The car is a great place to utilize all those wonderful apps sprawled out on your phone’s screen – assuming you do so safely .The problem with all those wonderful apps though, is that they don’t always translate well to your car’s infotainment system, and suffice it to say that sucks. It sucks big time.
A few automakers are trying to solve this incredibly frustrating conundrum, both Ford and GM released SDKs this week to the virtually unlimited pool of creativity that is the Internet. The idea being that placing these kits out there would foster creativity, allow developers to monetize their ideas, benefit OEMs like Ford and GM, but perhaps more importantly, benefit consumers with apps that integrate seamlessly with the car.
At CES this week, however, Hyundai introduced a different vision of the future. The Korean automaker showed off a number of prototypes of future infotainment solutions, the most compelling being a demo where your vehicle’s screen would mirror that of your smartphone. Simply connect your phone to your car and the vehicle’s display mirrors exactly what’s on your tiny screen.
We got some brief hands on time with the demo and found it worked surprisingly well. Opening an app on the head unit caused the app to open from the phone and vice versa. Not all apps will work, however, and Hyundai pointed out that certain apps that featured video, heavy amounts of text, or games would be automatically blocked.
The unit’s display was cabled to a Samsung Galaxy S3, but Hyundai reps say it will work with other operating systems and works via Bluetooth, too.
Hyundai’s prototype being … well, a prototype means we can’t say when, or if, we’ll see the technology make its way to production any time soon, but we’re guessing we will.
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