Car makers,
partnered with Google and chip-maker Nvidia, have taken over much of the gadget
expo to offer previews of vehicles connected to smartphones and mobile
computing tech
theguardian.com,
Rory Carroll in Las Vegas, Thursday 9 January 2014
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| BMW displays its self-assisted car during CES 2014 in Las Vegas. Photograph: Joe Klamar /AFP /Getty Images |
If you were
a fan of Knight Rider and dreamed of a car that could talk, drive itself and
save you from peril, hold tight: it's coming.
It does not
exactly resemble Kitt, the Pontiac Firebird with a silky voice, and David
Hasselhoff is not behind the wheel, but the spirit of the 1980s TV series
pervades this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Car makers
have taken over much of the world's biggest gadget expo to offer sneak previews
of vehicles connected to smartphones and mobile computing technologies.
Google and
chip-maker Nvidia announced an alliance with GM, Honda, Audi, Hyundai to
install cutting-edge Android technology into cars, a response to Apple's
vigorous promotion of its own iOS car technology.
“We're
getting to the point where the car is an extension of you and really looks out
for you,” said Thilo Koslowski, an automotive analyst at Gartner. “The car is
ideally suited for this, more so than your phone or a tablet or another
computing device.”
A vehicle
was a controlled environment with space for multiple sensors, creating a unique
platform to satisfy and anticipate needs and desires, he said.
“I can
foresee that cars will become self-aware where they can really understand what
is happening inside and outside. That together will create a self-aware vehicle
that can look out for you, that can control the information and focus on
providing the right information at the right times to protect you, inform you
and entertain you.” Kitt was getting closer, said Koslowski.
In Knight
Rider, conceived by producer Glen Larson as “the Lone Ranger with a car",
Hasselhoff's character fights crime from the seat of a sleek black machine
imbued with artificial intelligence, courtesy of a do-gooder billionaire. (Kitt
was an acronym for Knight Industries Two Thousand).
The models
being touted at CES – nine manufacturers have filled 140,000 sq ft of
exhibition space, a quarter up from last year – are not designed to save you
from villains with mullets so much as your environment.
A broken
traffic light snarling early morning traffic? Your car, connected to your phone
and household devices, may wake you up early to warn you and to suggest an
alternative route. Temperatures dropping below freezing? It will ping you a
message suggesting you start the engine, remotely of course, before your
scheduled departure.
Once
self-driving cars become legal – widely deemed a matter of when, not if – they
will also be able to save you from yourself, your possibly texting, babbling,
eating, boozing, distracted self.
“Driverless
cars? It's coming,” said Barry Ratzlaff, director of customer connect at
Hyundai Motor Company. “This” – he indicated a dashboard glowing with an 8.5in
screen – “is going to become standard. All cars will be connected.”
We were
seated in a Hyundai prototype with a built-in modem due for unveiling at next
week's Detroit auto show. Gawkers on the expo floor peered into the tinted
windows, trying in vain to see in.
“The last
journalist I had in here asked to go to Hooters,” grinned Ratzlaff. “How about
…” his voice adjusted for voice recognition software – “1807 Harvey Court,
Colby, Kansas”.
The Google
Places software pinpointed the location and suggested a route.
Ratzlaff
gave another command. “Ethiopian food.” A list of five Ethiopian restaurants
within a 2.1-mile radius appeared on the screen.
Hyundai
will develop cars compatible with both the Android and iOS eco-systems to give
consumers a choice, he said. It was unclear if it would do the same for
Microsoft. “The jury's still out. We don't know if it'll grow enough.”
It remains
to be seen whether an industry standard for connected cars and in-vehicle apps
evolves.
Meantime
even premium manufacturers are racing to collaborate with technology companies.
Earlier this week, Audi's chairman Rupert Stadler said the company would
install 4G high-speed broadband into its vehicles.
He showed
off a 10.2-inch Android tablet, called the Mobile Audi Smart Display, which
connects with wifi. Passengers can use it to control the car's infotainment
system. It is designed to withstand crashes and extreme temperatures.
You can control BMW's new i3 electric car with Samsung's Galaxy Gear
smartwatch and Bluetooth wireless technology.
Ford
announced two new apps for its Sync AppLink system. One helps drivers access
Parkopedia's 28m listed parking spots to search the nearest, cheapest options.
The other
lets registered users order a Domino's pizza using voice-recognition software
for either pickup or delivery. “Save your information in your Pizza Profile and
it'll be sent to your house without even the push of a button, which strikes us
as awesome a use of technology as we've ever seen,” gushed Autoblog.
In the wake
of Her, a film set in the near future about a man who falls in love with the
voice of his phone's operating system, it would be little surprise if Hollywood
rebooted Knight Rider, this time with a female voice.
“A lot of
people already have personal relationships with their automobiles and with this
technology … the car will become an extension, a companion,” said Koslowski.
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