaiton is superior to what VW is showing. I can only imagine how much money they have spent for something that a single person can do. One more thing - my "carputer" fith in a single-DIN dash opening. The Jetta has double-DIN, which makes everyting SO MUCH easier (or boring, from enthusiast's point of view :) ).
Check this out http://DashMind.com .
Also was featured on VIA;s site (along with few other projects) ): http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/spearhead/mini-itx/car-pc.jsp
Love to show off. :)