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Volvo to Use Google Assistant, Play Store and Maps in Next-Gen Infotainment
- mistrial9 8y agoWhy can I trust a multi-national company to track movements and locations over time of a personal vehicle ?
- Ninn 8y agoHopefully because of GDPR
- hansjorg 8y agoThey 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.
- wr909 8y agoWho is they? Google or Volvo?
- huhtenberg 8y agoThe OP probably implies that everyone carries an Android phone, so they are referring Google.
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoYou 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.
- taneq 8y agoI'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).
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoI 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.
- ariwilson 8y agoTesla
- sorokod 8y agoYou must mean two multinational companies. One of them can cross-reference against a wast body of data.
- DannyBee 8y agoErr, 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.
- sorokod 8y agoI'd leave these shanaigans to Volvo and Google. Why would a consumer want make life easier for them?
- notatoad 8y agoI'm not sure which multinational company you're distrusting here, Volvo or Google?
- DannyBee 8y agoBecause you already do? All of these cars are already built by multinationals.
- 64kbisalluneed 8y agoAgree 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.
- gregknicholson 8y agoI 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?
- michaelt 8y agoI genuinely don't understand why cars suddenly have to have tablets built into them. Back in the 1990s, in-dash sat nav was a premium feature only available on high-end cars. The first all-in-one TomTom wasn't introduced until 2004, and before that people in sales were willing to pay a big premium for sat nav, as a business expense. Hence, car companies _think_ an executive/luxury car needs to have a screen in the dashboard because that's just how it's been for as long as they can remember. And they think putting premium car features in midrange cars makes them more appealing to buyers.
- gsnedders 8y agoIn 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.
- leowoo91 8y agoI was thinking about getting a volvo, not a google car, so this is a deal breaker for me.
- pavel_lishin 8y agoCan you follow up on that? What if the Volvo, other than Google's involvement, was otherwise the best vehicle for you? Would you get an otherwise worse car, just because of the G stamp on it?
- jacquesm 8y agoProbably yes. I don't think cars need 'bundled' software any more than computers do. Open standards such as the DIN dash mounts for in car entertainment systems do just fine. I've never seen an integrated audio system that I like, usually they're junk to begin with and they are obsolete long before the car is and hard - or sometimes even impossible - to get rid of.
- leowoo91 8y agoWell, I like how they are not hard on design and their kept focus on the safety since. That fits to my character. Of course I could still get a volvo, but a year earlier / non-android version.
- musage 8y agoIf you had to pick between a mediocre sandwich and a great sandwich, and the great sandwich had a big fat human turd sitting on it, would you still pick it because it's better "other than having a turd sitting on it"? (Mind you, even deluding yourself into thinking of the turd as a "turd stamp", whatever that is, will not change the taste one bit.)
- mrep 8y agoThis 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.
- favorited 8y agoIt 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 integration? And will they be able to keep it up-to-date as easily I keep my phone up-to-date? Will be interesting to watch.
- djajshgsjja 8y agoIf this integration allows you to use Google Maps and CarPlay at the same time, that would be a huge win.
- bitmapbrother 8y agoThe 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY
- gdrulia 8y agoI know this is not what you trying to point to in your comment, but I just watched that video and I'm really surprised at how bad the system is. Yes it looks completely different, but delay between user action and response is horrific, sometimes over a second and sometimes doesn't even do anything. It's like those cheap Chinese after market systems, that runs poor hardware and just barely works. And all of this in a new 2017 car, imagine this after 5 or 10 years, will be totally useless... Hopefully Volvo will do a better job with usability of the system.
- bitmapbrother 8y agoCan you cite where in the video where these long delays were?
- jlward4th 8y agoThe switch to Google Maps will definitely be nice since their current maps are crap. Not sure about the other pieces but it probably can't get worse than it currently is. I have the newest XC90 and the on-screen stuff is absolutely horrible. I run into many bugs every day and the response from support has been abysmal.
- nathantotten 8y agoAgree. I have the same vehicle and am simply astounded at how bad the entire UI is. How can a company like that with such a good brand ship something so awful in their flagship product?
- jatsign 8y agoMy wife got an XC90 about 2 years ago and I have to agree. Even changing the channel on the radio is bad - I press next channel, next channel, and it takes me back to the first channel repeatedly. The car looks and handles great, but we won't be getting another Volvo just because the electronics are so bad.
- Theodores 8y agoInteresting considering that Volvo are Chinese owned. Since their parent company are at the front of EV development and since the 5 year plan of China is 80% of the global EV market it looks to me like we will have lots of Waymo cars in due course. Maybe they have decided to go with mere Carplay for now with a view to future Waymo tech being what the real deal is to be. In car tech is set on autopilot features which stymies development of anything that does not share that future. You can't invest $$$ in the next dashboard gizmos if you know that autopilot is going to 'change everything'. So it makes sense to just hnd it all over to Google now.
- nimish 8y agoFinally 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.
- 0x4f3759df 8y agoI think there's a larger story, which I'll explain through a personal anecdote. I purchased the Samsung Gear 3 LTE smartwatch because I've always hated how mobile phones get in the way of personal interaction, but then was very disappointed to find out it ran Tizen and not Android Wear, which means no Google Assistant. So one the one hand you have Google Assistant: great voice recognition and queries against the Google search engine, and on the other hand you have Samsung which doesn't own a search engine and can't compete in the voice search market. So it looks like Google is going to dominate the entire hands-free computing world (smartwatch, cars, and home assistants) Google I/O is tomorrow so hopefully they'll announce some Android Wear with LTE and voice assistant.
- saagarjha 8y agoDo you really think Google has a stake in the wearables market? Last I heard they were ready to pull out with most of the market going to Apple.
- Roritharr 8y agoIt was mostly attributed to Qualcomm who left them hanging dry until this February.
- jacksmith21006 8y agoHeard where? Highly doubt Google is going to pull out of the wearable space.
- bitmapbrother 8y agoWear OS currently accounts for about 18% of the wearable market share. There's also a WearOS session scheduled for I/O so they're still interested. The major hurdle has been the SoC. WearOS devices are still using the antiquated 28nm Snapdragon 2100 SoC which was created in 2014.
- kuwze 8y agoMan I was really hoping they would bootstrap something awesome. Since they were acquired by Geely I was thinking that they would go there own path and pave a way for AI cars in China’s future. Maybe they are just evaluating it to get an idea of what to copy in the future?
- jasonjayr 8y agoConsidering 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 ...
- dawnerd 8y agoalready solved for, just support android auto or carplay and let the consumer decide.
- saagarjha 8y agoOr both, or maybe even allow the consumer to run their own custom infotainment software…
- dawnerd 8y agoHah I actually meant to write "android auto and carplay" As long as the screens are dumb and the interface documented I don't see why that couldn't happen.
- mantas 8y agoHopefully 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.
- SpikeDad 8y agoNice. Stand by for roadside billboards linked into your Google account which flashes custom advertising as your car nears. Google - "You are our product"
- remir 8y agoWhat's Volvo's plan regarding OS and security updates? If I'm going to have a car connected at all time to a LTE network, I want the software on it to be secure.
- jacksmith21006 8y agoI 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.
- dexterdog 8y agoHow is looking at them on the car any safer?
- Someone1234 8y agoUnrestrained 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 Google Maps app, a phone sitting loose in the cup holder, and no voice commands ("let me pick it up briefly to pick a route"). It is the difference between ideal usage and real world usage. Built into the vehicle gives you closer to ideal usage every single time.
- r00fus 8y agoJust 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.
- jsz0 8y agoThe larger fixed position display is easier to read at a glance than a SmartPhone display.
- jacksmith21006 8y agoBecause I am too lazy to add a mount or anything in my car. Ideally would be Google Maps and assistant built in.
- bitmapbrother 8y agoHere's a demo of the Volvo system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BuRMdjij4g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BuRMdjij4g Here's Audi's system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xf5hVqZHPY
- jimmies 8y agoIf 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.
- josteink 8y agoYou might want to consider adding a link to it then :)
- mrnaught 8y agohttps://getcrankshaft.com/ https://getcrankshaft.com/
- the_new_guy_29 8y agoFrom your own site: "Can I trust it to work? It is alpha-level software, so no. It's not an official or even related to or certified by Google or Android. It's totally a hobby. But we hope you give it a try and have fun with it when it's safe to do so." It's nowhere near the commercial applicability car manufacturers require. Nobody really cares about private users because thats not where the money is..
- Sylos 8y agoSo, can I replace these or are they embedded-embedded? The Google Assistant seems to have custom code, so it would be understandable, if I can't replace that, but then it's hopefully at least possible to turn it off. If not, I'm not buying a Volvo in my lifetime.
- jacksmith21006 8y agoLooking at how bad car companies are at security it makes sense to have someone that knows how it is done https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/volkswagen-and-audi-cars-vulnerable-to-remote-hacking/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/volkswagen-an... Volkswagen and Audi Cars Vulnerable to Remote Hacking
- iamaelephant 8y agoWith the rate at which Google deprecates software this seems like a bad idea.
- tokyodude 8y agoI 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.
- alex_duf 8y agoSame, 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.
- icc97 8y agoYeah - 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.
- stetrain 8y agoThat'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.
- chiefalchemist 8y agoI own a Volvo but not a mobile device? Any "advanced" tech baked into a vehicle makes zero sense to me. Tech runs in to 2-3 yr leap cycles. An auto can last you (+ a 2nd or 3rd owner) 10+ years. Why would a manufacturer intentionally hurt the Blue Book value of their vehicles?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]