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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

#81

Post by taneq »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #19
hansjorg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already have your location, and based on how fast you're moving they know if you're in a vehicle. Based on how you leave that vehicle in a certain spot and come back to it, they already know that's your vehicle.

You are assuming I carry any device Google is capable of tracking on my person. If a car comes with Google Maps built in, it is no longer a car I can consider for purchase.

I'm actually super impressed with the recent progress that the Android OpenStreetMap client has made. In the past six months or so it's gone from virtually useless to being a full Google Maps replacement (at least for my use cases).

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

#82

Post by msh »

nathantotten wrote: post #70
chaostheory wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Eh, it’s instant on in my car (a Citroen) but I suspect they start booting the electronics when I unlock the car. In the 3 months I have had the car it have never crashed but twice CarPlay refused to find the phone and required a reboot of the phone.

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

#83

Post by denkmoon »

Arainach wrote: post #58
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a reason why head-unit of the infotainment system cannot be easily upgraded?

Everything in a car has to be certified for safety. Infotainment systems integrate deeply with cars - they consume and expose a lot of information that isn't guaranteed to be expressed over standard protocols, and most of them aren't even in consistent sizes or shapes.

Yet I can buy a double DIN head unit running android auto and just whack it in my 2012 corolla.

I think the major problems here aren't safety or engineering, they are purely economic.

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

#84

Post by dawnerd »

nathantotten wrote: post #72
dawnerd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

already solved for, just support android auto or carplay and let the consumer decide.

Volvo already supports both. I can’t speak to android auto, but the CarPlay experience is awful. I’ve also used CarPlay in several GM vehicles with similar disappointing results. Honest question, are there people that have had good CarPlay experiences?

Yep, carplay was the sole deciding factor of my last car purchase and I've been happy with it since. There are some cars I've rented with absolutely horrific carplay integrations. Audi for some reason didn't use a touchscreen so everything is selected using their pretty terrible control wheel. A kia I rented turned on night mode on maps whenever the daytime running/parking lights were on - really weird. Nicest carplay I've had was a 2018 dodge charger. That screen they used was beautiful and huge.

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

#86

Post by ocdtrekkie »

taneq wrote: post #81
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming I carry any device Google is capable of tracking on my person. If a car comes with Google Maps built in, it is no longer a car I can consider for purchase.

I'm actually super impressed with the recent progress that the Android OpenStreetMap client has made. In the past six months or so it's gone from virtually useless to being a full Google Maps replacement (at least for my use cases).

I found the actual map quality quite lacking, unfortunately. Your mileage may vary by location, of course. I had been testing using OSM for a project to get some data, and MapQuest both had the OSM data and their own proprietary data. I compared the two and it was really painful to try and work with OSM's data.

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

#87

Post by mantas »

dawnerd wrote: post #47
mantas wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully either of those will still work with latest gadgets 10 years from today. Think of all the car owners with iPod connectivity crying in their new 5 years old cars all over the world. By the way, today's iPhones do not support iPod connectivity. And I'm talking about protocol, not about hardware port. Which is a hassle to replace in quite a few vehicles too.

True, but same can be said about built in google maps. What happens when volvo stops paying the license? I think right now android auto/carplay/mirrorlink are the best we got

License should be for the lifetime of a car?

Fully replaceable industry standard DIN mounts in dashboard is the best we got. Well, had. Car info, rear camera etc could be shown via mirrorlink-like setup inside of a replacable head unit.

Maybe we could have car stereo game going again and it'd start to improve. Today's infotainment suuuuucks. Thank god for steering wheel buttons. Otherwise they wouldn't be safely usable while driving. And yes, skipping songs or adjusting volume must be physical knobs to make it doable without taking eyes off the road.

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

#88

Post by stuart78 »

jasonjayr wrote: post #22

Considering the lifecycle of a car vs an Android device, they better just build in a touch screen w/ a HDMI + USB connection, and let the compute brains get swapped out inexpensively ...

The in-dash systems these days do a lot more than they used to. Mine (VW Atlas) has 50% of the temperature control, all vehicle settings, etc baked in. All could theoretically be maintained and upgraded, but these are not really separable from the car itself.

I like the idea of them being upgradable, but it would seem to depend on more software and API discipline than I imagine VW or any the other manufacturers being interested in.

Relatedly, the lifecycle of a lease is much closer to a phone, so for owners of the 30%[1] of cars out there that are leased, the upgrade cycle will presumably keep them "up to date". If the car manufacturers are pushing us more towards away from ownership (analogous to phones, software, etc.) then there is little incentive for them to make significant investments in upgrade-ability. And like legacy phone hardware companies, they are too busy preparing new phones to give much love to upgrading older ones.

[1] https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/buying-vs-leasing

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

#89

Post by bestnameever »

zamalek wrote: post #76
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?…

Android Auto is essentially a remote terminal over USB. It upgrades with your phone.

WiFi or USB now, IIRC.

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

#90

Post by gregknicholson »

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?

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