Buick Juggling Good User App Experience With Minimal Driver Distraction

Merchant underscored the “intuitive” operation of the new IntelliLink, including the hands-free operation that “eliminates the need to memorize strict commands and menu structures,” she said. The system was upgraded to “natural voice recognition” that allows drivers to ask for what they want in a way that’s comfortable rather than having to use specific commands, she said. The system also stores up to 60 presets, which vehicle owners can use to store radio stations, contacts, destinations and music sources. Voice recognition is built into IntelliLink and also enables iPhone users with Siri or Android users with voice recognition to operate the system using those interfaces, Merchant said.

The LaCrosse packs an eight-inch touch screen in the dash, which users can swipe as they would on smartphones and tablets, she said. Users can pair compatible smartphones using Bluetooth or USB to play their own stored music or streaming music services, she said. An 11-speaker Bose system is available as an upgrade.

Buick also showed us the latest stage of its app framework, which it bowed at CES and is still beta-testing. The framework, due to launch later this year, enables vehicle application programming interfaces that developers can use to create apps for GM vehicles. Branding hasn’t been announced for the framework, which will allow users to browse, download and use apps specifically designed for the car, Robert Bannick, lead engineer, application framework, told us. GM has demoed the app framework on a Malibu and on the LaCrosse, but no announcements have been made about which vehicle makes or model year will sport the system, Bannick said.

In addition to bringing to the vehicle those apps consumers are familiar with on their smartphones, app developers will be able to make use of select data including vehicle speed, the engine oil light, or info from the audio bus that developers can tap to create programs tailored to the vehicle environment, Buick said. For example, data from stop time, hard breaking maneuvers, anti-lock brake activations and the vehicle’s power train could be used for an app from an insurance company, which could offer rate savings to safe drivers, Bannick noted. For privacy reasons, vehicle owners would have to choose to allow that data to be sent, he said.

A major thrust of GM’s app framework effort is upgradeability, Bannick said, citing the multi-year design cycles of vehicles that are far longer than up-to-the-minute technology updates. A four-year design cycle is an extremely long amount of time when you're talking about applications, technology and connectivity, he said. Once the app framework is in the vehicle, GM can update the apps through the system’s connectivity with no need for a trip to a dealer for a software update or other “reflashing activity,” he said. If users change vehicles, their apps will go will them once they've created log-in credentials, he said. Multiple users of a vehicle can have their own profiles, he said.

In our demo, Bannick showed us apps from five of the partners GM is working with that have been publically announced: Weather.com, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, NPR and Slacker. GM is encouraging developers to create in-vehicle apps in a way that’s consistent with how the app works on a smartphone or tablet, but there are also criteria for minimizing driver distraction, Bannick said.

App developers who download a software development kit from GM have to pass a certification process for look and feel, as well as for intelligent, simple operation, Bannick said. They undergo an intensive “driver workload study” to determine distraction caused by the app and which features might have to be reworked for the car environment, he said. Features using heavy graphics could be limited or turned off while the vehicle is moving, he said. GM has prescribed certain time limits for the number of times a driver can look away for “x number of seconds” while the vehicle is moving, Bannick said. If a particular feature of an app doesn’t meet GM’s requirements, the feature would be enabled only when the car isn’t moving, he said. Voice control can help minimize distraction by helping drivers keep their eyes on the road, he said: “We do want them to be able to bring the connectivity to the vehicle, but in a way that’s safe for operation."

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The LA Auto Show has added a new event, the Connected Car Expo, to its calendar for 2013. The one-day conference and two-day expo will be Nov. 19-21 and will be directed by automotive technology expert Doug Newcomb. Newcomb told us the automotive industry is at a critical period as heavyweight technology companies such as Apple, Google and Verizon enter the space bringing numerous challenges to the technology and automotive markets. The conference will have panels on driver safety, standardization, costs for connectivity, upgradability and the challenge of design cycle differences for the converging industries, Newcomb said. The Expo is an extension of the Advanced Technology Showcase, which was held during the press days of last year’s LA Auto Show, according to Terri Toennies, the show’s general manager.