Hotwiring the future of in-car tech with a smartphone and Raspberry Pi
Most current in-car infotainment and "telematics" systems follow a common theme in their design. For the sake of safety, branding, and a sustained source of revenue, they shackle vehicle owners to an integrated system that does poorly the things that smartphones already do well. The "connected car" dream has arrived in small doses on selected vehicles, and it has idiosyncrasies that drive vehicle owners who've become used to the power and simplicity of smartphone apps a little bit crazy.
OK, a lot crazy. A few months back, I ranted about my personal experience with MyFord Touch and the shortcomings of in-car technology. It seemed like the car makers were missing the point with systems that tried to copy smartphone features and to get developers to code for their own proprietary platforms. While a recent upgrade to MyFord Touch (that I had installed at a dealership) has solved many of the problems that drove me to distraction, it's still a locked-down environment that gets in my way more often than it does what I want.
