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Almost nothing these companies are bragging they will do in the future is stuff that phone apps cannot or will not replicate. For example, they think that they
by braythwayt 9y ago
Almost nothing these companies are bragging they will do in the future is stuff that phone apps cannot or will not replicate.
For example, they think that they can scrape data about traffic from thousands or millions of connected cars. Yay! But Apple and Google can scrape location data from millions of devices, and you don't have to own a car to give them useful data, they can scrape traffic flow from people riding on buses or in other people's cars.
Obviously, there are privacy and permissions issues, but on the whole I would say that the only thing propping up companies developing in-car navigation is that they help car companies make money. There is close to zero actual customer benefit. And that sounds an awful lot to me like exactly the kind of market that technology has been successfully disrupting for decades: Old-line businesses built on business models that are customer-hostile, but survived because there was no effective way to compete in a closed industry.
- ProblemFactory 9y ago> For example, they think that they can scrape data about traffic from thousands or millions of connected cars. It's not something Google/Waze could also do, it's what they already have been doing for years. Google Maps has great traffic speed and accidents layer for all large cities in the world. And already uses it for routing, time estimates, and even calendar alerts like "leave early because of high traffic".
- matt-attack 9y agoI was once driving on a remote two lane road outside of Palm Springs (Dillon Rd.) on my way to some BLM land for some plinking. Not a car in sight. I recall looking on google maps which happened to have traffic turned on. Up ahead on the road google indicated red! I was skeptical that there was actually traffic on this road, but was of course curious as I drove on. As I approached the “traffic” area I realized what had happened. Ahead of me in the shoulder was a bicyclist. Undoubtedly his slow speed was being misinterpreted by Google as a slow vehicle. Kinda made me chuckle.