10/25/13
Day two of DASH started off with a panel of national automotive representatives who provided insight into radio's future position on the dash of the connected car, and the news was good. Greg Ross (pictured, second from left) from General Motors said infotainment is big, and right now radio makes a lot of sense. "Radio is a core feature in our cars for the foreseeable future," he said. "There is great content. It's efficient. There are customer demands for getting it in different forms or at the time customers want to consume it."
Toyota's Wayne Powell (pictured at right) said out loud exactly what the radio audience wanted to hear: "We love radio. We put three tuners in many of our cars. We don't see removal of the radio tuner at any time at all. The data is clear that terrestrial radio is the number one source in the car. We don't see it going away. We're using the radio pipe in a more expanded way. That keeps the pipe alive."
Powell also said Toyota has key partnerships with companies like Clear Channel for both voice and data. "It's not just Internet connectivity," he noted. "It's total connectivity." Powell pointed out that Toyota vehicles even seamlessly switch from HD to analog when a customer listening to an HD station drives into an area where it's not available, and said Toyota needs partners like Clear Channel to make that happen. "Partnerships are critical," he said. "We can't deliver this alone. We use carriers, content providers, and
pipe providers." Toyota has even opened up an office in Silicon Valley specifically to seek out nontraditional, cutting-edge partners.
GM's Ross also said that eventually every car will be connected "to other cars, to the road infrastructure, and to the Internet." He went on, "All cars will be programmable, with the capability of adding and updating software after the car is purchased. It will be more precise to the tastes and needs of the consumer. 4G connection will be rolled out next year in GM cars. Virtually every vehicle over the next 18 months will have it."
(10/25/2013 1:32:06 PM)
Was there any discussion or insight given to Apple's mobile operating system being installed in autos?
(10/25/2013 6:03:30 AM)
"Automakers Get HD Complaints"
"But even when HD stations do implement HD Radio or put a multicast channel on the air, they’re not always able to pay attention to the alignment of the analog and digital signal. That’s a problem, because complaints about audio quality are starting to arrive at dealerships. IBiquity Senior Vice President of Broadcast Programs & Advanced Services Joe D’Angelo ticked off several: customers say the HD often echoes as if two signals are being received slightly out of time, or the audio sounds as if the station is skipping. Other complaints include the radio doesn’t pick up HD stations, ever. Or, the HD goes in and out. Owners have been slow to embrace the advanced data features that can make a radio display look like its competitors, such as satellite radio or Pandora, in the dash. Only some 400 stations have so far and that’s a problem, according to HD proponents; they believe that if stations don’t step it up, automakers will move radio down the center stack of priorities in the dash, so to speak."
http://www.radioworld.com/article/radio-eyes-all-forms-of-%E2%80%98digital%E2%80%99/
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