Advanced car apps for smarter driving experience
Today, perhaps the most realistic piece of machine that is “smart,” can anticipate users’ moves, and help them coordinate with others doing the same activity is parked right inside the garage. Thanks to ingenious apps and constant improvement on connectivity, destinations, routes to be taken, and even reminders for the day will be done for users, after they have comfortably strapped themselves into the driver’s seat.
Roadshow names formidable luxury car leader BMW as the head of the pack. While other driving apps recommend roads that the driver should take, what the BMW app does is actually help users program their itinerary in advance. The app will locate the addresses that they need to go to and put them first to-visit list, and show the estimated driving time it will take to get to the destinations. Make visits to those places regular, and the app will track it and make the necessary recommendations. The app’s structure does not allow users to miss any appointment; however, it is also flexible enough that they can make a few changes should the need arise.
Future Motions Inc. meanwhile takes Android users down a different road with its Onewheel app, which programs and customise the kind of ride users want to have on their smartphone. With the computer in their smart car linked to their mobile device, their vehicle will run at your preferred speed and motion, without drivers relinquishing the wheel. According to the app's creators, Onewheel apps have three programming choices: a comfortable cruise, a looser pace at 16 MPH, and a more adventurous ascent that makes allowances for rough roads, bumps and gravelly terrain.
What is important to note in both the BMW and Onewheel apps are an interlinking between the car’s computer, a mobile device and the app to produce a “dream ride” for the driver.
“The day of the singular platform is almost over, especially with the coming of the Internet Of all Things,” says Gil Amelio, president of tech company 5BARz International, which produces and distributes a disruptive technology known as the network extender. This portable plug-and-play device, which has gained fast traction since its launch the past few years in major countries like India, boosts weakening cell signals up to the maximum five bars.
“We anticipated a growing mobility among our users,” Amelio, who is also a former CEO of Apple, continues. “They are frequent travellers and destination-loving tourists. Regardless of where they are going or what vehicle they are riding, they also want connectivity to be constant. In designing the network extender, we made it capable of accessing strong cell signals even in remote areas or densely populated buildings. An app like the BMW and Onewheel would need constant connectivity especially if the vehicle owner is on the road, and he wants to plug his smartphone with its app to his car’s computer.”
The next step of the transport-by-apps evolution would have a social dimension, says Daimler Trucks. The transport giant has gone ahead of the competition and has linked its more than 300,000 trucks through the Fleetboard systems and Detroit Connect systems. Approximately a total of 400 sensors are in those trucks monitoring all kinds of data. The system connects truck drivers, suppliers, warehouse and logistics managers, and other key players in the supply chain system. Efficiency is heightened as this new digital interactivity advises everyone in the concerned itinerary the estimated arrival times of vehicles, their expected departure times, the truck’s status, and other important information. Truck drivers and warehouse owners alike do not have to call their cell phones to discover the location and current activity of their colleagues and the goods they are producing.
Transport is exploring its social aspects while enhancing the personal comfort of the individual driver or vehicle owner. With apps and smart systems acting as their guides, there is no way but up in their journey to innovation.
