Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

nissaninnovationgarage.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 55 posts

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#21

Post by [deleted] »

objclxt wrote: post #20
d0ugal wrote: post #5

It would drain your battery before a full day is up though ;) I've often thought a similar thing like this would work well for entertainment systems on flights too.

Flight entertainment systems are moving to Android, but a number of factors (primarily the A380 and 787s both being severely delayed) mean this roll-out is taking a lot longer than originally planned. Both Thales ( http://www.thales-ifs.com/topseries.aspx ) and Panasonic ( http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/panasonic-testing-an... ) will be moving to Android IFE systems.

[deleted]

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#22

Post by avar »

romonopoly wrote: post #19
sprobertson wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but most proprietary systems have only basic interactivity, which you might consider to be a feature rather than a flaw. Some even disable interaction while driving. An average driver already can't control much more than the steering wheel and pedals at once. That said, I'd be totally down with some passive applications for a console. Maybe a navigation plugin that helps find the cheapest gas without wasting ex…

Right, so maybe a moderated app market would be a good solution, with apps being placed in two categories, one category that works whether driving or parked, and the other would only work when the car is parked.

How about not trying to solve this problem by artificially crippling the software up-front and instead just leave it up to national governments to regulate this sort of thing? We don't have special software in mobile phones to make them turn off when they're in a car, we've just made it illegal to fiddle with them while driving.

The same should work just fine for certain dashboard interaction.

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#24

Post by darklajid »

clumsysmurf wrote: post #6

Coming from my experience with my Android phone, I would not want Android controlling any mission critical function. If its for non critical functions, thats different. There was a survey about this sort of thing done very recently. http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/report-automakers-shoul...

Mission critical? That thing in the console of most cars is already anything but mission critical.

They want to replace the entertainment (including the navigation) software, nothing more. Android should be capable of doing that just fine and might bring some life into a rather dull field.. These systems have so many flaws and limitations that make them look like they're from the 90s (based on my experience with brand new Audi, BMW and VW [1] cars in the last 3-5 years). These systems easily set you back for more than 1000 EUR (usually far more) and are limited in terms of supported filesystems (like 2GB limits on SD cards), numbers of files or folders (truncating your playlist) and just .. so .. slow..

I'd love any 'mainstream' component that is integrated into the car, running on hardware that isn't far worse than my phone.

1: References: Had an A3 with ~every option~ as a company car in 2007, a VM Golf GTD with ~every option~ in 2010 and rented a lot of decently sized BMWs when travelling.

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#25

Post by chrisreed212 »

Can already do some of this, though not as integrated - an OBD2 to bluetooth adapter plugged into the OBD2 port and Torque running on an Android phone. I don't like the idea of tying something that will obsolete so quickly (an Android device) to a car, though - look how badly supported 2 or 3 year old Android devices are. Are ones in cars going to be supported any better? I'd rather a standard dock so that a smart phone can be slid in, held in position securely (not a stupid suction cup on the windshield), get access to power, OBD2 data, audio, steering wheel audio remote controls, and a GPS aerial (given it won't be under the windshield anymore)

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#26

Post by taligent »

objclxt wrote: post #20
d0ugal wrote: post #5

It would drain your battery before a full day is up though ;) I've often thought a similar thing like this would work well for entertainment systems on flights too.

Flight entertainment systems are moving to Android, but a number of factors (primarily the A380 and 787s both being severely delayed) mean this roll-out is taking a lot longer than originally planned. Both Thales ( http://www.thales-ifs.com/topseries.aspx ) and Panasonic ( http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/panasonic-testing-an... ) will be moving to Android IFE systems.

The A380 has been available for a while and I've flown on them with Qantas a few times.

They use a Linux based system not an Android one.

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#28

Post by chaostheory »

romonopoly wrote: post #2

Here is the idea, please vote if you like it: Most cars already have a big LCD in the center console for navigation or entertainment, but each manufacturer writes their own software for it. My idea is to have it run Android, which would allow anyone to make apps specifically for cars, entertainment or information-based, taking advantage of special API like vehicle speed, fuel, error codes, etc (from OBD2 or ECU). Thi…

Any more details?

Re: CarDroid: Android built into cars. Please vote so we can get funding

#29

Post by whatusername »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #27

Just out of interest does anybody know what OS these car interfaces typically use? iDrive etc? Is it Linux underneath or something totally bespoke?

Ford (don't know about others) use this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Automotive

Update: Fiat, Ford, Kia, Nissan all listed as references: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/evaluate/wind...

Post reply on HN