12V Role Reversal: Car Radio Slave to iPad

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Here’s a reversal.  You may soon control your General Motors car radio from an iPad.   A swipe or touch on the tablet lets you control 90 percent of the radio functions plus the AC and heat.

Findlay CustomsMaybe you are a 12 volt shop that wants to give a cool demo for the customer in the back.    Or maybe you have a chauffeur, or you own a limo and you want to let the customers in the back control the radio in the front.

That’s what Findlay Customs of Henderson, Nevada set out to achieve for its customers and it now plans to market a kit and software.

The company hired a programming engineer and developed a software app and user interface for the system. There’s also a black box that plugs into the GM bus.  Then there’s a hard wired connection to iPads mounted in the headrests.

A DVD playing on the car radio can now be viewed and controlled on the iPad in the headrest.  The user can also control volume, play, fast forward and rewind. He can change channels on the radio  and satellite radio and view XM programming.

Findlay CustomsJoe Monaco, GM of Findlay says the shop will offer more information on marketing a complete solution in a few weeks, including a video of the device in action.

The product is shown above in a Cadillac Escalade.

Finlay Customs (left) is a leading custom auto shop which performs about 5,000 customizations a year.  It’s has full in-house fabrication, paint, window tinting and audio capability in its 13,000 square foot shop.

Source: CEoutlook

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