Android Auto or Apple CarPlay smartphone integration

Hello,

Just came back from looking at a GMC Sierra and noticed that in the options for infotainment that it says "Android Auto" or "Apple CarPlay"......correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that Blackberry was the first to home plate with this? I know qnx is probably a part of CarPlay by Apple. But I thought Blackberry would get some recognition? I've never heard of Android Auto until today. Did Blackberry miss out on this opportunity? Because other than the new Fords I haven't heard of any infotainment regarding QNX or Blackberry.

QNX is in the background - but embedded systems are not the STAR of the show, so it doesn't get top billing or top pay.

QNX does make their own infotainment system... but other than a few concept cars I don't know of a manufacture that is using it. Usually an OEM want as BRAND... either their own, or one that would be a value added product like an Apple Play or Android CarPlay.

I guess the real question is how well doe BB10 play with these? I assume you don't have to have an iPhone or an Android Device for basic function?

I think there is a lot of confusion with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. From what I understand these are only interfaces that connect with your respective smartphone, but only will become available if you connect your phone to the infotainment system.

QNX has its systems in a lot of cars as well (ford) where it is the main system, but I think some cars have the option to use CarPlay and it's an app on the QNX system.

Can someone explain this better than me?

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by blackberrybrad

I think there is a lot of confusion with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. From what I understand these are only interfaces that connect with your respective smartphone, but only will become available if you connect your phone to the infotainment system.

QNX has its systems in a lot of cars as well (ford) where it is the main system, but I think some cars have the option to use CarPlay and it's an app on the QNX system.

Can someone explain this better than me?

Posted via CB10

QNX base OS.

Infotainment System - in Ford's case their SYNC3 is the user interface for most features.

CarPlay and Auto are device interfaces with compatible smartphones that will display select information and apps.


The money goes to the last to players....

In terms of what runs on top of QNX think of how Blend works. Thats the closest example of what BB10 users experience and what Carplay and Android Auto users experience when they connect a device with a car that Carplay/Auto compatible.

QNX provides the touchscreen and speakers. The apps run on the smartphone including GPS nav/map/traffic, connectivity, retail apps, media subscription, messaging, cell phone calls, language recognition, calendar etc. In this mode, QNX is a dumb terminal for a smartphone app. That's why car companies are not that crazy about it because they want to sell their users services and will probably retain the vehicle-specific apps like controlling climate, performance, etc.

It also charges the smartphone which is important because GPS navigation and streaming in remote areas really drains the smartphone battery.

BlackBerry only missed out in the sense that a team from the mobile division could have worked with the QNX division to set up a similar interface. It's not something that the car companies would have asked for and would have required a fairly significant R&D investment. For example, most dash screens can't take swipe gestures so you almost have to create a new UI. Wasn't MirrorLink supposed to get in there, also?

BlackBerry hasn't done anything advanced with their phone to infotainment system integration. No MirrorLink support for running apps on another screen. It is really pathetic for a company that touts automobiles like they do at consumer events. They can make a super advanced Maserati, but can't make their own smartphone work with it or other cars in an advanced way.

Posted via Z30

I guess I had the wrong impression. I thought at one point we would see Blackberry's name on the dash somewhere. Not that it matters but I'm just still scratching my head at all the talk around blackberry and cars about a year ago? Looks as if apple and android came out the gates swinging before blackberry.

You are right. There was plenty of talk about it because people here are always dreaming this stuff up and it sounds so interesting. The problem is that it's the other companies that have the scale and the profits to play around with new technologies. There probably was some kind of in-dash integration project when John Chen came aboard and I'll bet he killed it. I'll bet he killed any project that didn't directly sell more smartphones or sell more BES licenses.

Originally Posted by GLTruesdale

I guess I had the wrong impression. I thought at one point we would see Blackberry's name on the dash somewhere. Not that it matters but I'm just still scratching my head at all the talk around blackberry and cars about a year ago? Looks as if apple and android came out the gates swinging before blackberry.

Originally Posted by k1rkland

You are right. There was plenty of talk about it because people here are always dreaming this stuff up and it sounds so interesting. The problem is that it's the other companies that have the scale and the profits to play around with new technologies. There probably was some kind of in-dash integration project when John Chen came aboard and I'll bet he killed it. I'll bet he killed any project that didn't directly sell more smartphones or sell more BES licenses.

Their is a standard protocol, MirrorLink, that most systems that will support Apple and Google protocols also support. BlackBerry simply won't implement it. I guess mobile professionals have no use for such things, or Chen wants to kill off BB10 and switch to Google. Whichever it is, I don't like what Chen has done and is doing to BlackBerry.

Posted via Z30

Originally Posted by lnichols

Their is a standard protocol, MirrorLink, that most systems that will support Apple and Google protocols also support. BlackBerry simply won't implement it. I guess mobile professionals have no use for such things, or Chen wants to kill off BB10 and switch to Google. Whichever it is, I don't like what Chen has done and is doing to BlackBerry.

Posted via Z30

To be devil's advocate, if the bean counters dictated that something *had* to be chopped, dropping car UX development was probably the right choice in terms of ROI. It would have been insanely hard in any case to convince car makers to include it as well as due to the small potential market compared to the other two.

That low marketshare and dwindling handset sales give Chen very little leverage with anyone. It's not as if Apple or the Android crowd are sitting still either.

Originally Posted by TGR1

To be devil's advocate, if the bean counters dictated that something *had* to be chopped, dropping car UX development was probably the right choice in terms of ROI. It would have been insanely hard in any case to convince car makers to include it as well as due to the small potential market compared to the other two.

That low marketshare and dwindling handset sales give Chen very little leverage with anyone. It's not as if Apple or the Android crowd are sitting still either.

And that is why they are a huge failure in smartphones! You could use this lame excuse for any feature BlackBerry is missing. If they aren't going to put in 100% effort for feature parity, then BB10 is dead. Sad thing is I guarantee you QNX already has this working on some revision of BB10 somewhere.

Posted via Z30