Where Garmin is Headed!

I will not buy a vehicle with that manure in it.

Good to know!!! I'll never buy a vehicle with Garmin "failware" in it!!!

Ya and you would never buy a car with that crappy fuel injection junk on it either.

I had said I'd never buy a smartphone.

Or never trust anyone over 30.

Will it fit a 51 Kaiser. Then I will get one.

I don't see a problem with it. I won't mine if its my car. Got to see what car companies will have it installed on their cars. This is where cars will be going in the future.

I like my Kenwood (powered by Garmin) GPS/Entertainment system. The screen is a good size, and it doesn't block my view.

However, I've been getting concerned about the growth of in dash intelligence that car makers are adding to their cars. It may be difficult, if not impossible, to install an aftermarket GPS/entertainment system in newer cars, especially since they're turning into computers on wheels.

If the car's built in GPS and Entertainment Systems had the capabilities of aftermarket units, it might be OK. But generally you can't add POIs and the new maps are incredibly expensive, even compared to the $80/year cost of updating my Kenwood.

Given all that, I'm not sure if I should be excited or frightened by the link.

With smart phones getting better at navigation the future of stand alone GPS units is unclear. I like the thought of the car linking to an existing phone much better than the car having it's own phone line (that I have to pay for each month). I've run torque on a Samsung tablet and the virtual gauges are nice in some ways. You can easily change the appearance and size for instance.

I'm not sure where all this is going but I see redundancies in the current system that cost money so I'd like them to be done differently. I don't see why the car needs a satellite radio, for instance, if there is a smart phone on board. There are internet audio providers (I have used Sky) that are "free" and seem like they provide at least a similar function. The car should be able to accept that audio. I also like getting phone calls through the cars speakers. My idea is that we need our cars to work with the devices we already have with us rather than duplicating their functions.

So I am looking for less stand alone devices and better integration of the vehicle with my phone. I wouldn't mind if the car's audio and even vehicle information displays were more like a tablet. Modern cars already have a computer so thinking you don't want that in your car is pretty silly. More and more things will go this route for efficiency reasons. So the debate we need to have is which functions will be built into the car and which will be in stand-alone devices. I am not sure that a separate GPS will always be on the short list of necessary items. If the cars are set up right it doesn't have to be.

The only reason I would be interested in Garmin as provider of a bigger more functional system is they do man-machine interface better than most. Anybody who has driven a recent Ford with their fancy display can appreciate that it is possible to mess this up. I spent 10 minutes looking for a way to control the radio volume (buttons on the wheel may be the only way and I was tired and didn't think of it). Garmin might be as bad but I don't think they will. Our GPSs work a lot better than my smart phones if you try to get info from them while driving.

Jim

If Garmin offers an in car system maybe they will offer Life time Maps with them.
Nice thought!!

What do you think that option will cost?

JimD1 hit it on the head. It will be like Onstar and all the others. You want your car to run you will have to pay a subscription fee...

Sync was a game changer and ushered in the BYOD (Bring your own device) which all except GM are adopting.

So would a great many buyers but I don't see it happening for some time because of the economies of scale in a "one-size-fits-all" world.

Cell phone service isn't everywhere, and even if it was it is doubtful the system could handle the number of simultaneous connections requiring that amount of bandwidth required to service more than a few dozen connections.
[edit] Cell phone service and your data connection is a point-to-point service in that one user requires a full time connection. Satellite radio on the other hand is a point-to-multipoint connection in that many people share the same data stream connection.

Depending on who your carrier is, you can't have simultaneous data connections (needed for music) and voice. Even with LTE, those carriers not using the GSM protocols can't do both data and voice at the same time.

Right now, there are some very valid concerns over driver distractions. Putting more functions onto larger dash mounted displays is fueling a lot of the concern. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has raised cautionary flags but if automakers persist in incorporating more functions into devices that divert the driver's attention, then they will probably step in and enact regulations that will stop virtually all interactive displays and controls.

You pretty much summed it up in your last statement. It may not be so bad if you own a particular car as you can learn all the functions and their controls. Pity the poor traveler stepping into a rental for the first time. I know I had to ask the attendant how I started the car I was assigned the first time I saw a button labeled "Start."

I don't like having the nav in the car, as I cannot easily update it myself.

There is a really "easy" solution to this issue. Just mandate that all displays and buttons cease functioning while the vehicle is moving and all control must be done thru voice commands. We have the technology. You can ask the car what where to get a burrito or tell it to make it warmer or what the weather is like on the other side of the windshield.

Looks interesting...

The Kenwood GPS (powered by Garmin) is easy to update; just stick a new SD card in it. Downloadable maps and a maps for life subscription would be nice, but not essential. The POI Loader works fine.

I like having the GPS in the car. The screen is bigger and doesn't block the windshield.

I'm aware of the concern over distracted drivers. The temptations of smart phones, as well as other things, is too much for some people. But the other side of the coin is I spend a few hours on a pretty wide open interstate highway every few weeks. If somebody needs me, there are hours when I can take a call (hands free) without it creating a risky situation. If I need to, I pull over.

I'm still hoping that the regulations deal with the obvious items. Nobody should be texting or doing emails while driving. Maybe if your device reads them to you and you reply verbally but I'm not even sure that is OK. I guess it's no worse than a phone call. If the technology was in place, kind of is now, to know the traffic level, I would be OK with shutting down the phone and the rest of it in heavy traffic (or heavy traffic above 20mph). The only option I would want to keep is to be notified of a call (and who) so I could pull over and call them back. I'd also turn off the phone for drivers in their first year or two of driving.

It's really hard to come up with rules that we shouldn't need in the first place. We shouldn't need to be told not to text and drive and not to be on the phone in heavy traffic. But obviously some people do need to be told.

Jim

Keep it up though. Idealists' benevolent ideas and enthusiastic drives help push us toward a better world.

I just don't the point of it.

Garmin does seem to do some strange things from time to time.

Maybe, but according to the Inrix website, Garmin has partnered with them to provide the traffic on upcoming models. Based on a tip on POI Factory, I have used the Inrix mobile app and found it quite good. It is very accurate -- much more so than the Traffic on my current Garmin GPSr.

Many companies have done quite well financially for a decade or two. Not all survive changes in the marketplace (cell phones) or the internal thoughts of the leadership of the company. Perhaps this is one of those cases.

Fred

Have you used a Garmin voice-command device? Saying it's not ready for prime-time is generous. Garmin's voice recognition engine is among the worst.

Garmin makes great hardware, with crippled unsupported software. Until Garmin quits treating software like the red headed stepchild of the company, ideas like a vehicle dashboard are a recipe for disaster.

Terrific, as long as profits from this on board digital junk are used to further develop the handheld eTrex/Oregon & Nuvi lines. However the way corporations work it is usually the opposite that happens. Profits from older established lines & customers are usually milked to developed "new markets."
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BTW might this this be a prelude for a full corporate take over by a automobile company? If so then perhaps the best "Garmin buy" might be a position in Garmin stock!

You will notice I use an 885T which was one of their first units with voice commands. The biggest issue with these isn't so much that the software doesn't work well, it's the ambient noise and the distance the unit is from the speaker. In all actuality, when it comes to discriminating against ambient noise, it does its job about as well as that 19.99 bluetooth headset n your ear.

My problem seems to be the newer units 3790 has many of the voice commands removed. I cannot zoom the screen, I cannot search for pois using a near command......

garmin needs to get its android and smartphone apps working first

We may not have a choice. Like front wheel drive (generally), and electronic ignition vs. points. So, I could live with it.

I thought the "8 track" was the last gasp in auto audio systems...

"Be not the first by whom the new is tried, nor the last to set the old aside"

I've made this saying "mine" and it has saved me numerous times!

I like the quote but just cannot afford the new.

I'm reminded of the preY2K top ten Letterman style joke that went something like "What would our automotive experience be if Microsoft took control of your car's electrical/electronics systems (wish I had it so I could reproduce it here)? Situations like having to reboot while going down the highway, messages like "are you sure?" every time you turn on your directional, "blue screens of death" when you hit the brakes, incompatibilities w/key roads, turning on the ignition and receiving a "driver not found" message, and of course all those ever popular returns to the dealership for upgrades, updates, reinstalls etc.

Makes for a great thread, but Garmin writing electronic dash software is a grandiose & hysterical idea, sort of like Microsoft doing the same.

That is one large navi screen. I'm use to the 7" ones that one looks like 10" or 12". Anyhow, garmin is fine as long as you can pic the maps used. Navteq or TeleAtlus.

Right. I have enough trouble with the appliances understanding my voice commands for my "smart" GPS and my "smart" voice activation on my car. Harassing the driver by making him/her repeat the same thing over and over in frustration can be very distracting. I'd rather have a touch screen, and there is no reason to prevent a PASSENGER from using it while the car is moving. Forcing the driver to pull over on a highway so that the passenger can use a touch screen is dumb and dangerous.

I read some stat showing that changing the car radio is responsible for 20% of car accidents.

presumably, stretching for that satnav adds another 20%...