Google creates alliance to build Android-capable cars in 2014
Google has created a new industry alliance committed to bringing their Android operating platform to cars by the end of 2014.
Named the Open Automotive Alliance – OAA – and is made up of Audi, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai as well as the US technology company Nvidia. The goal of the group is to drive innovation and vehicle safety via Google’s intuitive common platform.
The OAA wants to have an open development model that will allow various car makers to create and bring ‘cutting-edge technology’ to vehicle owners in a faster and easier way. The alliance also wants to create new opportunities for developers to deliver safe and scalable systems to their users.
Sundar Pinchai – senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps at Google – stated that the expansion of the Android platform into vehicles will allow the partners to easily integrate mobile technology into their vehicles but will also offer drivers a very familiar and seamless experience which will allow them to focus on the road.
The OAA mentioned that the rollout timing from each manufacturer will vary, but they do expect that the first cars that will see Android integration will appear by the end of 2014.
The alliance is open to other automotive technology companies to join its enterprise.
It is not yet known how this new alliance will be impacting on the already existing relationship between Honda, GM and Hyundai with Google arch-rival Apple and its Siri Eyes Free program.
The reveal of this alliance also explains Hyundai’s recent announcement that their all-new Genesis sedan will debut a new, cloud-based technology platform called Blue Link Glassware, which would in turn be capable of linking to Google Glass.
The idea for creating this alliance came probably because Google is pretty late to the in-car technology war, with Apple’s Siri and the Microsoft-designed Sync app already making their way into vehicles from carmakers like Mercedes-Benz and Ford.
