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

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

#41

Post by freehunter »

viraptor wrote: post #32
chrisreed212 wrote: post #25

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 ph…

Aren't we currently in a situation where your car software / hardware just doesn't update - ever? Apart from very recent models, I don't know of many systems that are even possible to upgrade. And if they do, they often require payment. I don't think Android situation is much worse here, even if you were stuck on only one major release.

Newer Fords come with a USB port for firmware updates. I don't remember the system they use (MyTouch? Ford SYNC?) but I remember my brother-in-law mentioning doing a software upgrade on his F-150 before hooking up the trailer to go camping.

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

#42

Post by freehunter »

sprobertson wrote: post #8

Something worries me about commodifying driving distractions. Every day I see several people fiddling on their phones in the front seat, and I know I'm no less guilty. How much thought have you put in about safety criteria for these car apps?

I have Android installed on my HP Touchpad, and it has a driving mode where it restricts you to limited features. I believe it is maps, music, phone, and maybe something else.

Not sure if this is a standard Android feature or something put in by Cyanogenmod.

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

#45

Post by emehrkay »

It has always been a dream of mine to get desktop-like computing wherever I am; in the car, in a phone, on a bike, all sorts of craziness. The biggest drawback that I've always come up with is boot up and shut down times and when boot up and shut downs are allowed to happen. You can turn a car off and the radio/nav/etc. instantly turn off. That isn't true with computers/phones/tablets.

There are android-based radios for my car that I was considering, but the first question was how long it would take to boot up when I turned my car on. My i[Phone|pad]/nexus7 takes a good minute, id go insane waiting on that every time I turn my car on/off.

I've always wondered what are different about computer-like appliances and computers when it comes to booting them up and randomly shutting them down, even the the middle of preforming a task?

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

#46

Post by rbrcurtis »

emehrkay wrote: post #45

It has always been a dream of mine to get desktop-like computing wherever I am; in the car, in a phone, on a bike, all sorts of craziness. The biggest drawback that I've always come up with is boot up and shut down times and when boot up and shut downs are allowed to happen. You can turn a car off and the radio/nav/etc. instantly turn off. That isn't true with computers/phones/tablets. There are android-based radios…

Seems to me it would be easy for the android console to go into standby while the car is off. Basically turn off all the radios and just keep ram alive so it can come up instantly when the car turns on again, using minimal battery. You know, like your laptop. ;)

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

#47

Post by rbrcurtis »

sprobertson wrote: post #8

Something worries me about commodifying driving distractions. Every day I see several people fiddling on their phones in the front seat, and I know I'm no less guilty. How much thought have you put in about safety criteria for these car apps?

Won't be much of an issue when we have self-driving cars.

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

#48

Post by emehrkay »

rbrcurtis wrote: post #46
emehrkay wrote: post #45

It has always been a dream of mine to get desktop-like computing wherever I am; in the car, in a phone, on a bike, all sorts of craziness. The biggest drawback that I've always come up with is boot up and shut down times and when boot up and shut downs are allowed to happen. You can turn a car off and the radio/nav/etc. instantly turn off. That isn't true with computers/phones/tablets. There are android-based radios…

Seems to me it would be easy for the android console to go into standby while the car is off. Basically turn off all the radios and just keep ram alive so it can come up instantly when the car turns on again, using minimal battery. You know, like your laptop. ;)

Yeah but that would die out eventually, like your laptop. These newer cars with sophisticated systems probably do something like you're talking about. My macbook will write the contents of ram to the hard drive once the battery dies and load up form that image next time you boot it up, maybe that is a way to handle it in cars.

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

#49

Post by grep2 »

If you want to know why a car running android is a bad idea, take a ride in an 8 year old BMW/Mercedes with (back then) state of the art navigation system. While the car itself is probably still nice, the "smart" part just feels horribly outdated - because it is. The length of these two innovation cycles differs by a factor 3-5. For the same reason, a "smart" fridge running Android isn't, either.

If, on the other hand, you propose introducing a reasonably standardised protocol for interfacing your phone with the in-car audio, video and input systems (plus readouts from the internal sensors), I definitively agree. This allows you to update the "smart" bit every two years on contract, but you can use the controller and screen (with longer innovation cycles, even though they are still below the typical ttl of cars) integrated in the car.

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

#50

Post by apetresc »

grep2 wrote: post #49

If you want to know why a car running android is a bad idea, take a ride in an 8 year old BMW/Mercedes with (back then) state of the art navigation system. While the car itself is probably still nice, the "smart" part just feels horribly outdated - because it is. The length of these two innovation cycles differs by a factor 3-5. For the same reason, a "smart" fridge running Android isn't, either. If, on the other han…

Tesla just pushed OTA updates to its in-car software yesterday.
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