The landscape for connectivity in consumer vehicles continues to evolve, providing a wider range of navigation and infotainment options than ever before. A diverse range of needs among consumers, combined with obvious advantages and disadvantages for different types of data delivery, means that this technological battle for business is anybody’s game. According to Kip Dondlinger, Product Manager for Garmin Automotive, the landscape for infotainment will remain multiplatform.
“There will be vehicles where navigation is an option through smartphone solutions, such as CarPlay and Android Auto, where people don’t want to pay for an embedded system,” Dondlinger says. “They might be willing to live with what they can get from a tethered smartphone solution such as those. But we will continue to see embedded solutions as well. One of the things that is problematic for mobile solutions is the fact that there is not cell phone coverage everywhere. Even in major metropolitan areas, there are still gaps in coverage. While that may be fine for some end users, for others it’s not going to be acceptable; they’re going to want access to navigation features all the time, whether they have good cell phone coverage or not.”
The Cloud also continues to play an important role in infotainment and navigation, meaning that beamed in data could be as prevalent in cars as it is in smartphones and tablets.
“Where connectivity is available, it’s great to be able to access things like POI searches over the Cloud, whether that’s through a smartphone connection or an embedded modem in the vehicle,” Dondlinger says. “We also recognise that there will be cases where none of these options are available, or where you may be somewhere without good, fast data coverage. For those situations, we continue to include embedded POI.”
Dondlinger continues to explain that, while embedded systems have traditionally been slow to update their data, this will soon change when over-the-air information updates are introduced to built in systems. “We’ve got technology coming in our next generation navigation core, Gemini, which enables you to push smaller files, map updates and POI updates to vehicles over wireless networks,” he says. “It will mean we are very frequently and affordably able to give users the latest information in their vehicles.”
Another way that Garmin is responding to increasing competition from consumer electronics companies like Apple and Google is by integrating third party applications into its own infotainment systems. By including functions from popular apps such as OpenTable, Yelp and Foursquare within its navigation core, Dondlinger believes that Garmin can provide a more useful service for the end user.
“You may have an application running in the background from a third party provider that suggests destinations, or shows you where your friends are, for example,” he explains. “Those apps can benefit from being able to access the navigation information on where you’re heading, what route you’re taking. Today, in some vehicles that support applications such as OpenTable and Yelp, you have to exit out of navigation and enter into those other applications to, for example, make a dinner reservation.
“With our K2 navigation solutions, though, you’ll be able to access that type of functionality from within the navigation system. It means fewer steps for the user, so that it’s much easier to find a destination and do the other things that you want to do with a third party application, without having to manage separate apps.”
With increasing infotainment options arrive growing concerns about driver distraction. Garmin believes that by using more advanced infotainment technology alongside advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), it can help to solve the diverted attention dangers often associated with in-vehicle infotainment.
“Driver distraction is a big issue everywhere, particularly in North America and Europe, and I think the industry can design navigation systems more intelligently to minimise distraction, or increase awareness of manoeuvres that will require the driver’s full attention,” Dondlinger says. “For example, we’re seeing map and navigation related data being used by driver assistance systems within the vehicle, whether it’s used to correctly aim headlights, to accurately approach kerbs or to predict a powertrain response. We will also continue to see infotainment systems used within electric vehicles to help alleviate range anxieties and other issues that come along with EV technologies.”
Asked what other key megatrends Garmin would be addressing with developments in its automotive technology, Dondlinger recognised the necessity for simplifying in-car tech and making it more useful to the end user, as well as the new opportunities that increasing connectivity offers in other aspects of people’s lives.
“As systems become more complex, they can become more and more difficult to use,” Dondlinger comments. “Overall, though, the increasingly connected environment is going to make some really significant improvements to in-vehicle navigation. The days of having to load software on to a system yourself are soon going to disappear, as we see more and more systems that do the same things people have come to expect through their smartphones and their tablets. That is, to always have updated software and the latest information.
“Another good service is being able to leave the vehicle and automatically have last mile information transmitted to your phone. For example, if you are going to an airport or a large shopping mall, our systems can route you specifically to where it is you want to go, whether that’s to a specific airline within an airport terminal or the nearest entrance to a store in a shopping mall. Once you shut off your car, that information can be instantly transferred to a portable device so that we can guide you to and from a specific location.
“There are a lot of opportunities both within and outside the car to really connect the user to their vehicle and to the navigation information that’s available.”
