Where Smart Technology Needs to Go

The Smart Car Is Needed! 

There is this one thing that has been on my mind for some time now, but I have always assumed that it was coming, maybe at the next apple Keynote or Google IO... But as the last few years have rolled over no word has come. So I have to ask myself, where is the smart car?

Yes, smart car stereos do exist, kind of.. One example from a quick Google search is the Kenwood DNN990HD, which while does bring some interesting features over and above the traditional DAB/ FM/ CD/ tape deck (yes, there are still some out there), does not exactly bowl us over. But more to the point, should we really be labelling things as smart? What would a smart car be like?

Before we go any further, lets just think about what happens in the car? As the driver you are doing that manual thing with pedals, a steering wheel and a gear stick, but all kinds of information are coming at you as well! What is your speed, revs, acceleration and braking? All of these impact upon fuel economy and your wallet. Where is the Sat Nav telling you to go? Driving is boring so music choices are essential. On your way to work you might be thinking about emails, appointments, projects, tasks, graphics or any number of items. Potentially, the cognitive load is massive, almost none of which is currently capitalised on as we still do not engage in as many tasks as we would like for the fear of safety. Passengers, freed from the burden of actually driving have an obvious problem of boredom. Sure, any passenger can now watch a film on their smarthphone/ tablet (pending travel sickness), but they are still confined in a small seat for hour upon hour, and are filled with curiosity about the landscape they are hurtling through, or maybe just how long until their journey ends. Throw in screaming kids and different climate needs (ergonomics is a very complex subject after all) and you have a venerable cocktail of user needs. 

Traditionally, these needs have not been met, outside of the people getting on with the job themselves. So with all this power at our disposal why has the smart car not come out? There are two ways in which this could be done. The simplest would be a strait Car stereo replacement. Load Andriod onto it, chuck in some decent internal memory and a sim car, build a custom launcher designer for in car use and tie this into the voice recognition. Put Google's services at the centre (apps, magazines, music, video etc.) and you have the start of a great experience which can be refined to perfection. Secondly, wire in some slave screens in the back of the headrest, maybe allow control/ view via a tablet and we have something to work with. Maybe add some climate control and link up a level of context awareness of the cars location and engine performance. This is a very crude rush through of what could be done, but you can see that by just opening the lid of this the possibilities are exploding. Can we start to imagine the visions of science fiction, but in reality. Lets throw it forward, there is no longer a driver (Google have taken care of that) and the car is a portable lounge where entertainment and opulent luxury is the key.

None of this is new to academia, the blog world or industry, but what is missing is a manufacturer to really step up and deliver a truly smart and incredible experience bringing all of these touchpoints together. After all, user experience is (in my mind at least) about delivering magic, high end cars are about delivering magic. So its not just that the smart car is needed in order for the world of Web 3.0 (or internet of things) to become a reality, but user experience needs to start enveloping the auto world in a way which it has not to date in order to drive our human experience in commuting further.

But lets start with baby steps, where is my awesome Android car stereo? I have my 20,000 songs on  Google Music, let me access them in my car in an incredible way!