We had the opportunity to speak with Ford's Senior Manager of tech and business development and connected services in Asia Pacific about how in-car infotainment systems are getting smarter and more intuitive.
Cars are gradually getting smarter, but it's still been a slow process. The in-car infotainment center is gaining importance inside cars and, from providing navigation routes to information about the nearest coffee shop, we are seeing a rise in smart consoles for your automobile. David Huang, Ford's Senior Manager of tech and business development and connected services in Asia Pacific, spoke to us about how Ford is working on bringing a smart in-car consoles and what are its prospects.
Ques. What is AppLink?
Ans. Ford realized that consumers are using their smartphones everywhere be it messaging, social networking, videos and a number of other services. As a consumer you want to continue using these while you are driving and it has become a natural demand. We looked at all the issues, problems and the demands and came up with AppLink which is a technology that links the smartphone application to the vehicle. Essentially the app is still running on the smartphone but user interaction is done through the vehicle. So as a driver you don't have to use the handset, making the experience safer while still being connected to the world.
Ques. What does AppLink offer other than connecting your smartphone?
Ans. AppLink also opens up vehicle data, and allows third party applications to extract data about the car itself, in a manner that is well controlled and user privacy is respected. Users are explicitly notified when an app is requesting vehicle data.
Ques. What is your opinion on the adoption of smart in-car infotainment systems in the South Asian region? Do you think its far behind when compared to Europe or America?
Ans. I don't think that Asian countries are far behind in adoption. I think the vehicle segments are totally different, US has a lot of SUVs and pickups and Europe has smaller cars and people in China prefer big cars. In India its more of compact cars, thus putting a large system in a small car is not practical, it obviously goes with the vehicle. But the technology does not say that it can only work in big cars or expensive cars, it can work in all cars and it is just a matter of the positioning for each market.
Ques. What do you think is missing when one looks at smart infotainment centers for automobiles in a country like India?
Ans. I think one major thing that is missing is an open standard, and Ford is on its way to promote that idea. We had announced that AppLink is open-source, last year, and open to all developers. Open-standards are important as they promote industry wide standards and today you cannot develop only for Android Auto or Apple Car Play. So, we are providing a solution for developers via the Smart Device Link. We hope that other OEMs and car makers will adopt this in the future.
Ques. How many apps are currently supported by Ford's AppLink system?
Ans. We have bout 50-60 apps in the United States, in Asia Pacific we have close to 30, and in India we only have two, MapMyIndia and ESPN CricInfo, but we're working on increasing that number. We are working on something that will allow your smartphone navigation systems and maps to directly display on the in-car system.
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