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

media.volvocars.com

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

#61

Post by bitmapbrother »

favorited wrote: post #8

It will be interesting to see how useful this will be vs. vanilla Android Auto & CarPlay. I've had CarPlay for the last couple years, and I use it exclusively now. Even for things like radio, I've started using the Sirius app via CarPlay instead of the native radio interface. I don't use built-in navigation either, I just use my phone's on the same head unit. What kind of benefits can the deliver through a tighter in…

The level of customization an OEM can do is pretty remarkable. This is Android Auto in an Audi Q8 and it looks nothing like Vanilla Android Auto or Carplay for that matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY

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

#62

Post by jimmies »

If you want Next-Gen infotainment with Assistant and Maps, you need to buy a new shiny Volvo car... or, you know, just use your Android phone and hack a Raspberry Pi and install Crankshaft on it.

Crankshaft does all of the above, plus it doesn't talk to the cloud, doesn't require you to be connected to "the cloud," doesn't collect your data, doesn't ask you to buy a new expensive car, doesn't nudge you to subscribe to any service, and has a stallmanism approach to software freedom.

Disclaimer: I made it.

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

#63

Post by 64kbisalluneed »

mistrial9 wrote: post #2

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

Agree totally. I will never buy a car connected to Google. Young geeks with ageism don’t understand why privacy is important before it’s too late.

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

#64

Post by r00fus »

Someone1234 wrote: post #57
dexterdog wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is looking at them on the car any safer?

Unrestrained Objects can cause or worsen accidents (e.g. phone under the brake pedal). Plus there's better integration with steering wheel controls and a closer microphone for voice control. Phones themselves aren't a problem if used safely, such as running Android Auto (full screen app version) and having it mounted so it can hear voice commands. The problem is that people try to jerry-rig a poor man's version using…

Just about everyone I know has a car mount. Used to be they required all sorts of extensive setup/install. Now however you have that mounts that you can get for 2 for $8 on Amazon.

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

#65

Post by derefr »

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?…

The TV ecosystem solved this by splitting the screen apart from the set-top/streaming box (and then put them together again in the form of smart TVs, but most people I know just disable the internal smarts and use their own stick anyway.)

Why not just specify a "dashboard control tablet" form-factor, and have an empty spot there, expecting the user to supply their own (and replace it every year or two, as people tend to do with other mobile devices)? It'd be this decade's tape/CD player module.

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

#66

Post by chaostheory »

derefr wrote: post #65
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?…

The TV ecosystem solved this by splitting the screen apart from the set-top/streaming box (and then put them together again in the form of smart TVs, but most people I know just disable the internal smarts and use their own stick anyway.) Why not just specify a "dashboard control tablet" form-factor, and have an empty spot there, expecting the user to supply their own (and replace it every year or two, as people tend…

This has already been solved well by both Google and Apple.

https://www.android.com/auto/

https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/

This is yet another example of a car company unable to realize that they just don't make good car infotainment dashboards. This will just lead to further fragmentation of the Android ecosystem.

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

#67

Post by sorokod »

DannyBee wrote: post #45
sorokod wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must mean two multinational companies. One of them can cross-reference against a wast body of data.

Err, both of them can in practice, the only difference is whether the data is bought or self-collected. In practice Volvo would probably just sell the data to others (i'm pretty sure they already do sell it to everyone from insurance carriers to you name it), and Google would probably just keep it.

I'd leave these shanaigans to Volvo and Google. Why would a consumer want make life easier for them?

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

#68

Post by jsz0 »

dexterdog wrote: post #54
jacksmith21006 wrote: post #51

I need Google maps more then most as have poor sense of direction. But so dangerous looking at phone. Love to just have Google maps built into the car.

How is looking at them on the car any safer?

The larger fixed position display is easier to read at a glance than a SmartPhone display.

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

#69

Post by bravo22 »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #49
bravo22 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are absolutely correct. But there is an upshot to this -- modular infotaiment system that you can upgrade every few years.

Which used to be the case also for cars -- we even have a standard, ISO 7736 (aka DIN mount), for car stereos that can be swapped when the consumer wants to upgrade. So in my 2002 el cheapo car, I can buy and install in ~ 15 minutes a 2018 infotainment system with a 7" IPS touch screen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Waze, Spotify Connect, all the bells and whistles you can imagine. But of course car manufacturers real…

True but now they can offer their own systems that integrate far better with the car electronics. Such as controlling the HVAC or offering rear view camera in the in-dash system. Those are good opportunities for lock-in which they'll no doubt take advantage of.

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

#70

Post by nathantotten »

chaostheory wrote: post #66
derefr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TV ecosystem solved this by splitting the screen apart from the set-top/streaming box (and then put them together again in the form of smart TVs, but most people I know just disable the internal smarts and use their own stick anyway.) Why not just specify a "dashboard control tablet" form-factor, and have an empty spot there, expecting the user to supply their own (and replace it every year or two, as people tend…

This has already been solved well by both Google and Apple. https://www.android.com/auto/ https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/ This is yet another example of a car company unable to realize that they just don't make good car infotainment dashboards. This will just lead to further fragmentation of the Android ecosystem.

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.

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