Smartphones have taken the world by storm. There is an app for everything no matter what you want to do. Apps are now preparing to take over the automobile industry. Imagine you are driving to your office listening to your favorite Spotify playlist or asking your personal assistant to edit that presentation or excel sheet… the possibilities are endless here.
Cloud storage has made working on the go that much easier. Some of the manufacturers are already playing with the idea of integrating social media and news websites with their high end models. GPS is already a part of our daily lives, and one day Google Maps might come preinstalled in our cars.
That is all well and dandy but do we want more distractions in a car or not? That is something many people worry about. Well, if cars begin to drive themselves, then we are good here.
The Future
The future seems to be bright yet full of challenges. Experiments on self-driving cars are already happening, and the day is not far when it will become a reality as just mentioned.
According to a recent study, Americans on an average spend around 2 hours a day in their cars and another 4 hours on their smartphones. That’s 6 hours combined. This is another reason why an app enabled automobile makes sense. Another study has confirmed that an average driver holds onto his car for about 5-9 years. People don’t change their cars as frequently as they change their smartphones.
John Ellis, the head of the Ford Developer Program is working on a solution. But this is a challenging task. It has to be done in a way that ensures driver safety as well as app convenience. Ford has already rolled out AppLink, a technology that allows your smartphone to connect with your car allowing you to control certain features and apps using voice commands.
Most of the technology is still hardware based with little software integration. Internet connectivity is still a problem in underdeveloped and developing countries, and data costs are not low enough in most parts of the world. It will take time but it will happen nonetheless.
Manufacturers are now in a race to develop a software package that will enable app integration out of the box. Imagine
a car that will come preloaded with apps like Google Maps for navigation, Spotify for listening to music, Facebook and Twitter for updates, Flipboard and Feedly for daily news and so on.
Cars Communicating
A concept called the "Talking Car" technology is already under works that will allow cars to communicate with each other. This should reduce the number of car accidents by a significant number.
Apps are already being developed and fine-tuned to be used for various other purposes such as opening garage doors, enabling keyless entry and finding your car parking area. A NY Times article featured an interview of a guy who is using an app to start his car's AC unit few minutes before he enters using an iPhone app.
Security
One of the major concerns is security. A lot of people are uncomfortable with the idea of their cars being accessible by other cars and data being shared between them using wireless connections. What happens if your car is remotely hijacked? Kidnapping will have a whole new meaning and definition. As with every new technology, auto-app integration will face its own set of challenges and opposition. But it is only a matter of time before these ideas turn into reality and become a part of our daily lives.