Cars – The First Step Towards The Future

Imagine a future where car cd players and radios are replaced entirely by a touch screen interface almost exactly like a modern day cell phone.  You will have wireless and/or broadband connectivity, which will allow you to make phone calls, to stream media (music, radio, video), or use GPS.  You will also be able to browse the internet, download mobile applications or even video games.  It will have voice activation software like Siri that will allow you to ask for directions or direct the computer to search and play a movie for your kids in the back seat.  Or if you arrive to a doctor’s appointment early you can hook up your xbox 360 dongle and play a couple rounds of Titanfall…(kickass, right!?)

Now that you know what I am getting at, take a moment to think about the possibilities.  What sort of car apps could be created for drivers and passengers? Maybe a news application that gives you an audio/visual dose of important news updates tailored for your exact commute?  Say you download this free app for your car, tell it you like football and have a 30 minute commute.  Bam! Now you have 30 minutes of Football news streamed to you in audio.  Don’t like football? Then maybe baking tips, cooking shows, animal planet, you name it.  I am going to get more into my ideas for new applications in another post later on, so be on the lookout.

Let’s take this a step further.  Now that you have a powerful computer hooked up to your car AND you have wireless connectivity, there are TONS of innovations that can take place.  As someone who is forced to commute a heck of a lot (2 hours a day, ugh), I would like to see something developed by a government agency that will “control” cars during high traffic times.  Let me quickly tell you what I mean.  First, you tell your car where you want to go.  Second, you start driving towards that destination.  Three, you hit major traffic!.  Four, this program takes over to navigate you through traffic in perfect time and unison with the other cars.  The majority of the reason why traffic jams occur is because of the human element, this would solve that problem.  Granted, this is a spitball idea, actually getting something like that to work and eliminate the major safety concerns is an entirely different thing altogether.

Well I have burnt your eyes enough with some of my hot air so I will leave you with a bullet point list 

of abstract ideas that pertain to this topic.

-facebook for your car, car has camera and is voice activated so you can say “take picture and post to facebook” – bam you just took a picture of a funny license plate or a traffic jam. (snapchat as well)

-track your commute.  Plug in locations and your car will do the rest and give you your driving statistics such as gas used most on which days, when the worst traffic times were, etc.

-car statistics – the modern car has a lot of sensors, put them to use to give you statistics about how your oil is doing, how your tire pressure is, how the motor is doing, temperatures, etc.

-friend gps – an application that tells you if one of your friends is driving near you, link with facebook or e-mail

-voice memo – voice activated.  An application that allows you to spitball your ideas and to start recording hands free, it can also transcribe the memo and e-mail it to you or someone else

-e-mail dictation – an app that will read you your e-mails while in the car or an app that you can dictate and send e-mails with

-music application like RDIO, I heart radio, Spotify, etc.

-the list could go on and on but you get the idea.  Think of all of the applications you have with your phone, think of them becoming entirely hands free and how to integrate them with a car.

I am definitely interested in hearing your ideas, so hit me up!

-Grover