TomTom: Garmin just showed you the way forward for voice control

While the routing algorithm and traffic accuracy are significant reasons to still use TomTom nav products, the lack of a voice interface on mobile apps and an extremely limited voice interface on the dedicated sat-nav products really hinders the overall user experience. While I acknowledge that it is unrealistic to expect a company with limited resources like TomTom to develop a voice technology that is as capable of that from the likes of major players like Google, Apple and Amazon, does the consumer ultimately care? I think not. 

Today, it seems that Garmin has shown TomTom the way forward. Garmin just released the Garmin Speak which uses the Amazon Alexa voice assistant to operate Garmin's new product. Hundreds of products are doing the same thing - integrating into Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung Bixby and using those robust voice assistants to power their products. 

For example, neither my iRobot Roomba or my ecobee thermostat have you even tried to develop their own voice engines. Yet, I can control both of them and receive data and status from both of them by talking to either Alexa or Google Assistant. Hyundai isn't using their own in-car voice recognition technology outside the car. Instead, they've simply integrated into Google Assistant so that I can say "OK Google, ask BlueLink to start my car" or "OK Google, ask BlueLink if my car is locked." It's done. 

Today's announcement from Garmin allows the driver to simply speak "Alexa, tell Garmin to navigate to the nearest gas station."  

TomTom has all the pieces in place to be able to accomplish this. Use the current MyDrive Android app as the bridge between the voice assistant and either the smartphone nav app or the dedicated sat-nav device.  MyDrive is already cloud or Bluetooth connected to those products. Use Alexa, Bixby and Google Assistant to send commands through MyDrive to the user's chosen nav solution. 

TomTom should stop putting resources into a voice recognition technology that can't keep up with the leaders in that industry. Integrate into those company's engines and give us a remarkable navigational experience instead.

A Better "I'm Feeling Lucky" for Google Play Music

There is a lot to like about Google Play Music. However, its multi-genre music discovery capability is not one of those things. Don't get me wrong, Google Play Music's discovery capabilities are quite good. However, those capabilities are rigidly tied to two things: one musical genre / time period (Rock or The 80's) or an activity ("Watching the Sunset").

I don't know about you, but that's not how I listen to music. My idea of a great playlist is a mix of Zac Brown Band, Prince, Van Halen, Kenny Chesney and a some Rumpshaker.  Sure, you can create a playlist that contains that music but with a playlist that I create I'm hearing the same songs over and over again. There's no discovery.

Sure, Google Play Music has the "Thumbs up" auto-playlist, but again, it's the same songs over and over again (plus any new ones I add). There's no discovery.

Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature should be the answer to this need. But, for some inexplicable reason, Google Play Music's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature produces a genre-specific playlist. That playlist will likely be very nicely tailored to your preferences if you use the app a lot. However, you're locked into listening to one genre at a time. Every time you initiate "I'm Feeling Lucky" it changes to another genre. I don't know the rationale for that design decision but it makes no sense to me.

Luckily, the Google Play Music webpage has a way to overcome this significant limitation in Google Play Music.  If you've got a history of "thumbs upping" songs you like within Google Play Music then follow along. You'll like this.  Open Google Play Music on the web (not the smartphone app). Click here. Make sure your current listening queue is completely empty before you continue.

In the upper left corner, click the three bar menu icon, then select Music Library.

When the Music Library opens, select Playlists at the top of the screen.

Scroll down the page and find the section called Auto-Playlists. There, you'll find an Auto-Playlist called "Thumbs up" which represents every song you've ever thumbs upped in Google Play Music.

DO NOT click on this playlist. DO NOT open it. Instead, hover your mouse on the bottom right side of this playlist (below Peter Cetera in the above example). You'll see the familiar "3 dots" menu. Click the 3 dots menu and select the oddly named "Add Playlist to Playlist." When you select that command, you'll see a list of your current playlists and the option to Create New Playlist. Select that option. Name it whatever you'd like. I named mine "Jeff's Mix."

Now you have a new playlist called "Jeff's Mix" in your Playlists which, at the moment, is identical to your "Thumbs up" Auto-playlist.  If you have several hundred songs in your thumbs up playlist wait for a few minutes before you proceed to the next step. If you proceed and get an error, wait a little longer.

Once again, DO NOT click on this playlist. DO NOT open it. Instead, hover your mouse on the bottom right side of this playlist (below John Cougar in the above example) and click the 3 dots menu. You'll see the golden ticket! Click "Start Radio."

You've just created a custom radio station, not based on a single genre or a particular activity, but rather based on your unique collection of thumbs upped songs. You'll find it in the radio station section of Google Play Music. Mine is called Jeff's Mix Radio.

Hover your mouse over the bottom right corner of your new radio station and again, select the three dot menu. Select Add Station To Library to make this station a permanent part of your library. You can also download this radio station offline from your smartphone.

You've just created your own personal radio station based on the songs you like, with the added benefit of music discovery!  It won't take you very long in the listening experience of your new radio station to begin hearing discovered music that wasn't thumbs upped by you before. As you listen, you can thumbs up / down as you like to further tune your custom radio station. If you download offline on your smartphone, each iterative refresh will be tuned more and more to your liking.

It may seem silly to have both a Jeff's Mix playlist (static) and Jeff's Mix Radio (dynamic with discovery) but I'd recommend not deleting the static playlist. I've noticed that if I delete the static playlist that the radio station ends up disappearing as well.

It's a shame that Google can't just give us a straight forward way to enjoy multi-genre music discovery but until they do this is next best option. Enjoy!

TomTom wins big global contract with Volvo

Volvo has selected TomTom as their global supplier of maps, navigation and traffic content for their new infotainment system.

Full details here.

Uber picks their dance partner

Uber has picked their partner for their future. Volvo and Uber have announced a partnership to develop self-driving, autonomous cars which will serve as the next generation of Uber's service - one without cranky, demanding drivers.

Read more here.

Nissan & Infiniti using SiriusXM subsidies as a differentiator

Interesting news from Nissan & Infiniti. They appear to be using SiriusXM radio and data services as a differentiator by subsidizing the cost of the services for years.

More here.

Automatic's OBD-II telematics solution moves to the cloud

Aftermarket telematics company Automatic has released their latest product, the Automatic Pro. This aftermarket device plugs into your car's standard diagnostics port (OBD-II) to connect your car to the digital integration world. Uses include reading car diagnostic codes, analyzing driving behavior, providing emergency services and opening your car up to select 3rd party capabilities through the use of compatible apps.

The new Automatic Pro has an integral 3G data connection for direct communication to the cloud. The previous generation of the product required a bluetooth connection to a smartphone. Automatic has priced the Automatic Pro in a way that does not require service fees or a separate 3G data plan.

More information available here.

Ford continues its buying and investing binge

The news from the Ford Smart Mobility press event that Ford made a substantial investment in Velodyne was widely reported. It turns out, that was only part of the story. It was also announced that Ford has acquired SAIPS, an Israeli company that specializes in machine learning to beef up Ford's expertise in self-driving machine learning and computer vision technology.

Ford has also has a new exclusive licensing agreement with Nirenberg Neuroscience, a machine vision company that has developed a machine vision platform for performing navigation, object recognition, facial recognition and other functions. Ford can use this technology to bring humanlike intelligence to their autonomous cars.

Finally, an investment in Civil Maps will benefit Ford in the area of 3D high resolution mapping.

Read Ford's press release here.

Ford Sync 3 and drones could save your life someday

Most think of Ford Sync 3 as a way to control your tunes or call the office using voice recognition. Who could imagine that Ford Sync 3 might actually save your life someday? That's the goal behind the DJI Developer Challenge in partnership with Ford.

Drone company DJI has partnered with Ford and others, for the DJI Developer Challenge. With Ford's involvement, the goal will be for 3rd party developers to create a method of controlling drones through Ford Sync 3 for unmanned search and rescue missions. This is all part of Ford's Smart Mobility initiative.

Great stuff right there.

ABI Research needs to do better research

ABI Research has a posted a report summary today discussing the battle between proprietary and open-sourced "software defined cockpits."  In the summary they make this curious statement: "Yet, though car OEMs like Audi, BMW, Kia, and Toyota Motor, currently use Google’s Android Auto technology for search, map, and other functions, ABI Research predicts Android N will likely not appear in cars before 2020."

Toyota? Not a chance. It is widely (and accurately) reported that Toyota is not implementing Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in any vehicle, stubbornly staying with their own (in my opinion, horrible) infotainment solution.

ABI Research needs to firm up its research a bit.

Ford goes big on autonomous cars w/ Smart Mobility presentation

Ford is going all-in on self-driving, autonomous car technology. Ford feels that within the decade autonomous cars will have as big of an impact on society as their assembly line did years before. Ford conducted a very detailed press event providing details of their Ford Smart Mobility initiative. Ford announced their intent to have a high-volume, fully autonomous SAE Level 4-capable vehicle in commercial operation in 2021 in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service.

You can watch the entire 27 minute video from Ford's presentation.  Click here for source and discussion.

Strategy Analystics Report: Consumers’ Satisfaction with In-Car Speech and Touchscreens Takes a Step Back

Research and analytics firm Strategy Analytics has a new report out on the state of consumer satisfaction with in-car speech recognition systems and touchscreen user interfaces. The actual report is available for download behind a registration portal. However, they've disclosed enough information in their report title to tell us that consumer satisfaction is not on the rise! Perhaps that reality explains some of the acquisition activity in the automotive industry of late. Automakers needs to start thinking like software technology companies. If their existing culture prevents that from happening organically, it's probably time to buy someone that can bring that mindset to the company.

 

Source: Strategy Analytics

Sygic's take on what's next in in-car connectivity and infotainment

Sygic has a decent "2 minute read" expressing their view of what's next in the world of in-car connectivity, infotainment and navigation. While it has a bit of a sales pitch at the end, it does provide a good, quick review of the near-term in this industry.

 

Source and discussion here.

Ford makes a big LiDAR investment

Ford is going all-in on autonomous technology with a reported $75M investment in LiDAR technology company Velodyne. This investment is in partnership with Chinese company Baidu. LiDAR is laser radar and is used in self-driving car technology to "see" the physical environment around the car and relay the data to onboard computers for analysis and reaction.

The investments from Ford and Baidu will help Velodyne bring the price of the LiDAR technology down closer to mass production levels. It is reported that Ford will use the LiDAR technology on a self-driving fleet of Uber-like on-demand self-driving vehicles within five years.

 

Source and discussion here.

Audi leads the way in vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

Audi has announced a new service within their advanced technology feature set that they are branding Audi connect Prime. This advanced feature set belongs to a technology referred to as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) service in which the automobile talks to physical devices that are part of our infrastructure and shares information that is usable by either the vehicle or the infrastructure.

This is pretty cool technology, though because of the vast amount of infrastructure that needs to be upgraded to support this kind of communication, it probably is not going to have widespread adoption in the near future.

 

Audi's initial implementation will involve the vehicle communicating to stop lights. The stop lights will communicate there status of either red or green as well as communicate when they will be changing.

 

On the surface, this may seem somewhat limited in usefulness but think about the implications of a vehicle approaching a stop light and the stop light informing the vehicle that the vehicle will not make it to the stop light in a green condition. Upon gaining that knowledge, a semi-autonomous vehicle could begin to slow down to avoid abrupt deceleration and rather than maintaining the speed limit could begin to coast to a stop which has gas mileage benefits.

 

Source and discussion here.

The Sorry State of Automaker's Smartphone Apps

Modern day automobiles are massively complex, highly technical machines. By comparison, a smartphone app seems like child's play. Unfortunately, if there is one thing that automakers can't seem to get right it is the user experience associated with the increasingly important in-car infotainment systems. Automaker's mobile apps play a large role in this dissatisfaction.

Consumer Reports Brand-by-Brand Guide to Car Infotainment Systems illustrates the problem. Only a single solution, the FIAT implementation of the Chrysler UConnect system, receives above a 63% user satisfaction rating.

This pervasive dissatisfaction has given Google and Apple an opening into the car's dashboard. Both companies are masters at creating a great user experience. Most automakers, except Toyota, have reluctantly given Google and Apple a place in the car dashboard. Toyota is one of the few automakers going it alone and having nothing to do with Google's Android Auto or Apple's CarPlay. Toyota instead, will place it's bets behind an implementation of Ford's AppLink technology. Interestingly, Ford itself has decided to augment their AppLink offering in their own cars with both CarPlay and Android Auto in their Sync 3 system.

Just how bad is the current situation?  Car Tech Blog has created this round-up of the current state of automaker's Android apps. This roundup represents the current average consumer rating of each app as of August 15, 2016, as reported by Google in the Play Store.

Think about the scores you expect from most apps that you download and use on a regular basis.  What do you look for? Perhaps a 4.0 score or above? There are only two apps out of 49 apps scoring better than 4.0.  Half of the apps score below a 3.0, usually a score bad enough to earn an uninstall by most users.

This data illustrates why Google and Apple are pushing hard for a place in-dash. With so much dissatisfaction, how can Google and Apple go wrong?

Hyundai rebrands Android smartphone apps

Hyundai has rebranded their Android smartphone apps by combining two apps into one. Previously Hyundai had the BlueLink app and a separate Car Care app. The newly rebranded app is called "myHyundai with BlueLink" and combines the features of the previously separate BlueLink and Car Care apps. There is no evidence of a similar change for iOS at this time.

Discussion and app link here.

Apple Maps beefs up transit coverage in Texas

Apple has reportedly built out additional public transit coverage in Texas after adding new coverage in Dallas-Ft Worth and San Antonio.

Source MacRumors.

Honda brings CarPlay and Android Auto to more vehicles

Honda has announced that CarPlay and Android Auto is pushing deeper into their vehicle line-up. Both CarPlay and Android Auto will be available as a standard option on the new 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback, but only on the EX trim level and above.

Source and discussion here.

Zubie launches WIFI telematics solution for businesses

The leading connected-car platform and telematics provider Zubie, has launched a new solution for tracking business fleets and providing analytics solutions. The new solution is WIFI based in-vehicle and is powered by Verizon's 4G LTE network.

Click here for source and discussion.

Cadillac concept car teases curved OLED displays

Cadillac posted a teaser video on YouTube (watch it here) ahead of their August 18th concept car launch event. The teaser video shows their approach to the in-car display technology for the telematics and infotainment system. Cadillac appears to be going with an array of multiple curved OLED displays. We'll see if updates to Cadillac's CUE infotainment system come to the concept car as well.

Discuss this news here.