THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL
TECHNOLOGY
Consumer Electronics Show to Spotlight In-Car Digital
Race
By
NEAL E. BOUDETTE and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
Dec. 29, 2013 5:58 p.m. ET
Apple's iPhone 5 demonstrates Pandora's integrated
entertainment system inside a Honda Accord.Bloomberg
Technology giants Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are
about to expand their battle for digital supremacy to a new front: the
automobile.
Next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,
Google and German auto maker Audi AG plan to announce that they
are working together to develop in-car entertainment and information systems
that are based on Google's Android software, people familiar with the matter
said.
Google and Apple are about to expand their battle for
digital supremacy to a new front: the automobile. Neil Boudette reports. Photo:
Getty Images.
They also plan to disclose collaborative efforts with other
automotive and tech companies, including chip maker Nvidia Corp. ,
to establish Android as an important technology for future vehicles, these
people said. The aim is to allow drivers and passengers to access music,
navigation, apps and services that are similar to those widely available now on
Android-powered smartphones, these people added.
The coming announcements signal Google's response to an
initiative launched last June by Apple to integrate iPhones and other devices
running its iOS operating system with car makers' dashboard control panels.
Apple so far has the support of BMW AG , Daimler AG 's
Mercedes-Benz division, General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co.
Apple and Google already compete fiercely in an array of
digital businesses, ranging from smartphones and tablet computers to mobile
apps and Web browsers. With 80 million new cars and light trucks sold each
year, automobiles represent a significant new opportunity for Internet-based
software and services.
"The car is becoming the ultimate mobile device,"
said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at the research firm Gartner Inc. who
specializes in advanced in-car electronics. "Apple and Google see that and
are trying to line up allies to bring their technology into the vehicle."
The annual event known as CES has in recent years become an
important showcase for advances in automotive electronics, including the kind
of autonomous driving technologies that Google has helped pioneer.
Besides its partnership with the Internet company, Audi is
expected to demonstrate new technologies that allow cars to drive themselves in
certain situations and for short periods, and to lay out a timetable to offer
them on new models due to arrive over the next four or five years, people
familiar with the matter said.
A year ago, Audi used the trade show to demonstrate a car
that could navigate through a parking garage and pull into a parking space without
a driver at the wheel.
Ford Motor Co. is expected to demonstrate an
autonomous vehicle it has developed at CES next week. BMW, based in Germany,
has also invited reporters to a demonstration of related technology.
The developments, some of which were discussed in an article
in electronics trade publication EE Times earlier this month, come as car
makers keep adding more computer chips to their new models. Some, such as GM
and Audi, have announced plans to equip cars with fourth-generation cellular
chips to connect to the Web without requiring a smartphone. GM, for example,
plans to equip almost all of the company's 2015 models with the technology to
provide a constant wireless broadband connection, said Phil Abram, the auto
maker's chief technology officer, during a recent conference call with
analysts.
Car makers also are adding powerful processors based on
technology that ARM Holdings PLC of Britain licenses to smartphone
chip makers. Such processors require operating systems, and Google's free
Android software is an emerging option.
"We are starting to see an uptick of Android use in car
makers, starting in Asia and working its way across the world," said
Rajeev Kumar, a world-wide director of business development for Freescale
Semiconductor Inc., a large supplier of chips used in cars.
As they approach the auto market, technology providers are
compelled to create offerings that don't require drivers to take their eyes off
the road or their hands off the steering wheel. Apple has some key technology
in that field.
The Silicon Valley company's voice-based Siri technology,
for example, can read out incoming text messages and emails, and let the driver
dictate a reply.
Honda, based in Japan, is now starting to roll out new
models that allow the driver to activate Siri from a button on the steering
wheel and to talk to Siri using the car's hands-free audio system. That enables
a driver to use Siri to read out newly arrived email or text messages, check
weather, set the navigation system or enter appointments on the iPhone's
calendar—all while keeping both hands on the wheel.
With its "iOS in the Car" initiative announced
last June, Apple hopes to turn the iPhone into a kind of brain for operating
dashboard electronics, using the car's built-in display to interact with
services such as maps and traffic information.
Apple has said that it expects a dozen car brands to adopt
the technology in 2014. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment for this
article.
Google and the company's partners, by contrast, hope to have
Android and related applications running on the car's own built-in hardware,
people familiar with the matter said. The company has provided its map
technology to a range of auto makers since 2006, including Audi, Toyota
Motor Corp. of Japan and Tesla Motors Inc. A spokesman
for Google said that it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.
Filip Brabec, Audi's head of product strategy, declined to
discuss the auto maker's coming announcements at CES. But he acknowledged that
future vehicles will need computer operating systems to support the kind of
apps and functions that consumers want to access while driving.
"Cars are becoming more complex, and with the computing
power that is going into vehicles, you need that type of system in the
car," he said.
The increased focus on in-car electronics underscores a
significant challenge for auto makers. Where earlier buyers based purchase
decisions on characteristics such as horsepower or fuel economy, consumers now
have grown up with the Web and mobile devices and expect to remain connected
while on the go.
"When they get to the dealership, the first thing they
may ask is what does this thing do and point to the dashboard," said
Charles Koch, a manager of new-business development at Honda's U.S. unit.
Ford attributes rising sales in the U.S. in part to the
voice-activated Sync system it started offering in 2007, developed with help
from Microsoft Corp. The complex electronics has at times become
a double-edged sword, however; a follow-up version called MyFord has proved
confusing to some customers, hurting Ford's scores in some automotive-quality
studies.
The push toward smarter cars, meanwhile, has caused big-name
chip makers such as Intel Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. to
step up efforts to penetrate the car business. Rival Nvidia says 4.5 million
cars on the road are already equipped with its processors, and predicts an
additional 25 million cars in four or five years will be using its technology.
"Right now, we are just scratching the surface,"
said Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director for automotive applications.
—Don Clark contributed to this article.
Write to Neal E. Boudette at neal.boudette@wsj.com and
Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com
Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights
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