Delphi (continued)

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(continued from “Delphi Producing a Ford Sync Rival”)

The company believes it’s in a strong position to take on the task because of guidelines it developed since it launched the first factory-installed radio in 1936 in a Cadillac. “We have standards on the size of text for a display, on how deep menus can go, on how long it typically takes to glance off the road down to the minute and back again. We try to keep those glances down to less than 2 seconds; total time on task less than 15 seconds.

There’s even talk of using radar sensors around the car to determine the driving conditions and to know when certain apps are appropriate.

“As a result of these radar sensors and vision systems we put on the vehicle, the vehicle itself knows what’s around the vehicle, and it knows when the driving task becomes very demanding of the driver,” Schumacher told the Kokomo Tribune.

When the car is parked, Delphi’s radio gives you the full smartphone “desktop” on the dashboard screen. When you start to drive, then the apps will be limited or modified.

The radio will be cheaper than current OEM navigation systems, Schumacher told us, because navigation resides on the phone and you don’t need a DVD player or CD changer. The system will have an LCD touch screen, 32-bit microprocessor, Bluetooth and WiFi. It’s up to the car maker to determine whether to forgo the CD player entirely.

He adds, “I tell people the world changed about a year ago when Google announced they would make their Google Maps available for free. Suddenly, you have one of the world’s best navigation features bundled up with up-to-the-minute map data, up-to-the-minute traffic information, up-to-the-minute road construction, bundled with satellite views and street views. No OEM system in the world provides a data base like that… And this is all free on an Android phone. You can’t beat that. And that’s what customers want.”

Which phones will work with the radio depends on agreements reached with the phone makers. Delphi is hoping that a proposed standard called Terminal Mode will take effect, creating an open platform to easily connect any smartphone to a car radio. Supporters of Terminal Mode so far include Nokia, Clarion, Alpine, Harman and many European car makers.

Note: Terminal Mode is not an operating system like Android. So you could have an Android car radio or Delphi connecting radio using Terminal Mode.

Source: CEoutlook and the Kokomo Tribune

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