Report from Barcelona: first meeting of the W3C automotive business group

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the first face-to-face meeting of the W3C automotive business group and the honor of being nominated group co-chair. (The other co-chair is Adam Abramski, an open source project manager for Intel.) With more than 70 members, the group has already become the eight-largest group in the W3C, even though it is barely two months old. Clearly, it’s generating a lot of interest.

The meeting included three presentations and two contributions. I presented on the lessons we’ve learned with the QNX CAR platform, how we think the market is changing, and how these changes should drive HTML5 standardization efforts.

I presented my three “musts” for standardizing HTML5 in the car:

1. Must create something designed to run apps, not HMIs (unless HMIs come along for free)
2. Must focus on mobile developers as the target development audience
3. Must support integration of HTML5 environments with native environments like EB Guide and Qt

I described some of the changes that have resulted from the alignment of the QNX CAR platform with the Apache Cordova framework, and why they are crucial to our HTML5 work. Unfortunately, we didn't have our W3C contribution ready due to these changes, but members generally agreed that having a standard consistent with mobile development was an appropriate course change.

Tizen and GenIVI gave presentations about their vehicle APIs. Tizen has contributed its APIs, but GenIVI hasn't yet — still waiting on final approvals. Webinos contributed its APIs before the meeting, but didn’t deliver a presentation on its contribution; members had reviewed the Webinos work before the meeting.

The meeting was a great chance to sit down with people I don’t normally meet. Overall, the group is moving in the right direction, creating a standard that can help automakers bring the goodness of HTML5 into the car.

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Finally, I can throw away my 8 tracks

Okay, maybe I'm not old enough to have owned 8-track tapes. But I do remember that my uncle had an 8-track player in the dash of his station wagon when I was a kid, and I am old enough to have owned a car with a cassette player.

Music has been fundamental to the driving experience for about as long as cars have been on the road. Terrestrial radio dominated forever, supplemented by tape and then CD. XM radio came along in 2001 and connecting your iPod started to show up in the late 2000s. That's 5 formats since the Model T was introduced in 1908 (okay, so it didn't  have a radio) and 3 formats in the first 90 years.

Now, with connected cars becoming a reality, the rate of change is shifting into overdrive. Want Pandora – check. Want to listen to the top alternative radio station in Dublin while driving in California – check. Want to keep listening to your Songza programming as you move from the house to the car – check.

Today's announcement from QNX and 7Digital adds a whole new dimension. Having 7Digital in the car will unify the music ownership experience across the big three: car, pocket, and home. Want to listen to your own music programming in the car – check. Want to buy a song you just heard on that Dublin radio station – check.

Read the press release for details. And when you're done, check out the 7digital blog.

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Jamming on a theme of connectivity at Automotive Megatrends 2013

Justin Moon

"The only time I really don’t feel connected is when I am driving in my car.”

You can always tell you’ve had a successful conference if you come away with a few “ah ha” or “oh no” moments. The above quote, which I cannot take credit for, was my “ah ha” moment at Automotive Megatrends 2013. The conference saw leaders and forward thinkers in the automotive industry come together and discuss (or debate) three technology streams: powertrain, safety, and the stream I participated in, connectivity.

The day began with a panel discussing the Big Picture of in-vehicle connectivity. Five panelists presented their views on business model pros and cons, where connectivity is headed, how it could change consumer expectations, and steps for ensuring success. Following the panelists’ presentations, the floor was opened for questions and dialogue with the audience. It was a great introduction and it set the stage for the rest of the day.

After a brief “networking” break, a panel discussing hardware and the effects associated with connectivity began. The format continued as before: each panelist spoke on their area of interest or expertise, then the audience joined the conversation. I was intrigued by the state of persistent storage in infotainment systems, including the problems and potential solutions for maintaining performance and reliability.

Lunch was just as engaging as the panels and discussions. I participated in a lively table-wide discussion with several analysts and industry thinkers on how the connection in my vehicle needs to become a seamless part of my lifestyle, just like my smartphone or the connected entertainment equipment in my home. This discussion was a great lead-in to the panel I had the pleasure of participating in — Software and Apps.

Clearing a path
The panel followed the same format as the others. Panelists discussed the role of the software platform and where application models fit into the future of the connected vehicle. One engaging panelist, after a rousing lunch discussion, explored how ubiquitous connectivity will clear a path for bigger possibilities with ecological initiatives, safety strategies, and making the vehicle a part of the connected lifestyle consumers already relate to and expect.

The final panel of the day was about wireless networks and had some industry big thinkers jam about infrastructure requirements, futures, and business models.

All in all, my experience at Automotive Megatrends was very positive and I look forward to doing it again next year.

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The challenge of creating an (auto)mobile user experience

On March 12, I had the honor of joining a distinguished group of panelists at a luncheon for the Los Angeles Motor Press Guild. The panelists included:

• Michelle Avary — director of technology strategy, HARMAN International
• Henry Bzeih — head of Kia’s North American Infotainment Technology & Business Unit
• Jim Pisz — corporate manager of North American business strategy, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.
• Wayne Ward — vice president of emerging solutions, Sprint Nextel
• Andrew Poliak (myself) — director of automotive business development, QNX Software Systems

The purpose of the panel was to share information on trends in the connected car space and in the automotive application ecosystem. The panel was well attended, with journalists from publications like the New York Times, and with representatives from companies like Alpine, Beats by Dr. Dre, Hyundai, and Toyota.

Two things stood out for me. First, the press really picked up on the need for solutions that can offer ease of use, upgradeability, and reliability while also reducing distraction and liability. Second, an expert witness hired by car companies to testify in Lemon Law suits told the panel that he was already being hired to provide testimony in cases involving in-vehicle electronics. He speculated that the technology described on the panel was going to “make him rich.”

His comments help illustrate a point. A car isn’t a mobile phone. OEMs and end-users may want the same kind of fresh and updateable experience that a phone can provide, but unlike a phone, an in-car infotainment system must be simple to use even while you’re driving down the highway. Such systems offer the ideal environment for a hard real-time OS that can also enable the latest consumer technologies and applications in a reliable and easy-to-use way.

Jim Pisz mentioned a sign he saw at the Geneva Motor Show. The sign said “Don’t Worry, Be Appy.” That sign makes me realize that the industry is at a crossroads. OEMs want access to consumer app developers and, in some cases, the apps themselves. At the same time they want a reliable solution that they won’t have to “worry” about. With QNX’s pedigree of reliability and amazing app ecosystem, we are uniquely positioned to help OEMs build “appy” cars, without the worry.

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Creating HTML5 apps for the car

Adding a downloadable app capability to the car isn't just a matter of bolting consumer-grade technology onto an automotive hardware platform, dusting your hands, and calling it a day.

Apps should be integrated into the vehicle experience, which means they need access to vehicle resources. But you must carefully control that access: the apps should be isolated in their own environment to protect the rest of the car software. Most of all, the apps need to conform to safe driving practices, which typically entails a re-write of the user interface.

Still, we should leverage as much as possible from the mobile world. That’s where the real innovation happens; the mobile community provides a much bigger pool of fresh ideas than automakers could ever build by themselves. And the best tools and libraries are focused on mobile development.

That’s why QNX Software Systems is building the best of both: an application tool that draws heavily from mobile, but is adapted to the car. It's provisionally named the HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR application platform and, while it isn't yet available to the public, beta versions are now available for QNX CAR platform customers.

For a preview of what we’ll be rolling out, check out this video:

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First look: HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR platform

Whenever I hear the word “ripple,” I think of ice cream: butterscotch ripple, chocolate ripple, lemon ripple, and (yum) strawberry ripple. Well, the video I'm about to show you isn’t about ice cream, but it is about something that’s just as cool and just as sweet: the Ripple mobile environment emulator.

Ripple already supports multiple platforms, such as BlackBerry 10 and Apache Cordova, allowing developers to preview how their apps will look and function on a variety of mobile devices. And now, thanks to extensions provided by the QNX CAR development team, it will also emulate how an app looks and performs in a vehicle infotainment system.

Simply put, the same tool that helps app developers target mobile platforms will also help them target the car.

QNX Software Systems will offer this modded version of Ripple as part of the HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR platform. The goal of the SDK is simple: to help mobile developers and automakers work together on creating apps for in-vehicle infotainment systems.

If you’re a developer, you’ll be able to use the Ripple emulator and its associated Web Inspector to perform JavaScript debugging, HTML DOM inspection, automated testing, and screen-resolution emulation, all from the convenience of a web browser. You’ll also be able to modify your apps and view the results without having to recompile — simply edit your source code and hit refresh in the browser. You’ll even be able to perform remote debugging on the evaluation board or final hardware used by the automaker, again from the same browser environment.

Enough from me. Let’s get the complete scoop from my colleague Andy Gryc:

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It's a Bentley! A guided tour of the new QNX technology concept car

"Bend it, shape it, any way you want it"
— Headline from a QNX advertisement, circa 1987

I’m about to show you some pictures of a car. Not just any car, but a powerful, luxurious, and stunningly beautiful car. A car that has undergone a technological transformation.

If you’re like me, you'll be fascinated by the car’s features, some of which have never been seen in a vehicle — until now. But if you can, remember that it isn’t just about the cool features. It’s also about the platform that enabled them.

I’m speaking, of course, of the QNX CAR application platform.

We created the new QNX technology concept car — a modified Bentley Continental GT — to demonstrate that flexibility and customization form the very DNA of the QNX CAR platform. If you’ve seen the QNX reference vehicle, you already know that the platform provides an extremely rich environment for in-car infotainment, complete with HMI frameworks, smartphone integration, an HTML5 engine, a mobile device gateway, and a host of pre-integrated partner technologies — everything to kickstart our customers' projects. But in the automotive world, differentiation is everything. So it’s just as important that the platform enables customers to add their own branding, features, and sizzle. And to do it quickly.

Ease of branding and
personalization is just one

of the capabilities of the
QNX CAR platform.

Which is where the new concept car comes in. To create it, we used the same base QNX CAR platform that we offer our customers. But when you compare the Bentley to the Jeep, which uses a stock version of QNX CAR, the differences are dramatic: different features, different branding, and a different look-and-feel. In effect, the Jeep shows what QNX CAR can do out of the box, while the Bentley shows what QNX CAR lets you do once you start bending it to your imagination. One platform, many possibilities.

Which brings me to the slogan at the top of this post. It's amazing to think that a core value of QNX technology in the 1980s — giving customers the flexibility to achieve what they want to do — remains just as true today. Some values, it seems, are worth keeping.

And now, the car…
I know that you’re anxious to peek inside the car and see what we’ve done. But before we go any further, take a moment to savor the car’s beautifully sculpted exterior. This is one classy set of wheels. In fact, if you ask me, the wheels alone are worth the price of admission:



The awesome (and full HD) center stack
Okay, time to hop in — but get ready to prop up your jaw. Because the first thing you’ll notice is the jaw-droppingly beautiful center stack. This immense touchscreen features a gracefully curved surface, full HD graphics, and TI’s optical touch input technology, which allows a physical control knob to be mounted directly on the screen — a feature that’s cool and useful. (In the photo below, the clock display appears within the knob.)

The center stack supports a host of applications, including a 3D navigation system from Elektrobit that makes full use of the display. Just check out this bird’s-eye view of the Las Vegas Strip:



So how big is the display? Big enough to provide access to other functions, such as the car’s media player or virtual mechanic, and still have plenty room for navigation. Check it out:



The awesome (and very polite) voice rec system
Time to talk to the car. Just say “Hello Bentley,” and the car’s voice recognition system immediately comes to life and begins to interact with you — in a British accent, no less. You can now tell the media player what you’d like to hear and the navigation system where you’d like to go.

To provide natural language speech recognition, the system uses the cloud-based AT&T Watson speech engine, as well as an “intent framework” from QNX. It also uses keyword spotting technology from Sensory so you can start the system simply by talking to it.

The awesome (and nicely integrated) smartphone support
The Bentley also showcases how the QNX CAR platform enables automakers to offer advanced integration with popular smartphones. For instance, the car can communicate with a smartphone to stream music, or to provide notifications of incoming email, news feeds, and other real-time information — all displayed in a manner appropriate to the automotive context. Here's an example:



The awesome (and just plain fun) web app
I know, I know: the car looks cool, but you’re not at CES this week to see it first-hand. But how about the next best thing? Just connect to the web app and keep tabs on the Bentley in real time. (Note: The car will go online later this morning.) The app lets you view a variety of data that the car publishes to the cloud, such as what song the infotainment system is playing and whether someone has just opened a door. It also displays information that would be extremely helpful if this were your personal car, such as fluid levels and tire pressure. (This is a preliminary screen for the app, so I'm not sure if the tire pressures are realistic.)



UPDATE: The web app is now live, and the desktop version features a live camera feed of the Bentley and Jeep. Check it out!



The awesome (and very configurable) digital instrument cluster
The instrument cluster is implemented entirely in software, though you would hardly know it — the virtual gauges are impressively realistic. But more impressive still is the cluster’s ability to morph itself on the fly. Put the car in Drive, and the cluster will display a tach, gas gauge, temperature gauge, and turn-by-turn directions — the cluster pulls these directions from the center stack’s navigation system (cool, that). Put the car in Reverse, and the cluster will display a video feed from the car’s backup camera.



There are other options as well. For instance, the cluster can display information from the media player or display the current weather:



The awesome everything else
I’ve only scratched the surface of what the car can do. For instance, it also provides:

• Advanced multimedia system — Offers direct support for Pandora radio and the first embedded in-car implementation of the Shazam music discovery service.
   
• Video conferencing with realistic telepresence — Separate cameras for the driver and passenger provide independent video streams, while high-definition voice technology from QNX offers expanded bandwidth for greater realism, as well as stereo telepresence for making the remote caller sound as if they’re sitting right next to you.
   
• LTE connectivity — The car features an LTE radio modem, as well as a Wi-Fi hotspot for devices you bring into the car.

Super size those images
Want to see the center stack and instrument cluster in all their high-resolution glory? Just check out our QNX Flickr account.

That's all for now, but stay tuned: We’ll have plenty more news for you today and all through this week.

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Can I get a roadmap? Amen!

I attended SAE Convergence last week, and I've got a couple observations that I'll be blogging about. Here’s the first.

The Panel
On the second day of the show, I attended a very informative OEM panel moderated by Paul Hansen. Paul asked the automakers what their suppliers could do to help them build their infotainment systems. Alan Amici from Fiat said, "I would like suppliers to share their roadmaps," to which the other OEMs nodded in agreement. On the surface, this seems like a rather gentle, generic request. However, I think it's actually a powerful insight that signals a fundamental change in our industry. Mr. Amici took a cue from our former president Theodore Roosevelt, speaking softly but carrying a big stick. Let me elaborate.

The History
If you stepped back in our way-back machine to three years ago or earlier, you'd find a persistent pattern. Every OEM would fully spec every software feature of every module. Which meant that every Tier 1 and software supplier, including QNX Software Systems, would have to jump through hoops trying to cut, fold, and tear their existing software to meet those custom specs. It also meant building tons of new software on top to fill the gaps. The reasoning here is pretty simple — an automaker is building a custom system, so why not build something that reflects exactly what they want? In this environment, we always presented our software roadmap and the OEMs would look politely, but it rarely influenced their designs. Instead, we ended up providing a completely bespoke version of our software stack.

The Change
About two years ago, we started to notice a powerful undercurrent in automotive that bucks this trend. Why the change? OEMs absolutely need to create consumer relevant products, and to reduce the time required to release them. More and more, they need to reuse rather than re-invent. Several OEMs at the forefront of this trend have already been exploring this. How? By working directly with the Tier 1 and suppliers to design the system with an eye towards heavy reuse of existing technologies, instead of trying to design each system from the ground up.

The Apps
This effort to reuse instead of recreate will be necessary not just to reduce the time of delivery, but also to enable any type of cross-brand app experience. Apps that live in app stores require a consistent set of APIs. It’s very hard to do that if every single OEM is busy customizing and recreating every aspect of the system software. The “we’ll design our own” approach will result in fragmentation even worse than that experienced by the Android community. Unconstrained, it carries the threat of creating dozens of independent silos, with no ability to share apps between car makers. It means dilution of the already small automotive volume into even tinier markets — one for each automaker — which doesn’t bode well for anyone building automotive apps. OEMs will need to buck the desire to customize everything if they want to build a thriving app community.

The Punchline
When automakers are focused on their value-add, like HMI designs and custom features, instead of reinventing plumbing, it helps everyone. The OEMs, the tier ones, and the software suppliers benefit from using a consistent platform amongst themselves. So Mr/Ms Carmaker: would you like to see our roadmaps? We'd absolutely love to share them. We’d even like to help build them with you!

This post originally appeared in Andy's True Gryc blog.

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HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR 2 platform — the back story

Kerry Johnson

Today, at SAE Convergence, QNX Software Systems announced the new HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR 2 application platform. I’d like to provide some insight into this announcement, describe what you can expect to find in the SDK, and explain how it builds on the HTML5 capabilities already available in the QNX CAR 2 application platform.

Enabling apps for the car
Almost every consumer who owns a smart phone or tablet is familiar with the app experience: you go to an online marketplace, find apps of interest, and download them onto your device. With the HTML5 SDK, the automotive team at QNX is creating an analogous experience for the car.

Just as Apple, Android, and RIM provide SDKs to help vendors develop apps for their mobile platforms, QNX has created an SDK to help vendors to build apps for the QNX CAR 2 application platform. The closest analogies you will find to our HTML5 SDK are Apache Cordova and PhoneGap, both of which provide tools for creating mobile apps based on HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and other web technologies.

App developers want to see the largest possible market for their apps. To that end, QNX also announced today that it will participate in the W3C’s Web and Automotive Workshop. The workshop aims to achieve industry alignment on how HTML5 is used in the car and to find common interfaces to reduce platform fragmentation from one automaker to the next. Obviously, app developers would like to see a common auto platform, while automakers want to maintain their differentiation. Thus, we believe the common ground achieved through W3C standardization will be important.

It bears mentioning that, unlike phone and tablet apps, car apps must offer a user experience that takes driver safety into consideration. This is a key issue, but beyond the scope of this post, so I won’t dwell on it here.

So what’s in the SDK, anyway?
As in any SDK, app developers will find tools to build and debug applications, and APIs that provide access the underlying platform. Specifically, the SDK will include:

• APIs to access vehicle resources, such as climate control, radio, navigation, and media playback
• APIs to manage the application life cycle: start, stop, show, hide, etc.
• APIs to discover and launch other applications
• A packaging tool to combine application code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and UI resources (icons, images, etc.) with QNX CAR APIs to create an installable application – a .bar file
• A emulator for the QNX CAR 2 platform to test HTML5 applications
• Oh yeah, and documentation and examples

The development and deployment flow looks something like this:




Emulator and debugging environment
The QNX automotive team has extended the Ripple emulator environment to work with the QNX CAR 2 application platform. Ripple is an emulation environment originally designed for BlackBerry smart phones that RIM has open sourced on github.

Using this extended emulator, application developers can test their applications with the correct screen resolution and layout, and watch how their application interacts with the QNX CAR 2 platform APIs. For example, consider an application that controls audio in a car: balance, fade, bass, treble, volume, and so on. The screenshot below shows the QNX CAR 2 screen for controlling these settings in the Ripple emulator.


Using the Ripple emulator to test an audio application. Click to magnify.

In this example, you can use the onscreen controls to adjust volume, bass, treble, fade, and balance; you can also observe the changes to the underlying data values in the right-hand panel. And you can work the other way: by changing the controls on the right, you can observe changes to the on-screen display. The Ripple interface supports many other QNX CAR 2 features; for examples, see the QNX Flickr page.

You can also use the emulator in conjunction with the Web Inspector debugger to do full source-code debugging of your Javascript code.

Creating native services
Anyone who has developed software for the QNX Neutrino OS knows that we offer the QNX Momentics Tool Suite for creating and testing C and C++ applications. With the QNX CAR 2 application platform, this is still the case. Native-level services are built with the QNX Momentics suite, and HTML5 applications are built with our new HTML5 SDK. We've decided to offer the suite and the SDK as separate packages so that app developers who need to work only in the HTML5 domain needn't worry about the QNX Momentics Tool Suite and vice versa. Together, these toolkits allow you to create HTML5 user interface components with underlying native services, where required.

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Nokia Drive on the Nokia Lumia 900

Two videos of the Nokia Lumia 900 running the Nokia Drive (sat nav) app.

I am using the Surfer Dude voice.

The kids think he sounds funny and they all laugh when he says "Your right, not my right, Dude!"


Recalculating the new route


3D representation of the Ricoh Arena

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So where is QNX going in automotive?

Want a short and sweet intro on what QNX is doing in the automotive industry? Then be sure to check out "A Look At The Near Future Of In-Car Technology," published this week in The Washington Post and in Motor Authority. (Same article in both cases, though Motor Authority has more pictures :-)

The article is based on an interview with my friend and colleague Andy Gryc. It covers the bases, from how QNX technology helps automakers project their brand identities to how it will enable a new generation of apps in the car.

Enough of my blather. Check out the article and let me know what you think.

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QNX CAR 2 — the extended version

The world of video is a ruthless one; just as we posted the QNX CAR demo it was out of date.

But, hold on a minute. As I write this I realize it’s not the video world at all; it’s the software world that creates new technology at breakneck speed. And QNX certainly does its part.

The QNX CAR 2 application platform has come a long way in a matter of months. We needed to update the original video to keep pace with the technology but also to address customer demand for more detailed information.

So this video is a step-by-step demo – definitely not for the tire kicker. But if you really want details on what automakers and tier ones can achieve with QNX CAR technology, hit play.

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8 steps to building a lean and mean HTML5 application

Guest post from Marc Lapierre, HMI developer for the QNX CAR 2 application platform

Have you seen photos of the QNX reference vehicle? If so, you've already caught a glimpse of the rich user experience that HTML5 can bring to car infotainment systems. The vehicle's head unit, in particular, makes extensive use of HTML5.

The members of the QNX CAR 2 team have considerable experience with HTML5, and we follow a number of “best practices” to achieve optimal performance. If you use HTML5, here are 8 techniques proven to help applications perform as smoothly and responsively as possible:

1. Use 3D, rather than 2D, transformations — For example, instead of translateX(x), use translate3d(x,y,z). This will hardware-accelerate the translation. Similar methods exist for most other transformations. Also, avoid animating with JavaScript libraries!

2. Use opacity, rounded corners, and gradients sparingly — If you use these elements sparingly and on mostly static objects, you should achieve decent performance. But when you mix them with animations, buttons, or anything else that gets redrawn often, performance will suffer. Consider using images for framing rather than building components with many specific CSS attributes.

3. When modifying elements, remove them from the DOM — This technique is especially helpful when updating several DOM fields at once. For example, if you are scrolling through a list of 100 contacts and want to refresh them, updating them one by one will cause the list to redraw 100 times. But if you remove the entire list, update it in memory, and then re-add it, you will incur only 2 redraws.

4. Avoid canvas and SVG — Hardware acceleration for canvas isn’t always available in WebKit or other browsers, and might incur performance hits in some cases. Likewise, SVG isn’t always accelerated on mobile and embedded platforms.

5. Hide elements you don’t need — Adding display:none to elements that don’t need to be displayed will prevent them from being rendered.

6. Don’t link across pages — When developing websites, it is common to link across pages. But in mobile applications, this approach detracts from the user experience — when using an app, it can be jarring to see the white screen that often appears when moving from one page to another. For a better UX, use AJAX requests to pull in data dynamically, and update your interface accordingly when the result is received.

7. Avoid libraries intended for the desktop — Some JavaScript libraries are designed for use on a desktop browser with a powerful CPU. Try to limit the number of third-party JavaScript libraries included in your application or seek out versions optimized for mobile use.

8. Use image sprites for pre-loading active element states — For example, using sprites for buttons with a “pressed” state allows you to have the alternative state pre-cached and ready to display, rather than having to load or draw assets on demand.

What about you? Do you have any resource-saving or performance-optimizing techniques that you’d like to share?

---

Marc Lapierre is an HMI developer on the QNX CAR 2 application platform team, where he focuses on development of user applications using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3, and on improving coding efficiency and standards in this environment. Before joining QNX Software Systems, Marc worked at RIM, developing social networking and multimedia applications for smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

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New webinar: Understanding mobile apps for the car

You're an app developer. You're looking for new opportunities. You were hoping, perhaps, that Web-connected refrigerators would be the next big thing. Being first to market with a fridge app — that would have been cool, right? I mean, literally.

Problem is, the market for fridge apps hasn't warmed up yet. I'm sure it will, though. But until then, why not the car? Cars are already connected. Car makers want to make them even more connected. And those cars will need apps, whether those apps are hosted on a phone, in the cloud, or in the car itself.

Interested? Intrigued? Then set your calendar to the webinar happening this Thursday, June 28, at 1:00 pm ET. Here's the official synopsis:

Wouldn't your app look good here?

Understanding Mobile Apps for Automotive

Today's merger of mobile handsets and automotive platforms is creating a brand-new market for app developers. However there are many differences between a phone and car.

This session provides an introduction to the automotive market for the app developer looking to get into this space. Learn how a car infotainment system is structured, UI considerations that help prevent driver distraction, why HTML5 promises to be the next killer development environment for the car, and more.

On the downside, you won't learn about apps for white goods. But, because the webinar is hosted by my inimitable colleague Andy Gryc, who has actually written software for cars, you will get the straight goods. Which is, well, cool.
 

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Moving beyond the browser: HTML5 as an automotive app environment

If you’ve already visited this blog, you’ll know that we are bullish on HTML5 as a way to implement infotainment system HMIs. Not surprisingly, I’ve spent a fair amount of time searching the Web for facts and opinions on using HTML5 in the car, to see how this idea is catching on.

Overall, people see numerous benefits, such as the ability to leverage mobile app development to keep pace with the consumer demands, the availability of a large pool of knowledgeable developers, and the attractiveness of a truly open specification supported by many possible vendors.

But when it comes to the challenges of making HTML5 a reality in the car, I found a common thread of questions, mostly rooted in the erroneous belief that an HTML5 application environment is “just a browser.” Everyone is familiar with the concept of a browser, so it’s easy to see why people take this point of view.

So what are the key differences between a browser and an HTML5 application environment? Here’s my quick view.

The experience
Everyone is familiar with the browser experience. You navigate to a web site through bookmarks, a search engine, or direct entry of a URL. The browser implements a user interface (aka the chrome) around a rendering engine and provides bookmarks, URL entry, back and forward, scrolling and panning, and other familiar features.

An automotive HMI based on HTML5 provides a different experience — just look at the accompanying screen shots and decide for yourself if they look like a browser. In fact, the user experience of an HTML5-based HMI is similar to that of any other purpose-built HMI. It can consist of a main screen, window management, navigation controls, and other typical user interface widgets.


A radio tuner and a media player from the QNX CAR 2 application platform. Both apps are based on HTML5, but beyond that, they neither act nor look like a web browser.

A system that uses an HTML5-based HMI can include:

• core applications that look and act like native applications
   
• add-on (downloaded and installed) applications that have controlled interfaces to the underlying hardware
   
• “web link” applications that simply link to a cloud-hosted application that can be downloaded on demand and cached

The web link approach makes it easy to update applications: just update the server and the remote client systems will automatically pull the application when needed.

Local resources
Web browsers pull text, images, and other content from the web and render it on the user’s machine. The process of loading this remote content accounts for much of the user’s wait time. This paradigm changes with a local HTML5 application environment — because resources can exist locally, images and other components can load much more quickly.

What’s more, screens and user interfaces can be designed to fit the platform’s display characteristics. There is no need for panning and scrolling, and only limited need for zooming. Resources such as RAM can be optimized for this experience.

Security and sandboxing
Browsers load content and executable JavaScript code dynamically. This really is the power of the web technologies. The problem is, dynamically loaded code represents a threat to an embedded platform.

Browsers are designed to be sandboxed. By default, JavaScript code can execute only in the context of a browser engine, and cannot access the underlying operating system primitives and hardware. This approach changes in an HTML5 application environment. To give JavaScript code the ability to behave like a native application, the environment needs interfaces to the underlying OS through to the hardware. Plugins are used to implement these HTML5-to-OS interfaces.

Nonetheless, access to the underlying platform must be carefully controlled. Hence, a security scheme forms a critical component of the HTML5 application environment.

Application packaging
The app experience has become familiar to anyone who owns a smartphone or tablet. An HTML5 application environment in the car can also support this kind of experience: developers create and sign application packages, and users can download those packages from an application store. In an automotive context, authenticity of the applications and control over what they can or cannot do is critical. Again, a security model that enforces this forms a key part of the HTML5 application environment.

So, how should you think of an HTML5 application environment?
From my perspective, an HTML5 environment is like any other traditional HMI toolkit, but with much more flexibility and with inherent support for connected applications. In an HTML5 application environment, you can find technologies similar to those of any proprietary toolkit, including:

• a rendering engine (HTML5 rendering engine)
• a set of content authoring and packaging tools
• layout specifications (HTML5 and CSS3)
• a programming language (JavaScript)
• an underlying data model (DOM)

The difference is, these components are developed with a web experience in mind. This, to me, is the most significant benefit: the web platform is open, scalable, and well understood by countless developers.

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Report from CTIA Wireless: Apps in the Car

You wouldn’t think that CTIA Wireless, a mobile show, would be a good venue for a car guy. But automotive journalist Doug Newcomb put together a set of panels that managed to attract everyone from the automotive industry who attended the show.

I met a good number of friends from a variety of automakers, tier one suppliers, and hardware and software vendors. I also had the distinct pleasure of participating in one of Doug's panels, which was moderated by Damon Lavrinc of WIRED.

The topic was the future of apps in the car, and it generated a spirited discussion. Panel participants included Geoff Snyder from Pandora, Michelle Avary from Toyota, Henry Bzeih from Kia, and Scott Burnell from Ford — all experts on the topic.

Andy speaking on the

apps panel. Videos of all

the panels are now online.

In general, we agreed: apps are coming to the car. They have already arrived in several cases, and it’s only a matter of time before they come to mass-market vehicles. And apps are not for North American alone: it's a worldwide phenomenon.

Mind you, we engaged in lively debate on a number of questions: What role does the mobile app developer play? How to deal with the fragmentation caused by different OEM app platforms? How to deal with driver distraction? And when will the "one man app" ever make it into the car? We all had good and varied opinions on these topics, and the session was very well received by the audience.

Derek Kuhn, QNX vice president of sales and marketing, also participated in a panel session, titled "Can we all just get along… for the consumer's sake?". That panel focused on how the industry as a whole can create a more seamless experience for the consumer. Derek's co-panelists included Mark Harland from GM, Leo McCloskey from Airbiquity, Brian Radloff from Nuance, and Niall Berkery from Telenav.

Did I mention? Videos of all the panels are now on Doug Newcomb's website — check them out!
 

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OnStar RemoteLink app comes to BlackBerry smartphones

This just in: The RemoteLink App from OnStar, which allows smartphone owners to remotely start their vehicles, check fuel levels, and lock or unlock their doors, is now available for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 phones.

RemoteLink has been available for iPhone and Android phones, but many OnStar subscribers have asked for a BlackBerry version of the app. In response, Onstar wrote a new version for the BlackBerry platform, in HTML5.

“Writing the app using HTML5... positioned us to be more flexible supporting new phone operating systems,” said Steve Schwinke, director of advanced systems development for OnStar.

Opening screen
for RemoteLink
© GM Company 

In 2011, OnStar added navigation to RemoteLink, allowing users to search for a destination on their smartphone and send it directly to their vehicle. Users can then access the route through the QNX-powered OnStar system.

By leveraging OnStar’s connection to the vehicle, the app can report on oil levels, tire pressures, fuel level, and lifetime miles per gallon. It also offers remote commands, such as remote start, door lock/unlock, and horn/light activation.

According to OnStar, a total of 821,000 smartphone owners actively use the RemoteLink app.

To read OnStar's press release, click here. To download the RemoteLink app from BlackBerry App World, click here.

On a related note, here's a conversation between QNX's Andy Gryc and OnStar's Steve Schwinke. The topic: how HTML5 can benefit the auto industry.


 

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Sound "bytes" from CTIA Wireless 2012

Several of my colleagues went to CTIA Wireless this week, and yes, they took the connected Porsche with them. No surprise there, of course: we’ve also taken the car to CES, MWC, BBW, and numerous other events. (Sorry, I’m really into acronyms today.) The Porsche, with its QNX-powered mobile connectivity and HD hands-free audio, seems to impress people no matter where it goes, and the reaction at CTIA was no different. In fact, the folks from Black Enterprise were so stoked, they awarded the car a CTIA Best in Show award. How cool is that?

Here’s a snap of the award, sitting on the car’s dash:



Meanwhile, Boonsri Dickinson of BYTE met up with Andy Gryc to ask him about QNX’s vision and technology for the connected car. Here's a video of their conversation — in the Porsche, of course:



Andy didn't spend all of his time in the passenger seat. Both he and Derek Kuhn also participated in connected car panels moderated by automotive journalist Doug Newcomb. The panels included "Apps in Automotive: The Future of In-Car Content" and "Can We All Just Get Along, for the Consumer's Sake?". From what I've heard, both sessions were taped, and I hope to post a link to the videos next week.
 

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Rockin' the phone at BlackBerry World

I'm at BlackBerry World 2012 (as you already know if you're following my tweets), and it really is amazing.

In his keynote, RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins provided stats on how the average BlackBerry user isn't just connected, but hyper-connected. BlackBerry users engage in more social media, use more organizational tools, and download more apps per day than other smartphone users. (I wasn't quick enough to type up all the stats, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.)

Introducing the BlackBerry
10 dev alpha device

Is the BlackBerry platform an entertainment tool? Productivity tool? Social media hub? All of these, but more than anything else, BlackBerry creates success. The 77 million BlackBerry users worldwide are more agile, productive, competitive, and nimble than their counterparts.

Here are some great factoids I was able to capture:

• Mippin is a worldwide mobile development shop responsible for 50,000 apps on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. But BlackBerry accounts for 70% of their downloads.
   
• Occipital offers a very cool panorama camera app, which they demo'd this morning. It took them only 7 days to port to BlackBerry 10, and it already performs better than the Android version.
   
• Fishlabs creates mobile games. It took them one day to port Galaxy on Fire to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. (And it is one awesome app — I gotta go download it tonight :-)
   
• App World for the PlayBook underwent 240% growth in Q4 2011.
   
• 90% of Fortune 500 companies standardize on BlackBerry.
   

Stay tuned for more pix and reports from what promises to be an awesome show!

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HTML5: Bustin' the myths

Did you know you can build HTML5 apps that don't use an Internet connection? Did you know you can run HTML5 apps without a web browser? And did you know HTML5 apps can show snappy performance even on automotive silicon? (As you can well imagine, in-car infotainment systems don't ship with quad-core server-class CPUs.)

If you answered no to any of these questions, you need to stop for a minute and check out this interview with QNX Software Systems' Kerry Johnson. Heck, even if you answered yes to all three questions, you'll probably still appreciate what Kerry has to say — and besides, you'll catch a glimpse of a complete in-car UI coded in HTML5. What could be bad?



While I have you, check out Andy Gryc's Q&A series on HTML5, if you haven't already. You'll find the first two installments here and here.
 

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