The only issue I have with this is my fear that at some point in the future these companies are going to make it so that attaching your music player/phone is not going to be easy (or maybe not possible at all) unless you run the same OS as the car itself.
I rather have all the "brains" be on MY device, not in the car. All I want the car for is the hardware buttons which would make it easy to change stations and other settings. My phone or MP3 player can be updated way the hell easier and cheaper than a car's entertainment system which I fear would be out-of-date before you even buy the car.
While I agree it would be in their best interests, that is not always the way some of these companies work - they like to push their own products even that means crippling any other devices you hook up to it.
Also I have nothing against more computing power when it comes to the automotive (engine, transmission, etc) side, but the simple fact is that no car company is ever going to be able to keep up with the rate of change in the smartphone work.
As an example, within one model year Android phones have 2X in speed and gained many more features. No car company (or even their suppliers) would be able to keep up with that. And imagine what will happen 3 or 4 or even 10 years down the line? The infotainment hardware in these cars is going to be ancient, even if the car itself might be perfectly fine.
Better to just let the driver supply their own infotainment source and just use the car's hardware to play it on (like the car's speakers and if it had a screen, mirror the smartphone's display on that). Heck, I wouldn't even mind if the car has no screen at all - just allow a place to dock your phone and use it's screen instead.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
The only issue I have with this is my fear that at some point in the future these companies are going to make it so that attaching your music player/phone is not going to be easy (or maybe not possible at all) unless you run the same OS as the car itself.
I rather have all the "brains" be on MY device, not in the car. All I want the car for is the hardware buttons which would make it easy to change stations and other settings. My phone or MP3 player can be updated way the hell easier and cheaper than a car's entertainment system which I fear would be out-of-date before you even buy the car.
@Hazdaz It's in their interest for everything to be easy to sync for you, regardless of your preferred ecosystem. So I wouldn't worry.
And there are a ton of good reasons for cars to get more sophisticated software over time. Like real-time component wear warnings, et al.
@thanksbetotap
While I agree it would be in their best interests, that is not always the way some of these companies work - they like to push their own products even that means crippling any other devices you hook up to it.
Also I have nothing against more computing power when it comes to the automotive (engine, transmission, etc) side, but the simple fact is that no car company is ever going to be able to keep up with the rate of change in the smartphone work.
As an example, within one model year Android phones have 2X in speed and gained many more features. No car company (or even their suppliers) would be able to keep up with that. And imagine what will happen 3 or 4 or even 10 years down the line? The infotainment hardware in these cars is going to be ancient, even if the car itself might be perfectly fine.
Better to just let the driver supply their own infotainment source and just use the car's hardware to play it on (like the car's speakers and if it had a screen, mirror the smartphone's display on that). Heck, I wouldn't even mind if the car has no screen at all - just allow a place to dock your phone and use it's screen instead.