BMW, Fiat join Connected Car Consortium Fiat and BMW have joined the Car Connectivity Consortium, a body developing a standard scheme for linking smartphones to in-car entertainment and navigation systems that already numbers Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and VW among its members. The group will promote the so-called "Terminal Mode standard" - a Nokia- …
Bluetooth works fine for both making and receiving calls. Linking to the phonebook is a good idea, I have that and works fine. I think that doing anything else specific to a smart phone is dangerous to do behind the wheel.
OK fine voice recognition has come on leaps and bounds and maybe replying to an email or text message through your car would be quite good. I know the likes of Siri and similar Android products have this feature but you still need to envoke the app and review what it has written prior to sending, whether you are doing this on a phones screen or a screen in the car it is still dangerous.
Mirrorlink provides a way for mobile phone apps to run on any compatible car touchscreen. This would, for example, allow you to run your phone's navigation and maps system directly on your car. The physical link is USB, which has the added bonus of keeping your phone charged.
Here's a walk-through in a Toyota: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGY0GJPKxBc
And here's the Nokia/Alpine PR video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdHBFsy930A&feature=player_embedded
With FIAT-Chysler and BMW on board, there's now a good mass behind the standard - Ford (US and EU) and Renault-Nissan are now the only major makers not involved.
Of course, this is as much down to OEM contracts than the will of the car companies: Alpine, who supply BMW, are already a CCC member, and have already launched a product using MirrorLink (ICS-X8 "App Link Station"), so it's not much of a surprise to see BMW joining in. FIAT-Chrysler are a more interesting sign-up: they use Delphi (a CCC member) for Dodge/Chrysler/FIAT models, but European FIAT/Alfa/Lancia vehicles all use Blaupunkt equipment. Blaupunkt are the one notable absence from the list of equipment makers, but as Blaupunkt's biggest customer, Volkswagen Group, is involved in the CCC, this may change...
There are already Bluetooth profiles that do all that, why do we need a new standard?
Admittedly many in car stereo's and hand's free things suck when it comes to integrating Bluetooth properly. However the BTX-2600 which is quite ancient now in my car has never had problems. Hooks up for hand free on the phone, and you can stream music all using Bluetooth. Any incoming call pauses and/or mutes any playback continuing when the call is over.
Now the built in stuff in my sisters Focus does none of that, which is just rubbish, but there is no need for a new standard.
I know GM doesn't enjoy a great reputation, but they've been steadily upping their game over the last decade. And as someone who has OnStar, they have some great information about what works and what doesn't in this area, so it's nice to see that they can bring that to the table.
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