Smart Car Market

Data from your smart car can be displayed on your smart watch if you drive an i3 and wear a Galaxy Gear.
Data from your smart car can be displayed on your smart watch if you drive an i3 and wear a Galaxy Gear.

 

Google, Apple, and Samsung Electronics are shifting the focus of their competition to the smart car industry. The Big Three IT companies and automakers unveiled a series of innovative smart car technologies at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014. 

For example, Samsung Electronics demonstrated control of its i3 electric vehicle using a Galaxy Gear application it developed in conjunction with BMW. The application shows current battery status, required charging time, odometer data, etc. Also, it is capable of controlling the in-vehicle temperature and transmitting data stored on a mobile device to the navigation system in the car through voice recognition. Samsung Electronics has recently completed patent applications both in Korea and the United States for its technologies associated with electronics mounted on engines and motors, tires, and the like. 

Google is even more aggressive. It has already established the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) with Nvidia, Hyundai Motor Company, Audi, GM and Honda. Audi is exhibiting Android-based in-car infotainment systems at the CES 2014. 

An Android tablet built into a car's dashboard can display all the utility of today's Internet while on the go.

It is Apple in fact that triggered the smart car race. It unveiled its iOS in the Car strategy back in June last year, combining the iPhone with dashboards, and has partnered with 12 carmakers across the world, including Mercedes Benz. The key concept of the strategy is to link the iPhone to in-vehicle infotainment systems so that various applications on the phone can be used in the car as well. Apple’s senior vice president Eddy Cue said that all 12 companies will complete the integration process before the end of this year. 

An iOS device integrated to work with your car can play music, give directions, and do all the other things that your iOS apps can do.

Experts are pointing out that Apple is taking the lead in the race when it comes to advanced preparation and the number of business partners, although Apple does not participate in this year’s CES. The competition among Google, Apple, and Samsung is likely to heat up over time with the boundary between the electronics and automobile industries blurring more and more.

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