Car industry needs to agree on an app standard

Application developers who want their programs to run in cars are flush with options -- too many options. They can choose to target Toyota Entune standard, Ford Smart Device Link, BMW Connect, and many more. All, by the way, completely incompatible with each other, meaning that any programmer who wants their app in multiple cars has a long road ahead of them. At this year's International CES in Las Vegas, that road got even longer, as two more choices were introduced.

First was Connected by OnStar, another platform from General Motors that adds on to that company's previous use of the Livio Connect standard in its Spark and its own IntelliLink system elsewhere. Connected by OnStar relies on active data connections from AT&T in the car, which will likely entail an extra monthly fee from the carrier.

Interestingly, though, Connected wouldn't be the only interface that General Motors would be getting behind. The other one shows a lot more potential, as it's backed by Google. The search engine darling, whose Android operating system has quickly risen to dominate the smartphone market, is throwing its weight behind the Open Auto Alliance (OAA). Plenty of other manufacturers have signed on, too.

Also joining the Alliance is Audi, Honda, and Hyundai, as well as NVIDIA, makers of graphics chips used in many smart cars and smart devices like tablets and phones. Out of the gate, this means the OAA has a lot of support, but that pales in comparison to the manufacturers who joined the earlier Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC). All the OAA members (save NVIDIA) are also in the CCC, as are Toyota, VW, Renault, Peugeot, Mazda, Kia, Fiat, and Mercedes-Benz.

The CCC proposed the MirrorLink standard for smartphone connectivity, an approach that would basically replicate the screen of your smartphone into the interior of your car. Sadly, it never saw widespread adoption despite all that manufacturer support. MirrorLink remains unsupported on the vast majority of smartphones and smart cars.

Can the OAA rise where the CCC has (so far) failed? That remains to be seen -- as does the OAA's specific goals. As of now, the intent of the group is rather vague, with a stated intent to "bring the best of Android into the automobile in a safe and seamless way." That could mean anything from simple wireless tethering of smartphones to smart cars actually running Android applications directly. At this point we'd guess the truth lies somewhere in the middle, with OAA-certified cars providing means for Android applications to easily stream music to cars and receive commands from them.

One thing that is very clear: the group pledged to have OAA-compatible cars on dealer lots sometime before this year is through. That's very aggressive, but with Google on board, that list of partners has the potential to grow and grow quickly. If the OAA can tap into just a fraction of the momentum the Android platform as a whole enjoys, expect to see lots more cars running lots more apps by this time next year.

By Tim Stevens