Cars With Smartphone Integration Soon Will Be Mainstream

In today’s fast-paced world we’re constantly online, whether we’re at home, in the office, or behind the wheel. Connectivity and mobility rule our lives, and smartphones have become an integral part of our daily routine. But while connectivity and mobility bring tons of possibilities, they also bring new problems. One of them is safely managing our communication.  

Infotainment systems in the latest car models connect with smart vehicle technologies such as ADAS systems, telematics devices, sensors, and smartphones. By integrating all this technology, infotainment systems improve car connectivity and make driving safer. The features and capabilities of infotainment systems vary across automakers, car models, and technology providers, but the tendency is clear — the in-vehicle infotainment market is estimated to reach $30.47 billion by 2022 according to MarketsAndMarkets. The problem is that online services available on our smartphones aren’t available for in-vehicle infotainment systems. How can software providers fill this gap, and what’s the next stage of evolution?   

In-vehicle smartphone integration: Are we getting the most out of it? 

The obvious solution, which some tech giants have offered to OEMs, is screen sharing. So-called projection technologies can cast applications from a smartphone to the in-car display. This way, you don’t need to hold your phone but can interact with apps using bigger icons, a more convenient touchscreen, and voice control.  

In the past, smartphones were connected to in-car systems via USB. But now, phones can wirelessly connect with systems powered by CarPlay and Android Auto. To take advantage of the big display in the car, drivers can just drop their phone on a wireless charger to listen to music and use mobile navigation via 4G while simultaneously charging the battery.  

Here are some of the top solutions for connecting smartphones and cars: 

• MirrorLink is natively supported by Android smartphones. The software is a standard of the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC). A wide range of car models support this platform, as do many smartphones and car audio systems. But the problem is that each new MirrorLink app and update has to go through CCC approval, which is why many software providers aren’t eager to work with this standard.  

• CarPlay is Apple’s solution for the automotive market and is usually available in cars under five years old. It’s overlaid on top of the manufacturer’s infotainment system and allows drivers to connect iOS devices in order to call, send messages, listen to music and podcasts, and use third-party navigation software. CarPlay also lets you talk to Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, if your car has voice recognition functionality. It’s even compatible with third-party apps like Amazon, WhatsApp, and Spotify.  

• Android Auto is Google’s proprietary standard, offering all the same features as CarPlay, from calls and messages to navigation and music. Google Assistant integration is available as well, and Android Auto works with third-party apps. At Google I/O 2019, Google announced a significant redesign of Android Auto with some shiny new features. It will run your favorite navigation app as soon as you start the car, resume playing your latest track, and provide more opportunities for transferring data between the vehicle and smartphone. Google also announced improvements to voice control scenarios.  

But here’s the thing: You can’t control vehicle settings via CarPlay. The smartphone doesn’t integrate with the vehicle and knows nothing about the car, just as the car knows nothing about the phone. Our lives are tightly connected to smartphones, and now the integration of phones and vehicles must take a step forward. Android Auto’s latest redesign includes remote vehicle control that will work with Hyundai’s Blue Link tech and Mercedes-Benz’s Mercedes me connect.

It’s the first step to bi-directional integration between the car and smartphone.  

Bi-directional integration is the next stage of the mobility revolution 

At the moment, we have limited one-directional data transfer — from the smartphone to the vehicle. But there’s so much more in the concept of a connected car. Wouldn’t it be convenient if your car recognized you, or your spouse, or an unknown driver who used your vehicle as part of a carsharing service? The solutions we have at the moment are good, but they hardly reflect the move toward connectivity and autonomous driving. You’re merely projecting your smartphone on a more convenient in-vehicle display. It may distract you less while driving, but that’s basically all it offers.   

OEMs should be ready to adopt more advanced tech that will cater to the needs of mobile and tech-savvy millennials and generation Z consumers. Here are just a few use cases of bi-directional data transfer.  

Use cases of bi-directional integration for the automotive market  

Model 1: The vehicle recognizes authorized drivers by their phones 

• Your phone can serve as a key to your car, allowing it to recognize you and immediately adjust the seat and wheel configuration, engine and gearbox settings, infotainment system, and other things. This is handy when you share a car with your spouse, children, neighbor, etc. With the rising interest in carsharing and limiting use of vehicles for ecological reasons, this is the perfect solution to optimize the use of a new car while making riding on convenient for you. 
• Your car can check the temperature outside and recommend you activate the heating/cooling system before you set out. 
• When you’re late for a meeting, the car can send a notification (e.g. to your colleagues or your child who’s waiting at school) with your current location and ETA.   
• Your car can propose changes to your usual route to complete errands on your to-do list — stopping by the supermarket, picking up the dry cleaning, etc. It can also recommend restaurants on the way home if it knows you’ve stayed late at the office. 
• Your car can send an alert telling you that due to an accident on the highway, you should start driving right now if you want to be on time for your date or your son’s football match. 

Model 2: The phone knows the vehicle  

• If you’re building a long route in Google Maps using your smartphone, it can recommend places to refuel or charge your car in advance by knowing that you can’t reach the next station with the remaining gas/charge. It can then calculate your ETA accordingly, adding time for fueling or charging.  
• When you’re in a new city, your smartphone can find a free parking spot and even remind you where you’ve parked.  
• You can view the surroundings of your parked vehicle using its exterior cameras at your smartphone. 
• Your phone can remind you about oil changes, putting on winter tires, replacing worn brake pads, etc. This way, driving will be safer and you’ll spend less on repairs. 
• Forgot to lock your car or close the window? No problem. Your smartphone can alert you about it immediately and lock the car and close the window for you. 
• If your teen accidentally hits the neighbor’s trash bin, you can find out about the damage instantly and a notification can be sent to your insurance company. 
• These are just a few examples of how the automotive market can leverage bi-directional car–smartphone integration. As a driver, wouldn’t you be happy if your car were a little smarter and a little more like the phone in your hand?  

To sum up

Today’s car–smartphone integration solutions ensure less distraction on the road and a better user experience behind the wheel. But the use cases of in-vehicle infotainment systems are still quite limited, and automakers are just starting to realize the promise of connected cars. Bi-directional integration and better data transfer between vehicles and smartphones is the next evolutionary step in automotive software. With mobility ruling our lives, new tech will soon change the way we see — and use — our cars. And in this new reality, software vendors will take the lead on the automotive stage.