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

Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

media.volvocars.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 130 posts

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#111

Post by gsnedders »

gregknicholson wrote: post #90
mistrial9 wrote: post #2

Why can I trust a multi-national company to track movements and locations over time of a personal vehicle ?

I genuinely don't understand why cars suddenly have to have tablets built into them. How is this better than just sticking your phone on the dashboard? Is driving so tedious that drivers are crying out to be infotained?

In the US, all new built cars are required to have reversing cameras from this month, so they need some screen in them. Once you have that there, it makes a fair amount of sense to start to use it for other functionality when not reversing and to use it to replace the old media interface.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#112

Post by icc97 »

alex_duf wrote: post #107
tokyodude wrote: post #100

I feel like all I really want is Chromecast/AirPlay and otherwise the car should mostly be a dumb terminal. Install the Volvo app on my phone, pair, done. don't really want random apps running in my car.

Same, I'd much rather it relies on my phone's computation power and act as a display to show the map and blast the music in the speakers. I don't care if the connection is cable, bluetooth wifi etc.

Yeah - I was thinking 'if only they had some simple way that you could upgrade the internal hardware every few years' aka buy a new phone.

Plus you can stick the phone/tomtom on the windscreen. I find that rather than being something in my view that's annoying I end up using it as a heads up display, so I don't have to look down at my speedometer any more as it's right there on the windscreen.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#113

Post by kalleboo »

Lio wrote: post #17
mrep wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the opposite for me. I'm switching from an iphone to an android mainly so I can use android auto with google maps support in my new car. Google assistant is the cherry on top. This would be nice though since I would not have to switch phones just to get around apple carplay forcing their garbage maps on me.

You’ll have to excuse me as I don’t have a car with Apple CarPlay but can’t you just use Google Maps with an iPhone in preference to Apple Maps? At least that’s the case for normal iOS use.

CarPlay does not let you use any maps app aside from Apple Maps. Which is a dealbreaker since where I live Apple Maps are terrible (and Google Maps aren't great either, I use a local mapping app)

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#114

Post by amelius »

Dwolb wrote: post #32
nimish wrote: post #13

Finally a car manufacturer realizes it can't out-compete a software company at making good software. The reason infotainment sucks so hard is that car companies want to "own the experience" and also want to cut costs, so they underinvest and create poor experiences.

Nope. There's a current mismatch between automotive hardware life cycles and consumer software life cycles. This Volvo hardware is going to be a minimum of 3 years old before it ships and will have to function for 10 years+. How good is your 10 year old phone? How does it match up to the average consumer experience today? How's the speakers, camera, audio, OTA software, and display compare to what's available today?…

I think we've reached the point where hardware is sufficiently capable for any kind of map, music or video.

Case in point: I haven't upgraded my desktop PC in 5 years either.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#115

Post by assblaster »

gsnedders wrote: post #110
partiallypro wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a dumb question, but do companies often support -both- AndroidAuto and AppleCar play? Or do they do lock-ins and partnerships...because if they lock you in, it really defeats the purpose.

There are very few who support one but not both, BMW most prominently (CarPlay only).

Toyota is testing out Carplay but not Android auto in one of their new cars, citing lack of security.

Which sounds more like they got a better deal from Apple.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#116

Post by stetrain »

tokyodude wrote: post #100

I feel like all I really want is Chromecast/AirPlay and otherwise the car should mostly be a dumb terminal. Install the Volvo app on my phone, pair, done. don't really want random apps running in my car.

That's basically what CarPlay and Android Auto are, with the addition of specific app UIs when they are projecting to the car display and a few other bits of shared data between the phone and car (for things like steering wheel controls).

Volvo supports both of those as well in their current infotainment systems.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#117

Post by nathantotten »

microtonal wrote: post #106
nathantotten wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you used carplay? It is awful. Takes 30 seconds to start. Crashes frequently, unresponsive often. I don’t necessarily blame apple for this, but they clearly didn’t put strict enough requirements on the hardware that runs CarPlay.

We use CarPlay all the time, it works almost instantaneously after plugging the phone and it is always responsive. The primary beef that we have with it is that you cannot use Google Maps. Though Apple Maps is definitely many times better than the built-in navigation system. As you say, it is probably a problem with some hardware.

It seems based on other comments that it varies wildly by manufacturer. Several others in here mentioned issues with the same vehicle I have. Really unfortunate, it’s clearly better than the built in software. Maybe there is hope that Volvo will issue an update that improves stability.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#118

Post by nathantotten »

ancorevard wrote: post #79
majormajor wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is the same. For day to day, bluetooth phone car connection beats Carplay or Android Auto. Wireless autoconnect is key, should've been in the V1 of those standards. I never bother with Carplay for less than a 1 hour trip.

CarPlay connects wirelessly through both Bluetooth and WiFi. I’m enjoying it a lot. Never need to pull my phone out my pocket.

That’s awesome. I didn’t know wireless was supported. Clearly some car manufacturers have done better jobs with the integration/hardware than others.

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#119

Post by nathantotten »

chaostheory wrote: post #96
nathantotten wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you used carplay? It is awful. Takes 30 seconds to start. Crashes frequently, unresponsive often. I don’t necessarily blame apple for this, but they clearly didn’t put strict enough requirements on the hardware that runs CarPlay.

You need a better, stronger lightning cable for your car. Apple OEM cables can’t take the wear and tear in a car. As long as my lightning cable is good, so is CarPlay. You can also go the wireless route as an alternative

Interesting. I am using Apple branded cables. Any specific recommendations on what works well?

Re: Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment

#120

Post by vertex-four »

amelius wrote: post #114
Dwolb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. There's a current mismatch between automotive hardware life cycles and consumer software life cycles. This Volvo hardware is going to be a minimum of 3 years old before it ships and will have to function for 10 years+. How good is your 10 year old phone? How does it match up to the average consumer experience today? How's the speakers, camera, audio, OTA software, and display compare to what's available today?…

I think we've reached the point where hardware is sufficiently capable for any kind of map, music or video. Case in point: I haven't upgraded my desktop PC in 5 years either.

Unfortunately, mobile processors seem to still be undergoing the same rapid increase in power that desktop systems used to, and the OSes and applications are being built for top-of-the-line phones. Even my iPhone 6 struggles with modern versions of iOS, despite being under 4 years old.
Post reply on HN