USER INTERFACES FOR TRANSPORTATION Gina Piscitelli

THE PAST 10 YEARS  How phones looked 10 years ago  Mobile, but not smart at all  Remember the Razr?  How automobile dashboards looked 10 years ago  Cassette decks, AM/FM dials, hardly any digital display at all  CD player if you were lucky er_pacifica_awd/photo_01.html

WHERE ARE WE HEADED NOW?  Mobile app is going, well... Mobile  Cars have built in “tablets” that do a lot more than standard  Developers are being welcomed in the automobile industry  Could this be a new niche in web development?  What does this mean for us web developers?

FORD SYNC APPLINK (APP BUILT FOR DASHBOARD INTERFACE)

AN INTRO TO APPLINK  Introduced in 2007  Connected/controlled phones and digital music players  January first open mobile app developer program for automobiles  Lets mobile app developers create content for use in-car  Could be part marketing ploy, part industry innovation?

"We’re allowing developers to directly interface with our vehicles to create apps that will continuously personalize the driving experience,” -JOHN ELLIS, FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIST

HOW AN APPLINK APP IS MADE Developers select a category News and Information Music and Entertainment Navigation and Location Build app & submit for review Review is conducted by Ford engineers to ensure it works properly Engineers test for suitability in use in the vehicle Ford works with developer to provide a distribution license App is submitted to the relevant app marketplace Much like the apps in Apple’s App store, a review is done before being made public. However, I’m sure there are ways to bypass this (like how jailbreaking a phone is done)

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY “Ford's solution is a good one […] providing a simple interface for apps to stream audio through the car and receive voice commands from it. Apps can even pull in some information from car data like location and speed” -Cnet.com correspondent Tim Stevens  Not the be-all-end-all solution to automobile app interfaces, but it’s close  Some companies are taking it a step further…

APPLE CARPLAY (DASHBOARD MIRRORING INTERFACE)

APPLE CARPLAY  Recently debuted at the Geneva auto show  Apps are shown on “infotainment” system in the dash  Only native & 3rd party apps are supported  Third party apps are strictly music right now  In the future, wouldn’t it be nice to see apps like Waze supported?  Only compatible with the newest iOS mobile device

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY “Rather than a revolution in dashboard infotainment, what I saw in CarPlay was an evolution of iOS music library integration in cars.” - Cnet correspondent Wayne Cunningham  Is this better or worse than strictly in-dash user interfaces?  More versatile, yes  Less ‘experimentation’ though  How does Apple’s inability to support more 3rd party apps hurt them?

TESLA S (DASHBOARD STANDALONE INTERFACE)

INSIDE THE TESLA S  17” touchscreen “infotainment” center  Linux (open source) standard  Has many features, such as:  HD, satellite, & internet radio  Bluetooth connectivity to mobile phones  Google maps  Full web browser  Advanced car controls  “Homelink” (fancy garage door opener based on GPS position) change-your-dashboard.html

APP DEVELOPMENT ON THE TESLA S: “hopes to open the EV's infotainment system to third-party apps by the end of 2014.” No third party app support yet, but Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motos says he “hopes to open the EV's infotainment system to third-party apps by the end of 2014.” tesla

CONS FOR THIS KIND OF ‘MOBILE APP’ DEVELOPMENT:  Rapid upgrades in the smartphone industry is not always the case for transportation tech  The average person doesn’t upgrade their car as often as they do their phone  Automobile touch interfaces pose a danger to the road  Should we even bother learning and implementing these UI’s if they’re just going to be outlawed?  How does the dashboard tie into “using phones while on the road?” launches-don%E2%80%99t-text-and-drive- campaign/

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT  What kind of security issues does a third-party app pose when used in one’s transportation?  How is developing for an automobile different?  What factors could be used to the developer’s benefit?  What factors could be hard to work with?  How can we apply our skills we are learning now to that technology?  Will new technology completely replace the old, or will we adapt?

SOURCES    touchscreen-based-upgradable-ux touchscreen-based-upgradable-ux     with-carplay/ with-carplay/   01.html 01.html  