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When the 2018 Toyota Camry comes out later this year, it will come with a new generation infotainment system in the dashboard that Toyota calls Entune 3.0. Behind the scenes, this new system relies on Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), an open-source operating system hosted by The Linux Foundation.
The Camry marks the first production win for AGL, and the Linux proponents behind it couldn't have asked for a more popular car to host its debut. Toyota sold an average of 396,000 Camrys in the US every year over the past decade.
Automotive infotainment systems, which usually combine navigation, digital audio, hands-free phone calling and third-party apps, have been developed by automakers and equipment suppliers alike, leading to fragmentation and disparate interfaces unique to each brand of vehicle. AGL attempts to make a unified dashboard operating system, freeing automotive software engineers from individual platform development.
The current-generation Entune system in Toyota vehicles works reasonably well, providing in-dash navigation, the ability to play music from connected smartphones and Toyota's own app integration system, which lets drivers search Yelp or perform more general online searches to find destinations. The adoption of AGL could give Toyota a more future-proof system, with software that can be updated as cars age.
Toyota, which had been a member of the AGL group, chose to use it as the basis for Entune 3.0, its newest in-dash infotainment system. The new Entune will use what Toyota calls App Suite Connect for app integration, although there is no word yet as to which apps it will support. Lower-trim Camrys will integrate the Scout app for navigation, using the driver's smartphone. Higher-trim cars will come with a new onboard navigation system with over-the-air map updates. Toyota also notes the Camry includes a Wi-Fi hotspot supported by a 4G/LTE data connection.
It comes with a steering wheel, but everything can also be controlled from the command prompt..."user@camry:~$ sudo service car start"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2017, @03:25PM (4 children)
A reason not to buy their car. Complete UI changes on the desktop are just annoying, but in a car, an unexpected UI change can be literally deadly. And yes, that also holds for changes in non-critical systems: Any surprise means a sudden distraction, which during driving means the risk of an accident.
(Score: 1) by jlv on Thursday June 01 2017, @04:25PM (3 children)
This is the infotainment system. You don't get unexpected UI changes while driving.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday June 01 2017, @04:35PM
Tesla Autopilot.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday June 01 2017, @06:11PM
But you operate while driving, and non-geeks are not likely to spend much time sitting in their car in the garage, getting used to the changes before they get on the road.
10 minutes later, they are at speed, trying to figure out where their usual preset button moved to, and plow into two pedestrians and a guy making a left turn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @07:50AM
Any button that can change function is an unexpected UI change when you need to use it without taking your eyes off the road.
A touch screen is even worse. Basically impossible to use without taking your eyes off the road.
Taking your eyes off the road => potentially deadly.