Renault Opens Up the 'Car As a Platform' 318
pbahra writes "Renault has launched what it describes as a 'tablet,' an integrated Android device built into its next range of cars, effectively opening the way to the car-as-a-platform. At the Le Web conference last year, Renault's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, announced the company's intention to open up the car to developers, safety considerations not withstanding. 'The car is becoming a new platform,' said Mr. Hoffstetter. He said the seven-inch device can be controlled by voice recognition or by buttons on the steering wheel. 'We need help now,' he said. 'We need developers to work on apps.' When it launches, there will be about 50 apps bundled with the device, mostly written by Renault. 'We will open a Renault app store for people to download their own apps,' he said."
While I like the idea of such apps for certain purposes — a maintenance interface, less-inconvenient navigation and stereo controls, interesting driving stats — I'm skeptical of the average driver's ability to use one of these without turning his car into a 3,000-lb angry bird.
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:5, Informative)
My MINI has the interesting feature that the rear hatch is opened electrically and the battery is located under the trunk floor. If the battery is dead, you can't open the back to access it without pulling the emergency hatch release handle under the rear seat.
My wife's Prius also has the battery in the rear under an electrically unlatched hatch. There you have to crawl on your stomach through the rear cargo area to unlatch the rear. Great fun, but I don't understand the need for an electrical hatch release mechanism.
The BMW Z1 had doors that would not open unless the side window retracted so the door could sink down into the sills. A dead battery means the doors don't open. There is a story that some high-up BMW executive got stuck in his car when the battery failed. Auto engineers clearly think that car batteries always work. They don't.