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The next groundbreaking mobile device: your car

The next groundbreaking mobile device: your car

Every January, car companies flaunt their stuff at the Detroit auto show, the most important annual automotive event in the world. So why are auto executives veering out of their lane and crashing the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week?

The answer is beginning to appear in showrooms all across America. The market for smartphones and other digital devices is maturing in the United States, but the digital revolution is just now starting to filter into automobiles. That represents a big new source of profits for automakers as well as traditional digital purveyors such as Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL). “The ecosystem the car operates in was established in the 1880s,” says Phil Abrams, chief infotainment officer for General Motors (GM). “The automobile is one of the last bastions of unconnectivity.”

Automakers are late to the digital party because cars are typically designed years in advance, which makes it difficult to commit to electronic standards that can change every few months. There’s plenty of software under the hood of a typical car, but it’s usually invisible to the driver. Dashboard controls, by contrast, are often the main way drivers interact with their vehicles, and automakers are extremely reluctant to risk alienating buyers with novel or unfamiliar systems that are permanent features of the car. Concerns about driver distraction have further slowed the pace at which apps, swipe technology, Internet access and other staples of the digital era have migrated from phones to cars.

The coming of connected cars

But the stage is finally set for an explosion of new connectivity in vehicles, which is why a record 10 automakers will be showing off their wares at CES this week, with the CEOs of Mercedes-Benz and Ford (F) giving keynote speeches touting their offerings. And while the press at CES is likely to focus on futuristic eventualities such as self-driving cars that can drop you off at the mall and park themselves, many useful (and some pointless) digital features are showing up on new cars today, forcing car buyers to decide just how connected they want to be on the road.

GM, for instance, is equipping nearly every 2015 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC model with a 4G LTE connection that turns the car into a traveling wi-fi hotspot. That allows anybody in the car with a phone, tablet, laptop or smartwatch to access the Internet through the vehicle as they would any other wi-fi network. So you can surf the Web, stream videos and manage your email more reliably than through an ordinary cellular connection. More appealing than that may be features such as the ability to use an app on your phone to unlock the car (if you lose your keys or lock them inside) or flash the lights in a crowded parking lot—both enabled by the LTE connection.

The cellular connection also lets GM send owners alerts when a tire runs low on air or other key systems monitored by diagnostic software need attention. Such remote diagnostics will rapidly become more common. Tesla (TSLA) can even fix some vehicle problems remotely by beaming software updates to the car, eliminating the need for a visit to the shop. Other services coming this year from GM include instant coupons valid at hotels and restaurants you happen to be passing and possible insurance discounts for drivers who allow tracking software to monitor their driving habits, and earn good marks.

Luxury makes such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Lexus offer similar programs at prices that range from free on some models to $10 or $20 per month after a trial period of six months or more. Features vary but typically include conveniences such as the ability to start your car remotely using a smartphone app (to heat it up in winter or cool it off in summer), mile-by-mile monitoring if you loan your car to somebody, and concierge services that help you find a hotel, restaurant or parking garage. Most automakers are rolling out new types of connected safety features, like automatic collision notification, which transmits an alert that can help emergency workers arrive more quickly if on-board sensors determine that a crash has occurred.

Communication breakdown

Anybody shopping for a smart(er) car should prepare for a bit of confusion and aggravation. Integrating so many features into an automobile tends to create an array of menus that might be easily navigable on a stationary computer but can be tedious and even dangerous when you’re toggling between menus at 60 miles an hour. Voice-activated systems were once seen as a way to help drivers navigate dashboard options while staying focused on the road—except computers still don’t completely understand conversational English and most drivers don’t speak computerese, leading to inevitable spoken snafus. Ford, Infiniti and other makes have suffered dings in their quality ratings mainly because of overcomplicated infotainment systems (which they insist they’ve fixed).

Apple and Google are eager to install specialized versions of Android and iOS in cars, bringing the ease of proven smartphone operating systems to the dashboard. Automakers are lukewarm on the idea. On one hand, they want to make their own customers comfortable with new technology, and using a familiar interface in the cabin would help. But car companies are also unlikely to give third-party suppliers such a prominent and visible role in the car, especially because they often differentiate themselves with unique elements of the cabin experience. Automakers also want to keep data on their customers to themselves instead of letting a supplier grab it. So the shadow of Apple and Google will be present in the car of the future, but the logos may not.

Self-driving cars will ultimately rely upon the kind of data that can only come from cars connected to the Internet—and each other—through digital links. To operate itself, a car must know what’s all around it, in real time and precise detail. So the evolutionary changes showing up in cars today will pave the way for the revolutionary changes that will take place when the car itself is the driver. Until then, however, there may be many more innovations making cars more like phones, and less like the old-fashioned carriages of the 19th (and 20th) century.

Rick Newman’s latest book is Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.

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