车载信息娱乐系统为什么搞得这么复杂

    这种误解的第一个表现就是，很多厂商误以为驾驶员坐到方向盘后头就不需要手机了。实际生活中，驾驶员似乎并不关心那些纯粹模仿智能手机或平板电脑的嵌入式技术，比如说屏幕、声音控制以及五花八门的连接方式，而是更关心他们现在的数码习惯能不能原封不动地挪到车里。J.D.Power公司2013年的一项新兴技术研究显示，超过80%的驾驶员表示，在他们购车前，“如果有一款车内设备或应用能把他们的智能手机与车内的信息娱乐系统相连接，他们会产生购买兴趣。”换句话说，他们把汽车当成了私人数码网络的另一个节点，如果一款汽车能扩展这个网络，那就太好了。如果不能，那就太可惜了。

    这一点非常重要——尤其是随着各大车企开始把车内科技当成新的角斗场，而不仅仅是在油耗和杯托上做文章。

    斯卡夫说：“汽车公司终于意识到这种东西能产生差异化。消费者对它的评价会影响他们的购车决定。车企必须对它进行规划，要把这种技术当成一个平台，而不仅仅把它当成一个单一目标的设备。”斯卡夫一年前刚加盟通用汽车，在此之前，他是南加利福尼亚的一名应用开发者。

    斯卡夫认为，这意味着新一波的车内科技必须更注重软件而非硬件。不妨畅想一下，未来的车内科技平台可以充分兼容你已经在其它设备上使用的各种操作系统和应用。

    目前已经有了一些进步的迹象：通用汽车在今年的消费电子展上宣布，搭载安吉星系统的2015款雪佛兰车型将可以连接4G LTE网络。这个消息的意义十分重大，因为它意味着这些车型将可以运行那些在智能手机或平板电脑上非常流行的服务。同时它不仅让苹果的CarPlay也重要了起来，还惠及了今年成立的开放汽车联盟（Open Automotive Alliance）。这个组织的成员包括奥迪、通用、本田和现代等车企，它将采用谷歌的Android操作系统作为车内信息娱乐系统的通用平台。

    斯卡夫说：“不能直接把移动设备的应用体验照搬到汽车环境里。因为人在驾驶时需要不一样的用户体验。我们正在让开发者把车内科技打造成一种不同的体验，以一种非常不同的方式把品牌和产品体验扩展到汽车里。”

    汽车的终极目标是把一个人从A点送到B点，这个目标是亘古不变的。但是科技如何能让这趟旅程变得更美好？

    科斯洛夫斯基认为：“现在还没有人能完全解开这个秘密。”

    艾布拉姆认为，现在就断言这些车企联盟会造成怎样的影响还为时过早。比如通用汽车虽然是开放汽车联盟的创始成员之一，但它现在也在考虑未来把苹果的CarPlay整合到雪佛兰的车型里。

    现在所有车企都把视线投到了一波新的顾客身上。上世纪５０年代，汽车曾是“酷”的象征，现在它仍有潜力再次成为“互联一代”的装酷利器。

    科斯洛夫斯基说：“我认为随着汽车业的发展，由于有了新的车内科技系统，汽车将成为人们能想象的最酷的设备。它甚至会比智能手机更酷，比平板电脑更创新。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    That starts with the assumption that drivers want to give up their smartphones in the first place. In practice, drivers seem to care less about embedded technology that replicates their phone or tablet's functionality -- multiple screens, voice-activated controls, all manner of connectivity -- and more about whether their current digital habits remain intact once they get behind the wheel. A 2013 study of emerging technologies in the auto industry conducted by J.D. Power identified that more than 80% of drivers "cite pre-purchase interest in an in-vehicle device/app link that would connect their smartphone to their vehicle's infotainment system." In other words, they see the vehicle as another node in their personal digital network -- if it connects to extend that network, great; if not, too bad.

    The distinction is important as car companies begin to compete on technology, not just gas mileage or cup-holders.

    "Car companies finally realized that this type of stuff is differentiating," says Scalf, who joined GM a year ago after working as an app developer in southern California. "It is something that customers value in their new car purchase decision. And they need to plan for this -- they need to treat this technology as a platform as opposed to a single-purpose device."

    Which means that the new wave of in-car technology must, according to Scalf, be focused more on software than hardware. Imagine an in-car tech platform that is fully compatible with whatever mobile operating system and apps a driver already uses on other connected devices.

    There are signs of progress: GM's CES announcement that the 2015 line of OnStar-equipped Chevrolet vehicles will have 4G LTE connectivity is significant because it means that the connected car can handle the same types of services popular on a smartphone or tablet. This is what makes the introduction of Apple's CarPlay important. This is why the 2014 creation of an Open Automotive Alliance -- with Audi, GM, Honda (HMC), and Hyundai as members -- to make Google's Android (GOOG) operating system a common platform for in-car infotainment systems is important.

    "You can't take just a mobile app experience and cut and copy that exact experience into the automotive context," Scalf says. "Because I'm driving ... the user experience really needs to be different. [We're] trying to get developers to think of automotive as a different experience, as a way to extend your brand and your product experience into the car in a very different way."

    The core purpose of a car -- to shuttle a passenger from point A to B -- remains intact. But how does technology improve that trip?

    "Nobody has cracked the code completely," Koslowski says.

    It's too early to determine how these tech alliances will add up. For example, though GM is a founding member of the OAA, it is also looking into incorporating Apple's CarPlay in future Chevrolet models, Abram says.

    But all automakers have their sights set on a new wave of customers -- and perhaps the potential to be as cool to the connected generation as they were to their grandparents in the 1950s.

    "I believe that the car companies will get to the point that the automobile will become the coolest device you can think of," Koslowski says. "Cooler than a smartphone. More innovative than a tablet. Because of all the real estate in the car."