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Documents Ford Aims to Make Your Ride Plug-and-Play
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  • Author Author: autoembedded
  • Date Created: 22 Sep 2011 7:39 PM Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated: 8 Oct 2021 4:19 AM
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Ford Aims to Make Your Ride Plug-and-Play

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Ford is pushing forward in the evolution of the connected car with  the unveiling of OpenXC, a research platform which aims to turn your car  into a plug-and-play device.

 

Ford is gung-ho for connectivity and seems determined to pack as much  technology into its cars as possible. It believes connectivity and  in-car tech like Sync can make us better, safer drivers while increasing  the practicality and usefulness of our time behind the wheel.

 

Open XC, announced Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San  Francisco, rests on collaboration with open-source hardware makers Bug  Labs. Using a dashboard-mounted device, Ford’s cars could essentially  become docking stations for user-selected hardware and software modules  (seen above in prototype form) that can be plugged in to the car. The  OpenXC research program will provide developers with tool kits to create  applications specifically for use in the car, which are then stored on  the different modules.

 

“We’re actually modularizing the app,” said Ford research senior technical leader K. Venkatesh Prasad in an interview.

 

In the same vein as Apple, Ford hopes the OpenXC program will entice  developers to create apps which could eventually be sold through a  Ford-backed app storefront.

“The potential for monetization is definitely on the horizon,” Prasad said.

 

Opening up your software platform to outside developers is becoming a  fast-growing technique in the automotive industry. Toyota introduced  its EnTune platform earlier this year,  allowing developers to create smartphone apps tailor-made to work with  your car. Of course, EnTune came long after Ford pushed into the space  with its Sync smartphone-app integration platform in 2007.

 

Though calling these platforms truly “open” isn’t entirely accurate;  Ford will vet application submissions for safety purposes, mostly to  keep out apps that require unsafe practices (like fumbling with your  smartphone while going 55).

 

“Apple did something really smart,” said Bug Labs CEO Peter  Semmelhack said in an interview. “Millions of people bought the iPhone  for what it was — a phone. Then Apple turned that around and offered  developers a chance to sell apps to those customers.”

 

As Apple has proved, when there are developers willing to provide  content to your platform, there’s money to be made. Apple currently  hosts nearly half a million applications at its App Store, a large  incentive for smartphone shoppers to buy their hardware from the  company. At the same time, Apple takes a 30 percent cut of all  applications sold, gaining revenue from products they don’t have to  spend R&D resources in order to produce.

 

Don’t expect to pay through the nose for the modules, either. Ford is  aiming for the low end on pricing, somewhere in the range of $20 or  $30. Further, the company may end up launching the modules as rentals,  potentially distributed through local dealerships or other aftermarket  distribution centers like Car Toys. Sort of like RedBox, but for car apps.

 

Prasad says Ford plans to cooperate with at least six different  universities for further module development before a full launch, and  expects the software toolkits to be available for distribution to  independent developers by the end of this year.

 

SOURCE: Wired - Autopia

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