Toyota has signed on to join Ford to create what the automakers are calling the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, a nonprofit that will manage an open-source software platform it says will give automakers a uniform standard for integrating smartphone apps into vehicle infotainment interfaces.
Based on a Ford system called AppLink, the platform will allow app developers to create software specifically tailored for use in cars, and that can be used in a wide range of makes and models whose infotainment systems will uniformly support those apps.
From an automaker's point of view, it will allow their designers to "deliver user experiences that meet their individual standards while retaining control over how much access apps have to vehicle data," said Toyota's Shigeki Tomoyama in a statement. In other words, manufacturers will be able to tailor the interface to fit a given car's design esthetic.
At the moment, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay allow an easy way to integrate smartphone functions into a car's infotainment setup, but the interface will always look like an Android or Apple touchscreen, and reading between the lines here, we get the impression there's an appetite in the auto industry for manufacturers to take back some control over how their telematics systems get along with smartphones.
Past experience shows car companies aren't always great at designing infotainment systems: it took Ford three tries to get Sync right and Cadillac's CUE is a pain, but Chrysler did better its first time out with Uconnect. The benefit of letting Google/Android and Apple take care of in-car smartphone interfaces is that, well, smartphone interfaces are what those companies do, and they do it well.
Mazda, Peugeot/Citroen, Suzuki and Subaru are among automakers who have signed on to use the new platform in future vehicles, and Ford says that Harman, Panasonic, Pioneer and Blackberry QNX have signed letters of intent to join the consortium.
For better or worse, we should see the first fruit of the new software platform within a couple of years: Toyota says it will launch a telematics system based on it "around 2018."
