Renault Opens Up the ‘Car as Platform’ - Tech Europe - WSJ ⇢

Open innovation is finding it’s way into the automotive industry through an pre-installed tablet with Android.

PARIS — Renault has launched what it describes as a “tablet,” an integrated Android device built into its next range of cars, effectively opening the way to the car-as-a-platform.

[…]

“The car is becoming a new platform,” said Mr. Hoffstetter. He said the seven-inch device can be controlled by voice recognition or by buttons on the steering wheel. “We need help now,” he said. “We need developers to work on apps.”

When it launches, there will be about 50 apps bundled with the device, mostly written by Renault. “We will open a Renault app store for people to download their own apps,” he said.

Although Mr. Hoffstetter would not be drawn on the exact terms for developers, he said there would be a revenue share. “Although we are mainly concerned with adding value for our customers, an app store could be an extra revenue stream for Renault”, he said.

Knowing it is a really difficult task of opening up the closed way of thinking in the automotive industry, this is an interesting approach. The main question with this car centric approach remains, what would people really want with a fixed tablet in the car when they are having an as powerful tool in their pocket? 

12 December 59

futureopenautomotivecrowdsourcing

Share

Short URL:

Notes

1. selena12gomez likes this
2. diana2345d likes this
3. ionelpaun likes this
4. futurist-foresight likes this
5. lhjohnston reblogged this from emergentfutures
6. lhjohnston likes this
7. torringtonroad reblogged this from emergentfutures
8. ahandsomestark reblogged this from futuramb
9. jmedcdesign reblogged this from emergentfutures and added:

   @rstmsn

10. jmedcdesign likes this
11. themodernworld reblogged this from futuramb and added:

    Apps for your car.

12. emergentfutures reblogged this from futuramb
13. naranzarian likes this
14. christinebeardsell likes this
15. This was featured in #Tech
16. futuramb posted this