I’m pleased to see that Volkswagen has re-branded its automotive software organisation as CARIAD, as I was never completely sure which letters to capitalise and where the full stop went in ‘Car.Software Org’. It’s also great to see from its new website that Volkswagen is really getting behind bundling together its software competencies and further expand them, building upon a heritage of bringing automotive innovation to everyone.
Connected Car
Successful In-Car Entertainment needs you to be both local and global and cover all demographics
The in-car entertainment space is getting really exciting. Initially, it was dominated by radio. In the last 10 years, audio remains still dominant, with other audio services such as Deezer, Radioline, Radioplayer, and Spotify, some of which we’ve successfully integrated into the In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems for some of the major auto brands. The next step that we’re working with the car OEMs on is bringing video streaming to the party, for passengers in the rear at any time and those in the front when the car is stationary, such as when an electric vehicle is charging.
Local heroes – the true force in regional markets
There are a number of video services that are finding success by producing original content that has broad appeal across multiple markets while accommodating local flavours. However, a significant share of eyeballs are focused on catch-up, TV and VOD services that produce content with real local relevance. Be it Globo in Brazil, ALTBalaji in India, iQiyi in China or ivi.ru in Russia – they all are important “local heroes” in their part of the world.
The millennials are coming to the car and they demand content: Are you ready?
Radio has long stood as the dominant form of entertainment in the car due to being so easy to use and delivering a great user experience. Curated content at the simple touch of a button – it’s perfect for drivers. It’s also perfect for OEMs as a radio aerial can pick up signals of local channels anywhere in the world, making it very easy to implement when mass-producing cars for global distribution. But radio and in-car listening are set to undergo a fundamental change as cars become increasingly connected and we see a shift towards streaming. OEMs need to act now if they are to stay ahead.
Banishing backseat boredom for kids in cars
When I was a child, a long car journey meant answering potentially tricky questions about school homework, or far worse, listening to my parent’s music. Portable music devices solved this to some extent. However, listening to my music was only exciting for so long while stuck in the backseat of a car.