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.
Or, translated in plain english (Score:4, Insightful)
The automotive market is ultra-saturated, fewer people buy cars because of the crisis these days, so we'll come up with any useless concept to sell them.
Angry (Thunder)bird (Score:2, Insightful)
I have to agree with the poster ....... the more gadgets you put in a car, the more accidents you get.
One example, people driving off cliffs and into lakes .... because the GPS told them too.
Phone interface (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:4, Insightful)
Obsolesence (Score:5, Insightful)
The real problem is that the hardware will be hilariously outdated in 18-24 months, whereas the car has a much longer expected lifespan.
Speaking as a road user not in a 4,000lb box.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Speaking as a road user who is not in a 4,000lb box - this is the last thing we need. Apps for your car? Seriously?
Hang up the phone.
Drink the coffee at your home/work/coffee shop.
Stop texting.
Stop picking out your favorite song on the playlist.
DRIVE. YOUR. CAR. Please. Your car is not an entertainment system, smartphone, web browser, etc. It's a powerful, heavy, moving object. Capable of inflicting life-altering or mortal injuries and enormous property damage, which must be piloted accurately to within less than a few feet at speeds humans were never designed to travel. Treat it as such, which means PAY ATTENTION and keep BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL and your EYES ON THE ROAD. Nowhere else, any time your vehicle is moving.
I'm tired of people telling me, "gosh, bicycle? It's SO DANGEROUS!". Yeah, guess why? It's because the same person who declared it "dangerous" can't for one second take seriously piloting a machine capable of so much death and destruction, and instead is texting someone while sipping a mocha grande while checking out that cute person in the shop window.
You want to know why it's so dangerous to jog or walk or cycle along the road? Look in the mirror., across the table at dinner or a business meeting.
It doesn't help that running over a cyclist or (sometimes) a pedestrian is an almost guaranteed way to get away with murder. 99% of the time, the most the driver gets is a traffic ticket for saying "oh, I was changing radio stations" or "the sun got in my eyes." Hell, one asshole in Colorado recently claimed it was "new car smell" in his Mercedes S-class that caused him to pass out, hit a cyclist, and then drive on without stopping until he was across town, where upon he put the damaged bits of his car in the trunk and called for roadside assistance (not 911) for a tow.
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:5, Insightful)
That's very lacking in imagination. Having computers with UIs in cars is well established. Whilst they provide some useful features there are plenty of useful things third party app developers could supply.
e.g. Apps to direct you to car parks with space. And in future to an actual parking space. Or an app that accesses data in fuel prices and how much fuel you have in your tank to intelligently recommend where to refuel.
Translation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Translation...Your car will now cost even MORE to keep fully functional.
Seriously, retired automotive mechanic here.
Does anyone really think auto-repair shops actually fix this stuff? They do not, for one reason--they are far too complex for the average mechanic to understand, let alone repair. Stuff like this, and others (electronic compasses built into rear view mirrors, sound systems, navigation systems, etc) are simply removed from the vehicle and replaced with a new one when they have failed. At best, the device is sent off to the original manufacturer for repairs--the cost of repairs and shipping is passed onto you. Cars now require specialists, much like the medical field, as a result of the continuing "advancements" and most shops cannot afford to employ these specialists. The result is not having any choice but to bring the vehicle to the dealer for "repairs".
On another note, most new-car dealerships make more from their repair departments then their sales departments.
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm skeptical too, but (Score:5, Insightful)
I see a lot of virtually identical comments about driver distraction, but none about reducing it. What about a PID climate control system that learns what temperatures you expect and when, and how quickly the cabin can get there based on outside temp and coolant temp? Sure, climate control is becoming more common but it's not everywhere yet. What about a better road atlas that's easier to use so that the driver spends less time dicking with the computer? Tune the stereo based on the GPS region. Hell, tune the engine based on the drive history and the traffic conditions. Use the vehicle logging system and fault codes to give the driver information that's useful right now instead of lighting a little picture of an engine on the instrument panel. None of these are new ideas but being able to put them all in one computer and be able to replace pieces of them if they suck is a fantastic idea.
It's not the whole car, just the console (Score:4, Insightful)
The worrisome bit is that car manufacturers are once again getting away with proprietary hardware hookups, so it's hard to replace your "car stereo" or "navigation device" once it becomes obsolete. There was a time where you could just get a DIN or double DIN car stereo and put it in your car, regardless of what brand car or what brand stereo you'd like to get. It seems those days are over and we'll once again be forced to use overpriced proprietary devices that age much quicker than the vehicle.
Re:Angry (Thunder)bird (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:5, Insightful)
Not every car company is like the US ones. Renault is doing just fine. This is just the logical extension of selling your car with an iPod/USB interface.
I'd say it's about time (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people here are negative, but I say it's about time. I've been thinking about something similar for years now.
There is a lot of interesting potential in it, if they do it right. For example, allow apps to read (not write, just read) car data, like for example real time fuel use, speed, gear, engine rpm, voltages, brake events, and so on. I can already think of a few apps using that data.
And, many modern cars come with electric control of seat height and angle, mirror position and so on. Why not make a profile system of it? You set things just so, save it, lend it to your son.. And when you get it back (and fixed that bulk on the side), you can just select your profile, and everything turns back the way you wanted it. Steering wheel, radio channels, mirrors, seat, climate control... You could even have different profiles for different situations. One for driving to work in the morning (a bit stiffer back angle, higher temperature), driving around for fun in the summer (own playlist, lower seat, a bit stiffer steering wheel)..
There are a lot of possibilities in it, but most people here only seem to think "Angry Birds on a car!" for some reason.
Re:Or, translated in plain english (Score:4, Insightful)
They should never replace physical controls but merely augment them.
An interesting question - what is a physical control? AFAIK the gas pedals in almost all modern cars is merely a computer interface, asking the car's computer to make the car go faster. So it's a physical control in one sense, but a computer control in another. And of course in every recent car I've driven the dashboard instruments (speedometer, tach, etc.) are all computer output - you can watch them go through the start-up calibration sequence. I haven't kept up but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the same is true of the various knobs and buttons on the dashboard.
As sensor and display technologies march on, I suspect it will get harder to determine whether a given dashboard item is a physical device or some form of touch-screen technology. The actual squishy dashboard material itself could be the display.