Smartphones To Replace Your Car Dashboard

While it would be nice to have some minor integration with my car using something like Bluetooth I do not want a fully integrated system between car and phone as it will of course be proprietary and locked down tighter than anything you have ever seen. With a fully integrated system it won't take long before car's come with their own "Parental Controls". You could restrict any car function, music/radio content, phone functions, more stuff than I can imagine.

I don't even want to imagine what Automotive Bloatware would be like.

Think of the children legislators would jump on the opportunity to enact a ton of new laws to "protect" us

Its bad enough that cars with the "old" iPhone dock connector are now permanently obsolete, these new integrated systems will likely be the same.

Its going to be interesting to see what develops

In a sense we're already there. I use my Android to stream music, run GPS and display car diagnostics while driving (via bluetooth in OBDII port). I put in a fairly good stereo headunit not too long ago only to be disappointed that the majority of its software is tuned for Apple devices.

I've already seen DIY articles on mounting tablet's in-dash and hooking them to the existing car sound system so having a plug and play interface for cars and tablets wouldn't be a difficult task for someone experienced in such fabrications. Hell, having 3D printers so prevalent now will speed this up even more.

After all, a lot of the challenges car manufacturers need to overcome in the car computing world have already been solved by the likes of Apple and Google. Voice command, music, navigation, camera support, bluetooth, phone calls/SMS... its all already solved. Having a device that can then interface to an existing ecosystem just makes it even more appealing to the buyers who are able to be swayed simply for the gadgets.

First, I found the article to be weak, bordering on link bait. No real details, other than the mention of the electric scooter. "You can plug your phone in and...it'll do stuff." Additionally, no mention of the iPhone integration that Apple announced at WWDC.

That aside, I'll wait until it shakes out and actually comes in a car I buy. The cynic in me sees a system of "partners" so that I get NASCAR on my car dash just like I can on some carrier phones, with no way to remove it.

The optimist in me sees the LCD display on the dash as a satellite display for my phone (which is what I envision "iOS in the Car" to be). My Nissan Leaf (and other current cars) is so close to that now, what with Bluetooth music playback and call integration (Siri even works in the Leaf). Throw in a little AirPlay and we're good to go. Just leave out the proprietary bullshit and "partnerships", please.

Am I the only person in the galaxy that wants a car that simply gets me from point A to point B with reliability? The more gadgets and whiz-bangery built into the car, the more possible points of failure, which leads to a higher cost of maintenance. I'm still driving a 1995 Honda Civic with a stick shift, no power windows or power steering, and nearly 200k miles on it.

As much as I'd like to get a newer vehicle I'm not sure I want to buy something with a dock that will be obsolete within the first quarter of the car's life.

This cannot happen fast enough. I don't want to buy Yet Another Proprietary Lack-Luster Service such as the one available in my 2012 Ford Focus when I have a smart phone that would make Ford Prefect green with envy.

Let me Bluetooth (or even USB) into the car and pass through my Sync Voice Command button with Siri or Google Now.

Is that too much to ask?

Lose your phone and you can't drive home? :)

Some likely outcomes:

Product tieing (tying?). Lease a (megacorp) sedan for 5 years with a sprint iphone contract.

Serious issues outside urban areas. Poor Verizon coverage in rural area? Phone won't finish booting, no phone means no dashbaord, no dashboard means you can't keep your eyes off the road for 30 seconds wildly flicking thru screens trying to find the headlight control. So you're stranded until you can get towed to a place with better cell coverage.

Better NSA tracking, now you know for a fact the phone is connected to the car.

Most likely sleezy apps "partnered with the car mfgr for your convenience" taking non-car functions of your phone over. Oh, you'd like to have the "megacorp motors" app installed, well that contractually means your search engine will be Bing

Sleazy in general stuff like loan sharks who will now have apps to lock you out of both phone and car when you don't pay the car loan. Not only will you be unable to get to work to earn the money to pay the car loan, you'll be unable to even phone into the boss to tell him. This should increase profitable repo activity.

Rather than getting into accidents because of spending 45 seconds looking at the phone to text, people will start crashing because it will take 45 seconds of inattentiveness to turn on the windshield wipers.

Themeing and style... Sure the 2014 and 2013 model year MegaCorp Motors cars are basically identical, but the new phone animations with shinier even lighter blue icons are only available on a 2014 model. Why? Because we felt like it.

Rooting your phone now considered equivalent to possession of car theft/burglary tools.

I'm not really looking forward to it. It'll screw over the middle class and make rich people richer, so its culturally inevitable at least in the USA. But its still going to suck.