Automaker presence at CES was huge this year. All the big players showed off the latest in technology having to do with cars. Wireless charging, cloud based services and even self-driving cars became highlights and are continuing to draw attention at the North American Auto Show in Detroit this week. Yet the dilemma with cars is how to keep the technology fresh. If you have a 10 year old car odds are high that much of the technology in it is out of date (like the cassette player in the 2002 I just sold!).
Ford and General Motors recently announced programs that may enable in-car technology to keep up with other technologies in our lives. Both auto behemoths kicked off programs that will open their technology designs to developers. Sort of a semi-open platform approach. Thought is that developers can help create applications to help use the assets the car has while keeping up with needs of the owner. Imagine being able to program radio button 1 to accept voice commands about which playlist to use from your synced smartphone. Or perhaps you can’t travel long without a pit stop. Maybe you should program the car to pull up the nearest restrooms when you utter the term ‘bathroom.’ It would all be possible, and totally dependent on what technologies – perhaps developed for phones or computers – may be popular. The key is the ability to change the use of the cars buttons and features as the technology changes. Gone would be the days of outdated features. You car could meet your technology needs and keep your eyes on the road. We shall see how Ford and GM decide to implement the program, but here’s to hoping that someday our cars meet our technology needs as much as our phones do now.
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