The past, present, and future of in-car infotainment

[ZLoth]

Funny, I've been working on a speech for an advanced Toastmasters group on this topic, and this pops up. From Ars Technica:

The past, present, and future of in-car infotainment

For decades, car infotainment meant just a radio. Then tape decks began appearing, eventually being joined by CD players. Now, Tape decks have disappeared as a factory option (the last car to come with a tape player was sold in 2010), and the CD is entering a slow but inexorable decline. They're being replaced by smartphones and streaming media. Compared to even a few years ago, new cars are far more connected to the outside world. It's a trend that's only going to continue. The always-updating consumer electronics industry and the rapid rise of the smartphone have combined to condition consumers to an incredibly rapid pace of development. People expect new devices every couple of years that are faster and more powerful, and they're bringing those expectations out of the Apple or Android or Microsoft store and into the car dealership. As we covered recently, this has created a new set of challenges and opportunities for the automakers. For a range of reasons, car companies simply have to work with product development cycles that are three to five times longer than the tech industry. This lag is most visible to end users in the context of infotainment systems, which have certainly come a long way from AM radios and road atlases.

In some regards, our cars and trucks are becoming smartphone peripherals. In the same way that parents decry their children (even their middle-aged adult children) using smartphones at the dinner table, many show no desire to give up the constant stream of social media or streamed content just because they're driving. Of course, having one's face buried in a phone is somewhat more dangerous when in control of thousands of pounds of vehicle. Car-appropriate interfaces are a big focus of the car industry these days.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[nexus73]

45 RPM record players were an option in the Fifties.  You didn't want to drive on bumpy roads though...LOL!

Rick

[PHLBOS]

45 RPM record players were an option in the Fifties.  You didn't want to drive on bumpy roads though...LOL!

Rick

DeSoto offered such back then.  From what others, those that were actually alive & coherent back then, told me that turntable was only supposed to be used while the car was parked.