Merging Cellphones and Dashboards
By ROY FURCHGOTT June 8, 2012
SEEKING to please those customers clamoring for more features in their cars, General Motors will soon make a novel offer: give them less.
No, G.M.'s strategy is not to shortchange buyers, but simply to let them avoid buying what they already own. Today, calling home is rarely done on a phone built into the dashboard, and recorded music is less often stored on CDs jammed into the glove box; increasingly, the smartphone in the driver's pocket serves both needs.
So G.M.'s newest approach is a fundamental shift in philosophy from the practice of embedding such technology in the bowels of the car. Instead, it will offer an inexpensive link that lets drivers control their phone - and more important, its apps - using the dashboard touch screen.
Although phones have routinely connected to the dash for calls, this system is far more versatile. Buyers of two Chevrolet models will be able to get music and directions through subscription or phone service plans they already have.
Essentially, G.M. is proposing to replace the cellphone's windshield cradle with software.
There are many benefits to this alternative approach, starting with its lower price. When the Chevrolet Spark goes on sale next month, the upper-level 1LT and 2LT models, which start under $15,000, will come with the infotainment system MyLink and a 7-inch touch screen as standard equipment. (The larger Chevy Sonic will offer MyLink late this summer.)
A cellphone-style infotainment system can bring other advantages: the interface is typically more familiar to users, especially young ones, and its maps are fresher than those of onboard DVDs.
But there can be shortcomings. An app like Google Maps downloads data to a phone while it is in use, and most phone plans limit the amount of data you can use. At the least, it means people would need more expensive data plans.
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