Luxury carmakerBMWhas
developed a prototypein-car PCwith Intel that could become
a standard in the automotive industry.
The company has worked for two years with Intel to develop a
Linux based car IT system to
run in-car services including navigation, video, speech and
sound.
BMW wants other car manufacturers to support the development of
a PC-like device running standard software, which could include
device driver software for the latest mobile phones and other
mobile devices.
Graham Smethurst, programme leader at BMW for the car IT
collaboration project with Intel, and
general manager of BMW's infotainment division, said BMW alone
would be unable to provide the volume of cars to make it
cost-effective for software companies to create in-car
applications.
However, if other carmakers also took up the car IT system,
software companies would have a ready market of automotive industry
customers.
BMW worked with Intel to develop its latest low-powered
processor,
the Atom, introduced earlier this year, which is being used
within the prototype.
Atom consumes just three watts of power, and so generates very
little heat compared to normal mobile processors. "With a chip like
the Atom, it is only now possible to put a PC-like device in a
car," said Smethhurst.
The standard platform could help BMW and other car manufacturers
develop vehicles that could link with mobile phones, iPods and
other mobile devices, to allow passengers to listen to music, or
check their e-mails.
However, Smethhurst said it was impossible for current car
designs to keep pace with the pace of change in mobile technology.
"We are not able to dictate the fashion of devices," he said. "A
car that is being designed today, won't be available until 2013, by
which time mobile devices such as phones will have changed."
But the development of a standard in-car PC would allow cars to
keep pace with changing technology, he said.