Smartphones affect the car infotainment system in many ways

Apple’s iPhone has transformed smartphones from devices focused on communications into application-centric multi-purpose mobile platforms that can be used in many industries. According to iSuppli, other smartphone platforms quickly followed suit, adding multi-touch user interfaces, application development tools, and application stores to sell and send third-party applications.

These trends have brought together smart phones that are exerting greater impact on multiple industries, including mobile phones, car audio, portable navigation, mobile search and mobile advertising, Internet access, e-mail, social networking and e-books.

Impact on car infotainment

Smart phones have had several effects on car infotainment.

The first impact of smartphones is the hands-free phone system that is connected to the car's body via Bluetooth. This Bluetooth system is currently very popular and has become an optional configuration or standard configuration. In the United States, 93% of the 2010 car models are equipped with this system, which is 75% in Western Europe. According to iSuppli’s automotive market research results, almost 100% of products sold on smartphones have Bluetooth capabilities, and more than 80% of all phones sold worldwide are Bluetooth-enabled.

The smart phone has also become the main source of digital music played on the car audio body. Its connection with the audio body is mainly through the USB interface, Bluetooth (A2DP) and iPod or auxiliary interface. In particular, the iPhone is already the main smartphone music source due to its embedded iPod functionality. Similarly, smart phones have a great impact on portable navigation devices (PNDs) and in-vehicle navigation systems. Off-board navigation service was the first area affected. Smartphones and some ordinary mobile phones provided such services five years ago. The iPhone became a major mobile navigation device in 2009, using off-board and on-board navigation. At present, almost all smart phones have a certain navigation function, and the price is very competitive.

Use mobile navigation

The second impact of smartphones stems from the free navigation features provided by the Android operating system a year ago, which caused the price of other navigation devices to drop. PND has been hit hardest, its importance has peaked, its global sales are declining, and sales in most regions are expected to decline in the next few years. As a result, PND manufacturers are bringing low-cost PND systems into the field of vehicle navigation, which in turn creates price pressures on traditional car navigation system suppliers.

With the promotion of smart phone data plans, connected navigation functions are emerging, and navigation functions such as traffic information, traffic detection, destination download, and mobile search are now possible. In addition, smart phone applications that provide location-based services are constantly emerging, and now there are more than 6,000 applications for the iPhone.

Leave a mark

Smartphones may have more impact in the future, especially considering data plans and the emergence of more audio music sources such as Internet radios. Future infotainment hardware/software platforms may be based on smartphone hardware/software platforms, primarily Android, which may complement the Genivi consortium's MeeGo platform for Nokia high-end smartphones.

Smartphones can also serve as customer resource management (CRM) tools for automotive OEMs and their distributors. More and more car-centric smart phone applications focus on automotive activities, including OBDII-based applications such as remote control of vehicle locks, windows, air conditioning, and engine startup. Most electric cars may also use smart phone applications to browse and control key car parameters and find charging stations. There may be more impact in the future.

Influence on car audio body

Within the car, the car audio body is also affected by the smart phone platform, in four aspects - through digital music sources, navigation sources, automotive application sources, and the future sound body platform. In these four areas, the last item may have the longest impact. Terminal mode is an example of an agile body-smartphone interface that will provide a smartphone display above the body display.

The fourth trend is also related to the future use of smartphone-based platforms as the basis for the audio on-board hardware/software architecture. Android-based platforms with additional automotive-specific application programming interfaces (APIs) are moving in this direction.

There is also a long-term possibility that the smart phone may be part of the computing and communication platform of the audio body. In this case, the acoustic body will mainly consist of a human-machine interface (HMI) and interfaces to other automotive systems.

This approach may have several potential advantages. Functional upgrades will be more flexible, such as replacing older products with new smartphones. Drivers will surely buy their favorite smart phones in the future, which will not only reduce the price of infotainment systems, but will also reduce some of the money-making opportunities for audio and automotive suppliers. At the same time, this may apply to entry-level cars to drive down new car prices. Time will tell us whether this approach will become a viable infotainment system strategy.