MirrorLink Consortium Wants Your Phone's Apps in Your Car
A new technology connecting smartphones, their apps, and the car debuted this month, and a list of companies supporting it implies more will follow.
Originally designed by Nokia, the MirrorLink standard allows a phone to connect to a car’s head unit or infotainment system. The promise of MirrorLink is that the technology will eventually allow a smartphone’s app to run in conjunction with the car, using the phone for connectivity, and the in-dash unit for a show, audio output, and GPS navigation.
On Sept. 13, MirrorLink became a reality, but with a single head unit and phone combination, for now. Alpine’s ICS-X8 App Link Station will start shipping in Europe for an undisclosed price, and with phones that run Symbian Belle. Persons include the Nokia 701, Nokia 700, and Nokia 600, and it will become available for the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, Nokia X7 and Nokia C6-01 models at a later date. Support for the the Nokia N9 is also intended, Nokia said.
How does it work? “The consumer goes to the car and connects to the smartphone with a USB cable to the hard unit,” said Mika Rytkonen, the chairman of the Car Connectivity Consortium, which is overseeing the partnership. “The car can see and get access to the content on the smartphone, and the car maker will determine what applications or content can be seen on the car.”
In a video revelation, a Nokia phone used what presumably was its Ovi Maps application, which was showed on the in-car unit. It also played music from the phone; pulling content from external sources, such as a hard drive or USB key, is something that most cars can do, though.
With MirrorLink, though, the promise is that more and more apps will be qualified for MirrorLink. To succeed, apps makers need to design MirrorLink-compatible versions of their apps, and head-unit makers, smartphone manufacturers and carmakers need to support the standard,” Rytkonen said.
Fortunately, a number of top names have signed on. The members include Android handset maker and proposed acquisition Motorola, but not Apple.
In all, the members include: Alpine, BT Software and Research, Clarion Co. Ltd., Daimler, Delphi, Denso, Garmin International, General Motors, Honda R&D Co., Ltd., HTC, Hyundai Motor Company, Ixonos, J & K Car Electronics Corp., jambit GmbH, KDDI Corporation, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, Panasonic, PSA Automotive, Samsung, Sony Corporation, Sony Ericsson AB, RealVNC Limited, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Toyota and Volkswagen.
Additional efforts to combine apps with the car include the Ford Sync AppLink and the Pioneer AppRadio for iOS apps.
At a Car Connectivity showcase this week in Chicago, Rytkonen said he saw real products by Samsung, as well as Ixonos, Nokia, Alpine, and one additional.
“I am expecting the market’s first products in Nov. 2011, then we will see some real product launches later in 2012 and 2014,” Rytkonen said.
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MirrorLink Consortium Wants Your Phone's Apps in Your Car
