Connected Driving

A week ago I announced the availability of the Android Car Infotaiment System. Of course this system is connected, meaning it can use a lot of real - time information available on the Internet, on line. I have to admit I always tried to imagine this, but despite that, the real life experience has been  very surprising.

A few snapshots worth sharing:

Entering the navigation target. Usually, I mean before, I had to know the exact address to enter into the navigation system. Country, City, Zip code, street and number. Typing typing and typing. It is different now with Android. Launch the "Navigation" APP and speak. Just speak to it. And the beauty is, you actually do not have to speak the address. A company name or a hotel name and a city is enough. Beacause the process is two - step. First it sends the sound wave to Google to be translated to text, and then (all behind the scene) this text is fed into the search engine, looking for an address. You don't even have have to say "Siri". So "Hilton Garden Inn" is enough. It knows where you are, so the nearest match will be set as your destination. Wow!

And now, as we get into the Predictive Mobile Navigation, I experience the reality I was describing back in 2010 () and in 2008. We are not fully there yet (as the computers do not take into account where the drivers PLAN to go, only where they are actually going at the moment), but alternate route selection based on real time traffic works. And this is perfect, especially when navigating the city in the rush hour. I know the routes, so I would not have to use the navigation computer at all. But being able to actually see the traffic around the city is like having the "spies" option in the Age Of Empires game. The entire map is revealed and you have a bird's eye view on the routes around you and towards the chosen destination. And it gives you times based on the actual traffic. Every taxi cab should have this. I have been using this feature for the last couple of days and it really makes route selection easier. Plus the arrival estimates are much more accurate. Less stress, more predictability and fun.

Then there are traffic shortcuts on the home screen. This is nice too. You may place several "traffic" widgets on a home screen, each representing one of your popular destinations (like home, work, school, shopping center, railway station...). And based on where you are they show estimated time in minutes. Information in a nutshell. Green - no traffic. Yellow - a little crowded. Red - jam. When clicked they open a green - yellow - red colored map. Lovely.

Finally there is the weather widget with forecast. A nice addition, again available thanks to the online connection of the car.

I also added Shazam Encore to the set, so whenever the radio plays something nice I like but don't know, I can touch the icon and have the song identified.

Deliberately, I have not included email synchronization on this device. I am afraid it would be too tempting and too distracting. After all you have to be focused on the road while driving. But one day Android will be offered as standard in cars and the system will have to take care of not distracting the driver too much. Or may be there already is a system API restricting certain applications from popping up on screen when the device is in motion?