Cloudy Skies Ahead

No, this post isn't about weather forecasting.  In fact, the cloud referenced in the title is all about information and entertainment.  In your car.  Soon.  All from a system that hosts all of your information and entertainment choices in a cloud.

Wired.com is always good for scaring the digital bits and bites out of ya...so to speak.

Automobiles will soon be linking up with servers in the cloud to enable everything from crowdsourced pothole detection, personalized radio stations, video selections that include YouTube and even video streams from the front windows of other cars.

Yeah, but how fast will it be? 

a high speed LTE internet connection that promises to make 3G feel like dial-up.

The cloud will do a lot of the heavy lifting thus reducing the installed hardware needed in each car; potentially keeping costs within reach of the average buyer.  

“Once you assume constant connectivity, the whole mindset changes of where you partition what’s in the car and what’s out in the cloud,” said Dodge. “Other than this nice, rich touch screen, a lot of the computing power has been moved onto the cloud, so the car of the future may be physically cheaper to build.”

 Of course they have to mention radio in more detail...

The losers in all of this: satellite navigation and radio. They appear to have about three years, tops, before personalized applications and cloud computing make them look as outdated as black-and-white television.

Thanks for that!

Look, we already knew this was coming.  No surprise here.  Surely audio streaming will be part of the plan for these systems and they probably will still provide traditional radio tuners as well--so we'll still be in the game. 

Like now, how good we are will determine how well we do.

How well will you do when your competition is 40,000 competitors vs. the 30 or 40 radio stations in your market now? 

Read the full article here

Chrysler Motoring Forward

Chrysler has announced it will be bringing in-dash internet to Chrysler products...fast.

Initially the user will need a wireless phone subscription to access the Internet, because the system relies on the signal from cellular towers. The company hopes to provide full coverage without a separate mobile phone line in future, however.

But there is more to this story. It's not a radio story, but one of how a troubled company in a troubled industry is changing how it operates and deploys new ideas and technologies.

Working and thinking like a small company is how Chrysler hopes to weather the current economic storm. We told you just last week about Chrysler’s plan to implement new technologies and product updates on-demand rather than waiting for product refresh cycles, and now it looks like one of the first implementations of the fast-moving method with be the addition of in-car web access to its lineup.

Chrysler hopes to be the first maker to sell vehicles equipped with on-the-go access. BMW announced its own in-car Internet access plan in late February this year, but will only be rolling web-enabled cars off its assembly line at the end of 2008, and even then only in Europe. Rather than wait for its factories to gear up for the production, Chrysler will be sending the units straight to the dealers to be installed. Once the factory installation is ramped up, they will take over for the dealers, according to the Washington Post.

The move is not just focused on bringing extra features to Chrysler cars, but also to Chrysler dealerships. Robert Nardelli, Chrysler CEO, said “We’re aggressively moving to capture more of the customer service and parts business by focusing on what dealers need to increase their profitability.”

Bravo!

Chrysler is the first US automaker to jump into what will be a rapidly growing segment of standard equipment--in dash internet. And while that's a story by itself; I think it is noteworthy that this old line company, under new management, is adjusting its operational mentality to try to be nimble and responsive. A move that could change the company's fortunes going forward.

It takes courage and vision to make these moves...the same two words that need to fuel the radio industry in the months and years to come.

You can read this and other motoring stories at Motor Authority