production.

It takes Ford Motor Company, for example, about two and one-half
years to plan, design, and build a new car. Design and production, including metal
stamping equipment and assembly line setup, must be finalized long before the
car rolls off the line. But the auto makers can create a new software interface for a
car within months and update it again and again over the life of the car without
much lead time. This enables Ford and other automakers to significantly improve
the passenger experience and add new features to cars years after they are built.
Ford is perhaps the automaker doing the most to innovate with software and
apps. Its MyFord Touch interface is an in-dash touch screen avail able for select
vehicles with controls for navigation, music, phone integration, and temperature.
Ford has upgraded this interface and the Sync software behind the interface,
adding tablet and smartphone integration and better voice response. In 2010,
Ford added support for the online music streaming ser vice Pandora, which is very
popular among young potential buyers. This update enables drivers to connect
their tablets and smartphones to the Sync system to access music and other apps
using voice commands.
Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has championed the use of software to alleviate urban
congestion by investing in technology that responds to the problems created by
traffic in the biggest cities. Theoretically, technology might help cars to avoid
traffic jams, to reserve parking spaces in advance, and possibly to even drive
themselves.
To manage vehicles in this way, cars need to be connected to some kind of central
system, which would coordinate with public transit and other transportation
methods, and to do this, cars need to be equipped with software that can monitor
and enhance vehicle function at the most basic levels. The eventual system would
require that cars feed increasing amounts of information to systems whose
purpose would be to minimize highway con gestion. The system would also
require an industry standard, which does not exist as of yet. Ford has doubled its
investment in vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies and BMW is also
continuing to develop ways for vehicles to communicate with one another on the
road to avoid collisions.
With the inclusion of software in their cars, automakers are entering uncharted
territory. They must now devote resources to updating and testing their software,
as well as establishing ways to provide the updated software to their customers.
Car companies need to coordinate their car development cycles more closely with
their software development cycles. Also, many of the technologies included in
automobile software packages raise the same privacy concerns surrounding
location tracking that have often plagued smartphone manufacturers and app
developers.
Ford is grappling with the best way to roll out software upgrades to its customers.
The company has been mailing USB sticks to 250,000 customers whose cars have
an advanced touch screen control panel running the MyFord Touch interface. The
stick contains a software upgrade that will improve navigation controls, the music
and phone features, as well as the ability to control car temperature. The upgrade
also contains code that will upgrade system speed and improve the interface
based on common criticisms from Ford owners. Although Ford says it plans to
continue issuing software upgrades this way, the company hopes that customers
will get into the habit of check ing the Ford Web site for software upgrades on
their own. Though most car owners are used to the technology in their cars
remaining constant throughout the life of the car, newer cars are poised to change
all of that.
Ford has hired “human-machine interface engineers,” whose job is to analyze how
their customers interact with the software in their cars. Often, these engineers use
customer feedback to make changes to the software. Customers complained that
too much information was available on each screen of the interface, so Ford
moved the most commonly used features to more prominent positions on screen
and increased their font size, relegating the rest to submenus.
Feedback has been positive. Ford has also asked dealers to dedicate more time
and personnel to hands-on technology training to help customers master its
interface.
GM, Daimler, and other companies are all developing new features for their cars
that operate online in the cloud. Users will be able to remotely track their cars
(you’ll never forget where you parked again) and diagnose problems with the car,
like low tire pressure or the need for an oil change. Corporations will be able to
track employee use of company cars by interpreting car sensors and engine
readouts. Manufacturers will be able to aggregate and analyze the data from
customers’ cars to identify quality problems and, if necessary, quickly issue recalls.
Just as with apps, the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of
automakers.
GM will allow its app developers to access its computer systems to improve app
function, which raises a familiar set of privacy concerns. Auto analysts believe that
automakers will make mistakes as they learn how to properly handle sensitive
customer data and to provide robust privacy options. On the other hand,
automakers are hoping that younger customers who have grown up using
Facebook are less likely to care about privacy, and features that collect highly
targeted information about a car’s location and driving habits.
BMW is also investing a whopping $100 million in mobile apps, hoping to market
them to their customers as “premium services.” Some analysts are skeptical of the
decision to invest that much money, but BMW believes that mobile apps will
become an increasingly attractive selling point for customers of its BMWi electric
and hybrid cars. Although the future of cars sharing information with other nearby
cars is still years away, automakers are excited by the possibilities afforded by
smart software and apps.