With the Consumer Electronics Show coming to Las Vegas again this year we are starting to take a look at a few Android related items we can expect to see there. One of the fights going on right now between Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS is the battle between them 
both trying to get into your cars. Both are very large and competitive companies trying to get into automotive platforms for various manufacturers. This would not only be a huge win for either company but also a huge advancement for the automotive industry and opportunity for developers to get into yet another field of development.
Apple has already mentioned their in-car iOS and Google plans to respond with their own rollout in just a few weeks at the CES 2014. Google’s intention is to create a standard for all vehicles within their Android OS to create a level playing field with much easier platforms for developers. The goal is to create a larger user base as well as more apps for users in-car experience.
No manufacturer has been very successful at their own in-car app experience as well as apps having to be developed differently for each car manufacturer. No developer wants to have to create their app for every single brand. Can you imagine writing something for BMW and then having to start over with only the idea to Honda and then again 30 more times to catch everyone? While their aren’t many details on in-car app standards their has been a lot of hype over the idea over in-vehicle apps going digital among automotive stakeholders.
While Apple has already built quite a large amount of hype Google plans to use Miracast (a peer-to-peer wireless screen casting technology) by WiFi Direct (which is a standard for those who don’t know). What this would do is screencast your Android devices screen onto the in-car infotainment screen. This would require a WiFi signal of some sort to be built within the car although not a large ask for an open-source solution.
Currently the large discussion around Google’s Android being the solution is the amount of fragmentation within the OS. This being said they would likely support only newer devices running at least Jelly Bean from what we have seen so far. Apple is the leader in the discussion right now but if Google can answer the fragmentation and Wifi questions well enough they could be in the fight for in-car applications.
We would be glass to hear your input on the whole argument as well as thoughts you have on the best solution for in-car experiences. Otherwise we will see you at Google’s announcement at CES in just less than a week.