Remember how the heads of Volkswagen and Daimler were urging their fellow automakers not to drink so much Google Kool-Aid? General Motors thinks the punch isn’t spiked at all, pressing forward with a plan to bring Android into its brand portfolio by late 2016.
Automotive News reports supplier Harman International will be the one to supply the new connected-vehicle system to GM, having won a $900 million contract in 2012 for the right to do so. CEO Dinesh Paliwal explains what’s in store for consumers when they sit behind the wheel of an Android-powered vehicle:
As you would expect, this next-generation infotainment solution will enable an app store, which allows this infotainment system to stay technologically relevant over the life cycle of the vehicle. Apps will be developed by General Motors, Harman and a bunch of other third parties, not just Google and Apple.
Harman, a member of the Open Automotive Alliance, will also make their system available to other automakers, so long as they don’t mind being “one life cycle behind” GM, who would be the first to use the system.
As for where in the lineup the first Harman/Android units will turn up, Paliwal didn’t say. At present, though, it may be a while before full assimilation occurs; within Chevrolet alone, QNX, Linux and Microsoft rule the day in vehicles like the Malibu, Impala and Sonic.
Meanwhile, GM hasn’t commented on Paliwal’s announcement. The automaker had planned to roll-out a service called AppShop, announced during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, only to bail this summer when the service failed to meet consumer expectations.
The post GM, Harman Delivering Android-Equipped Vehicles By Late 2016 appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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