Chaos Theory | Car Tech Issue

//////////////// ISSUE 2 • APRIL 2014 — THE CAR TECH EDITION ////////////////
WHY AUTOMAKERS SHOULD STEP ON THE GAS WHEN IT COMES TO DEVELOPMENT CYCLES
DEALER
INCENTIVEKEEPING SHOWROOMS
RELEVANT
INFO
SUPER-
HIGHWAYTAP INTO DATA
AS YOU DRIVE
MERGE
AHEADCONNECTING DRIVERS
TO THEIR VEHICLES
ALONG
FORTHE
RIDETHE PROS OF HIRING
OUTSIDE DEVELOPERS

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014 32 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
5 AUTO UPDATE
TODAY’S CAR TECH IS FIVE YEARS OLD
— AND THAT’S A BIG PROBLEM. /////
9 DEALER OPTION
CARS ARE GETTING MORE SOPHISTICATED,
SO WHY ISN’T THE BUYING PROCESS? /////
11 CAR TECH’S
COMING OF AGE
YOUNGER DRIVERS DESIRE IT,
YET CAN’T AFFORD IT /////
13 A NEW KIND
OF CAR PERSON
SOME OWNERS WORK ON THEIR DRIVING,
NOT THEIR CARS. /////
15 DASHBOARD
SAVIORS
AFTER TRYING TO TACKLE INFOTAINMENT
IN-HOUSE, AUTOMAKERS ARE TURNING TO
OUTSIDE DEVELOPERS /////
17 MAN & MACHINE
NEW ADVANCES LET US INTERFACE WITH
VEHICLES LIKE NEVER BEFORE /////
HONK IF YOU THINK
THE CAR OF THE FUTURE
IS HERE
Technology has been part of the auto industry’s DNA since it first
began. It’s responsible for advancements in everything from safety
features to manufacturing processes to those windshield wipers that
turn themselves on. But despite all that progress, and some strong
showings at this year’s CES, nobody’s honking yet.
That’s because the futuristic tech predicted by movies is already
available everywhere else in our lives — from virtual reality gaming to
voice-controlled home automation — but it’s still not in our driveways.
These future cars need to be prepared for today’s advanced consumers.
To meet those demands for personalized, digital experiences,
automakers will need to ditch many long-held practices, adapt to
millennials’ way of thinking, and let outside developers sit in the driver’s
seat to advance and innovate faster.
Ben Lamm
CEO
Chaotic Moon Studios

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 20144 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
DRIVERS ARE GETTING STUCK WITH BAD TECH THAT PREDATES THE FLIP PHONE
TRAPPING THE SO-CALLED “CAR OF THE FUTURE” IN THE NOT-SO-DISTANT PAST.
5
By Neal Pollack
Powertrain technologies do things that
we couldn’t have even imagined five
years ago. Cars have everything from
12-cylinder monster engines that could
melt the paint off the side of a ship to
hyper-efficient hybrid drivetrains that
net unheard-of gas mileage numbers.
Safety features have never been more
efficient or plentiful, interiors more
luxurious or more comfortable. Alterna-
tive energy vehicles, good ones, are now a
legitimate part of the marketplace, not a
shunned afterthought. The last few years
have been a time of powerful, evolution-
ary innovation.
So why, then, does tech lag so far behind?
Most modern cars are saddled with con-
fusing, dated, second-rate infotainment
systems, hard-to-figure GPS functions,
and app stores that few customers use
and even fewer want. Manufacturers
might as well be offering an in-dash Com-
modore 64 or a Sega Dreamcast.
EVERYTHING NEW IS OLD
Cars get produced on a five-year-
development cycle. This works fine
for engines or safety systems, which
have been in the pipeline all along, but
doesn’t work, at all, for tech. “Five years
ago, when a lot of those systems were
designed, it was a different time,” says
Derek Kuhn, VP at QNX Systems, which
designs software platforms for Audi and
GM, among other car companies. “That’s
forever in Internet years.”
As a result, drivers get stuck with bad
tech that predates the flip phone, trap-
ping the so-called “car of the future” in
the not-so-distant past. “These are bad
computers because they’re so old,” says
John Fremont, EVP at creative tech firm
Chaotic Moon Studios. “They’re picking
the cheapest components based on cur-
rent technology and putting them in cars
five years down the road.”
Nevertheless, car tech is advancing,
though not always across manufacturer
lines. The future will arrive occasionally.
For instance, the new Audi interior will
no longer have a “center stack” entertain-
ment system. Everything will operate
digitally in the driver’s direct sightline,
from navigation systems to safety infor-
mation to music options, which will be
activated by voice commands or the press
of a button.
TODAY’S CAR TECH IS FIVE YEARS OLD — AND THAT’S A BIG PROBLEM
AUT
UPDATE
In many ways, we’re
living in a golden era
of the automobile.

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 20146 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
7TH
TRINITY
WARNING
[UNSAFE DISTANCE]
WARNING
[ ERRATIC DRIVING DETECTED ]
CONSIDER ROUTE CHANGE
[ GARGANTUAN LIZARD DETECTED ]
ROAD RAGER
CLUNKER
DISTRACTED DRIVER
NOTICE!
[ SPACE AVAILABLE ]
Wireless in-car services will also be ar-
riving soon. GM recently announced that
vehicles across its line, from the highest-
-end Cadillac to the entry-level Chevy
Spark, will come equipped with a 4G LTE
wireless hotspot, meaning that the car’s
tech capability will evolve throughout its
working life. “We view it as an integrated
part of the vehicle, not as an add-on,” says
John McFarland, Marketing Director
for GM’s Global Connected Consumer
Group.
In early March, Apple also announced
CarPlay, an in-dash software system that
will allow drivers to fully integrate Maps,
Siri and other essential smartphone
functions, all tied to a button on the
steering wheel. Six automakers — Jaguar,
Volvo, Hyundai, Honda, Mercedes and
Ferrari — will be adopting it soon, with
others to follow.
SAFETY FIRST
Most of the real innovations are coming
in the realm of safety. The new Infiniti
Q50 can steer itself for long stretches, as
can the Acura RDX. You can almost take
a nap while driving the new Mercedes
S-Class. Audi has developed in-dash
cameras that can detect if the driver’s
attention has strayed from the road.
New Subarus automatically slam on the
brakes if they sense a crash coming at
up to 30 mph. Self-parking features have
also become common.
But it’s taken a federal government ini-
tiative to really unite the carmakers un-
der a common tech purpose. On February
3, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) announced it
would immediately begin taking steps to
implement advanced vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) communication in all new light
vehicles sold in the U.S. “Vehicle-to
vehicle technology represents the next
generation of auto safety improvements,
building on the lifesaving achievements
we’ve already seen with safety belts and
air bags,” said U.S. Transportation Secre-
tary Anthony Foxx.
On that day, a version of the “car of the
future,” long prophesized, discussed and
auditioned, became permanent reality.
Within the next five years or so, all new
cars made will operate on a private 5.9
gigahertz bandwidth that will also be
baked into most smartphones. They’ll
be hooked up to a private bandwidth,
silently exchanging basic safety data,
like speed and grid position, without our
knowing. Alert systems will go off if dan-
ger is imminent, or even possible, since
cars will exchange information ten times
AUTO UPDATE
”THE
FUTURE IS
MODULAR.
IF YOU LOOK
AT TESLA,
IT’S A
SOFTWARE
CAR.”
John Fremont
Executive Vice President,
7
a second and will be able to detect threats
from hundreds of yards away.
“This is allowing the cars to be nodes on
a grid that share information,” says Jim
Keller, Chief Engineer and Senior Man-
ager for Honda R&D in the Americas.
“These cars are just talking to each other.
And unless there’s a conflict, you’ll never
even know the system is working.”
The new NHTSA standards are so rad-
ical because they apply to, and integrate,
every vehicle across every price level.
They come out of a 13-year-old nonprof-
it federal government research project
called the Crash Avoidance Metrics Part-
nership, or CAMP, with the participation
of engineers from almost every major
automaker. “All companies need to talk to
each other,” Keller says. “BMW has to talk
to Honda and Ford. It’s not going to work
if we slowly start with Acuras and work
out way down to a Honda Fit.”
Meanwhile, the rest of car tech remains
somewhat stalled. Part of the problem,
says Chaotic Moon’s John Fremont,
is that car manufacturers aren’t really
controlling their technological future, de-
pending instead on an antiquated system
of tiered suppliers, many of them with
their own ideas of how tech should move
forward. The bureaucratic roadblocks are
hard to overcome.
“The future is modular,” he says. “If you
look at Tesla, it’s a software car. That big
screen can be easily swapped out with
a newer, higher density screen. It’s not
fighting against so many variables.”
ANOTHER FIVE YEARS TO GO?
The automotive tech lag will persist for
a while, says Honda’s Jim Keller. It’s going
to be 2019 or 2020 before all new vehicles
are onboard with the new federal com-
munication standards, and for decades
to come, there will still be old cars on the
road that aren’t part of the systems. “It’s
going to take patience and commitment
in the early years, because there won’t be
a huge volume of cars to communicate
with,” says Honda’s Jim Keller.
Eventually, though, it will happen. What
will the world look like when it does?
BMW is trying to envision that. Their
new compact electric car, the i3, comes
equipped with a full suite of up-to-date
smartphone apps that can tell the driver
where to find public charging stations.
More importantly, it can inform drivers
about traffic and give them the option
of parking for free and taking public
transportation or, heaven forbid, walking
instead.
Says Fremont, “My hope for the future
would be that the car companies figure
out a way for national travel via some-
thing other than automobiles.”
In other words, when thinking about the
car of the future, we also have to think of
a future without cars.
“It’s a huge shift,” Fremont says, “but
someone’s going to have to do it eventu-
ally.”

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 20148 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
DEALER
OPTION
Cars are getting more sophisticated,
so why isn’t the buying process?
By Fredric Paul
E
ven as the cars we drive have gotten
dramatically faster, safer, smarter, more
efficient, more reliable and more con-
nected, the places we buy them haven’t changed
much since the days of pushy, clueless salesmen
in loud suits.
If the auto industry wants to make dealers
relevant for the 21st Century, everything about
them has to evolve, from the training they give
salespeople to how they entice and educate
customers.
Automakers and their dealer networks — deep-
ly aware of the disconnect — are desperately
trying to leverage technology to reimagine the
car-buying process, all in an effort to appeal to a
generation of automobile shoppers raised on the
web and mobile connectivity.
WHITHER DEALERS?
Car dealers’ traditional role as the place to
“kick the tires” is being supplanted by online
research as cars become vastly more sophis-
ticated and reliable. “Dealers are in trouble,”
warns Mark Platshon, a senior advisor to BMW
in Silicon Valley and a partner in Birchmere
Ventures. “They’re getting disintermediated
and they haven’t figured it out yet.” As The Wall
Street Journal quoted one dealer executive last
year, “The whole process of buying a car has
flipped flop from what it used to be. Today, cus-
tomers find the car first, then the dealership.”
Ben Lamm, CEO of Chaotic Moon Studios,
believes there’s still a role for next-generation
dealers by building a relationship with potential
customers as concierges, offering test drives,
providing information and answering questions.
“A car is a big purchase,” Lamm says, “if some-
thing goes wrong, customers need someone to
call.” But those next-generation dealers won’t
look anything like today’s sprawling suburban
mega dealers. Instead, look for small, high-tech
showrooms nestled in upscale retailing districts.
It’s already happening in Europe, where
upscale carmakers are opening flagship stores
in downtown areas of key cities. In the U.S.,
electric car upstart Tesla — which doesn’t have
traditional dealerships — is leading the charge,
largely because franchise laws forbid carmakers
from undercutting their dealers by selling direct
to consumers. Still, Ford tried pop-up storefront
showrooms in tech-heavy San Francisco in
2012 and Frost & Sullivan predicts carmakers
will open 100 urban showrooms around the
world by 2020.
9

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 201410 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
SANS SALESPEOPLE
So what’s in the showroom of the future?
London’s Audi City — launched in 2012
for the Summer Olympics — offers a clue.
Multi-touch displays configure and visu-
alize cars in photorealistic 3D, and buyers
can use Microsoft Kinect technology to
manipulate life-size depictions of their
choices on floor-to-ceiling “powerwalls.”
That’s a long way from the dog-eared
brochures in your typical dealership.
Technologies such as iBeacon, Blue-
tooth Smart and geofencing will also
help shoppers get information tied to
the vehicle they happen to be looking at.
And those technologies don’t have to be
confined to the physical dealership. They
could also find homes in cars or kiosks
placed in malls and other retail environ-
ments.
Soon the car itself could even become a
virtual salesperson. Last year, for exam-
ple, Chaotic Moon helped Toyota create
the Driver Awareness Research Vehicle.
One of its many impressive features was
its ability to display an interactive deal-
er’s invoice directly on its window, letting
prospective buyers use gestures to swipe
through various screens and learn more
about what the car has to offer.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Mindful of customer expectations,
BMW’s Future Retail program is look-
ing to meld technology with a personal
touch, leveraging “Product Geniuses” to
introduce customers to BMW products.
According to a BWW spokesperson,
Geniuses aren’t salespeople. Instead,
they’re employed to enhance customer
understanding of — and interaction with
— BMW’s vehicles. To do so, Product
Geniuses use tablets to help customers
configure vehicles carside, displaying the
results on a huge flat screen that’s nearby.
If that’s not good enough, projec-
tion-mapping technology will eventually
let buyers see their choices right on the
car itself. The next step after that? Lamm
suggests that high-end car dealers could
become simulation centers, where poten-
tial buyers could experience vehicles in
extreme conditions that would be hard to
test in the real world. By projecting im-
ages onto vehicle windows, Range Rover
could demonstrate how the Land Rover
performs in the snow while Ferrari could
show what’s capable on a race track.
DEALER AS ONBOARDER
No matter what technology they use,
dealers still have to add value to the
car-buying process. Elizabeth Kerton,
Managing Director of the AutoTech
Council, puts it this way: “How do we
provide value to a customer who doesn’t
think she needs us?”
One approach is to play a bigger role in
helping buyers get comfortable with their
fancy new rides after purchase. “Buyers
are overwhelmed with all the technology
in new cars,” says Chaotic Moon Creative
Director Greg Carley. “When I bought my
new Jeep Cherokee, I went home and sat
DEALER OPTION
“Car dealers need to be more ‘Genius’ and less salesman.”
— Elizabeth Kerton, Managing Director, AutoTech Council
in the driveway for an hour trying to fig-
ure everything out. That’s a huge missed
opportunity for the dealer.”
Kerton says smart dealers will follow
the Apple or BMW model and provide
training sessions to help buyers configure
their infotainment system to work with
their phone, as well as download and
install apps. “All that infotainment stuff
is bloody complicated,” she says. “Car
dealers need to be more ‘Genius’ and less
salesman.”
PDI IS PRETTY DARN IMPORTANT
Car dealers have one ace up their sleeve:
the Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI). That’s
when the dealer checks out the car and
makes sure everything is working prop-
erly before the buyer takes possession,
and it’s one last chance for dealers to stay
relevant.
Dealers hope to work with carmakers
to add new dealer-installed options and
personalization touches at the PDI stage,
Kerton says. Dealers would even like to
see some essential features of the vehicle
— custom steering wheels or seats, for
example — added during the PDI instead
of at the factory, helping to cement their
role in the sales process.
One thing is clear: The dealer of the
future will have to look and operate very
differently than it does now. Car deal-
ers are not immune to the rising tide of
e-commerce that has wiped out estab-
lished retailers from Borders to Circuit
City, many of whom enjoyed far more
positive reputations. From cutting-edge
technology to reimagined sales process-
es, dealers and automakers who want to
to attract the next generation of car buy-
ers will have to embrace brand new ways
of doing business. If they succeed, one
day people might actually enjoy visiting
their local car dealer.
S
tudies show that millennials are the most tech savvy
group by age, and also the most willing to fork out a little
extra dough for special features in their cars. Unfortu-
nately, these features are mostly found in luxury automobiles,
not the affordable cars millennials typically purchase.
Maybe because of the growing “sharing economy,” or a simple
lack of expendable income, these buyers tend toward used
vehicles. “Millennials don’t buy new cars,” says Chaotic Moon’s
John Fremont. “18-to 34-year-olds only accounted for about
10% of new autos sold in 2013.” So how can you get this younger
audience buying newer cars? By offering them more tech for a
slightly higher price than they’d normally expect to pay.
To manage costs, Fremont thinks car makers should prioritize
navigation, communication, entertainment and convenience.
Consumer preference also bears this out. According to re-
search company GfK and the Consumer Electronics Associa-
tion, 66% of those 18-34 are especially interested in these types
of features.
Obviously, the time is right for automakers to take advantage
of this hyperattuned, social-media-inclined population. But
according to Fremont, the trick is not to drive up the price of
compact cars so much it pushes younger drivers away. “Ul-
timately, price is probably a larger decision than technology
in the purchase of an inexpensive car,” says Fremont. “Until
affordable in-car tech packages are the norm, vehicles without
them will continue to sell.”
- AUSTIN L. RAY
CAR TECH’S
COMING OF AGE
Y O U N G E R D R I V E R S D E S I R E I T ,
Y E T C A N ’ T A F FO R D I T
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014 11

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
a n e w k i n d o f
SOME OWNERS WORK ONTHEIR DRIVING, NOTTHEIR CARS.
B Y K E V I N P U R D Y
That’s because Barone thinks, talks and
shares notes about braking, mileage, accel-
eration, and maintenance. He brags about
achieving great mileage, especially in ad-
versely cold conditions. He speaks a new and
seemingly secret language, one that his cars
taught him.
It cost Barone, a graphic designer, just $69 to
enter the realm of car efficiency and diagnos-
tic powers, by purchasing an early version
of Automatic. The “smart driving assistant”
plugs into the data port, which has quietly
been present on most U.S. cars made since
1996. That dongle then connects to Barone’s
smartphone through Bluetooth.Automatic
tells him his drive to visit suburban relatives
costs $2.50 each way, alerts him when he’s
braking or accelerating too hard, and provides
diagnostics on any Check Engine lights (as
does a competing car connector, Dash).
icholas Barone is not a car
mechanic, a change-your-own-
-oil guy, or even a know-how-
-many-CCs-are-under-the-hood
type. And yet he’s become a new kind
of “car person.” Car makers could
create more of them too, if they gave
drivers access to more data.
N

NEW KIND OF CAR PERSON
Just those few points of data have
changed how Barone drives — and how
he thinks about his far-from-new car. “It
kind of gamifies your driving to a degree,”
he said. So what would happen if every
smartphone-toting car buyer — certainly
more than half of them by now — had
access to at least that minimum mileage/
performance/diagnostic data, and app
developers could build on top of it?
What would happen is that people
would appreciate the cars they own, work
to get the most out of them, share their
car stories, and stop thinking of their
car as a black box with four wheels and a
stereo. Mobile technology, in other words,
could reposition cars as gadgets, not
transportation utilities. If that sounds
like overexcited hype, you’re probably
thinking short-term. Right now, the
framework is other Bluetooth devices,
services like IFTTT, and your iPhone
or Android. But start building out from
a deeper car-to-phone two-way con-
nection, and it’s easy to guess where it
connects and leads from there.
A TOOL FOR EVERY JOB
• Personal financial tools like Mint
could import car spending details
• Expense reporting tools like Concur
could auto import mileage data
• Insurance companies like Allstate
could immediately reward good driv-
ing behavior
• Delivery services like UPS could get
smarter about fuel costs and actual
time to deliver
• Police, fire and transit agencies
could receive real-time availability
data
If all these data points and app connec-
tions sound more bewildering than help-
ful, take a look through the online forums
that exist for owners of any particular
hybrid vehicle. Sure, there are complaints
about recalls and computer bugs and
design decisions, as there always will be.
But owners of these cars can be enthu-
siastic, analytic, helpful and invested in
understanding what their car is capable
of doing. I know because I’ve become one
of those owners.
My wife and I purchased a hybrid
vehicle last year, one with a still-capable
gas engine, but a theoretical 40-plus
miles per gallon, even on the highway.
We learned what kind of conditions put
the car in all-electric mode, we used seat
warmers instead of dashboard vents to
heat ourselves whenever possible, and
we figured out the unexplained cruise
features. We kept track, we bragged to
each other about uber-efficient trips and
became informed advocates for our car.
I am, in other words, as keenly aligned
with my particular hybrid, and its whole
ecosystem, as I am with my chosen phone
(Android), laptop (ThinkPad), and watch
(Pebble). Give people data, connections
and insight into how something works
and, sure, sometimes you give them
ammunition for complaint. But you’ll just
as likely recruit them into the ranks of
enthusiastic early adopters.
This, then, is a call to car makers: give us
the data. Let us connect our phones and
dig in. Let us see how we’re doing. Let
smart developers do unforeseen things
with connected cars. Let our connected
cars talk to one another, talk to parking
meters, talk to traffic reports. Let us be
that new kind of “car person.”
Give us the data.
Let us connect our
phones and dig in.
Let us see how
we’re doing.
IT WOULD BE the car industry’s dirty lit-
tle secret, if it wasn’t so totally obvious.
As anyone who drives a car already
knows, today’s infotainment systems —
and the limited numbers of apps they
run — pretty much stink. Especially
when compared to the huge and vi-
brant app ecosystems surrounding iOS,
Android, and other mobile platforms.
“The sooner carmakers relinquish
control of the dashboard, the better,”
says Mark Platshon, a senior advisor to
BMW in Silicon Valley and a partner
in Birchmere Ventures. Automobile
apps have historically been developed
in-house, but that process takes far too
long and stifles innovation.
“It’s not that third-party developers
are smarter or faster,” adds John Fre-
mont, EVP at Chaotic Moon Studios,
which is working with GM to evange-
lize the carmaker’s developer outreach
program, “but there are so many of
them with a diversity of experience,
skills and perspectives.”
Bringing in outside developers won’t
be easy. Despite a rash of individu-
al carmaker initiatives — and new
platforms like the Car Connectivity
Consortium’s MirrorLink, Google’s
Open Automotive Alliance, and Apple’s
iOS in the Car — the auto apps mar-
ket remains fractured. “We know we
need to change the entire outsourcing
DASHBOARD SAVIORS
RD model, and people like us can help
make it faster,” says Ben Lamm, CEO of
Chaotic Moon.
Not surprisingly, just about every
carmaker is angling to attract develop-
ers. Ford is hosting OpenXC workshops
around the country with TechShop, while
Honda and Evernote co-sponsored a
hackathon last year.
GM, meanwhile, is leveraging its OnStar
service used by more than 6.5 million
customers. The company is aggressive-
ly sharing tools and APIs to let outside
developers create new apps via its
developer.gm.com portal. The platform
is due to launch this summer when GM
rolls out 4G LTE connections in most of
its 2015 models. Like most automakers,
“we participate in everything,” notes
GM’s Global App Development Manag-
er Junior Barrett. He adds “we want to
leverage the creativity and expertise of
outside developers to help us bring even
more content to our customers.”
Over the past year, GM has touted their
developer program at more than a dozen
events around the world, from standalone
hackathons to TechCrunch Disrupt in
New York and San Francisco. So what kind
of apps are developers actually creating?
One of the most ingenious ideas came
from a group of high school students,
who built a learn-to-drive app that tracks
student drivers’ practice times as they
get ready to take the driver’s test. The
app audibly walks students through
complex maneuvers like parallel parking
and three-point turns. Using GPS, it can
even point out when a driver is speed-
ing — which is way better than a parent
yelling. “An app like this could only come
from a younger person, not a carmaker’s
development team,” says Fremont.
According to GM’s Barrett, more than
4,200 developers have already signed up for
the nascent program. “We’re seeing a great
deal of interest from developers wanting to
work with our APIs and come up with the
next big idea for in-vehicle apps.”
A F T E R T R Y I N G TO TA C K L E I N FOTA I N M E N T I N - H O U S E ,
A U TO M A K E R S A R E T U R N I N G TO O U T S I D E D E V E LO P E R S
By Fredric Paul
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 15CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014 1716 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
C
ars are evolving in leaps and bounds, but when
it comes to biometrics, everything is very much
in the trial stage. Car “infotainment” systems
still veer into the category of nightmarishly
complicated, with bad app stores connected to com-
plicated audio and temperature-control systems that
require a lot of study and button-pushing. The slow pace
of change in the car business, particularly compared
with the speedy tech development cycle, has left for a lag
in entertainment, safety and any other important metric
that measures a successful car. Proof: carmakers are still
trying integrate smartphones in a Google Glass world.
DRIVER INTEGRATION STRAIGHT OUT OF SCI-FI
Researchers at Intel are running experiments where
they monitor driver brain activities using infrared scan-
ners, the idea being that all this accumulated data will
help to make cars safer at some point. And promotional
videos from car-involved tech companies like QNX
Systems and Texas Instruments present an idealized
scenario for the car of the future. Vehicle doors open
when handprints are recognized. Drivers are constantly
scanned for mood and situation. Car interiors fill with
digital stimuli and information, all projected in a deep-
blue tint. But while bits and pieces of this wondrous
future are coming to pass, it’s still a long way off. “The
available tech is far more advanced than any implemen-
tation,” says Chaotic Moon’s Chief Innovation Officer
whurley. “Not a lot of manufacturers have implemented
it outside of some sort of technology demo.”
Other biometric solutions are beginning to arrive, halt-
ingly. Some automakers are doing pilot projects. Toyota
demonstrated its mood-reading concept SUV at the
L.A. Auto Show, but has been slow to talk about actually
selling cars with this tech. Nissan has been showing off a
wearable “smart watch” to help integrate biotech and car
systems. Ford has an idea to integrate a wearable glucose
monitor into a car’s stack of apps.
In this instance, drivers could get an instant warning
from their car when they suffer a drop in blood sugar.
Gary Strumolo, Ford’s Global Manager for Interiors, says
that Ford is working with glucose-monitor manufac-
turers to make this happen, but he doesn’t say to what
MAN
MACHINE
BY NEAL POLLACK
N E W A D VA N C E S L E T U S I N T E R FA C E W I T H V E H I C L E S L I K E N E V E R B E FO R E / / / / /

CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014CHAOS THEORY ISSUE 2 2014 1918 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
MAN AND MACHINE
EVERYTHINGIS WITHIN
THE CAPABILITY OF THE CAR. WHETHER IT
,
S
WITHIN THE BUSINESS PLAN IS ANOTHER MATTER.
- Gary Strumulo, Global Manager of Interiors
Ford Motor Company
extent. As with most biometric-based car projects,
it’s happening very slowly.
Another Ford idea involves an app, already avail-
able in its in-vehicle store, called Allergy Alert.
It works in conjuction with pollen.com to inform
drivers about pollen counts in their immediate
area.
Strumolo says Ford is working on advanced
air-filtration systems that will work in conjunc-
tion with the app. If the car detects an upcoming
high-pollen pocket, it could turn on air recircu-
lation to save its driver a lot of discomfort. “If we
know what air quality is like in an area,” he says,
“we can change how our nav system works. Instead
of giving the most fuel efficient route, we can give
you the healthiest route. If you’re in L.A. and the
smog is building up, we could reroute you around to
minimize the exposure to bad air.”
NOT EVERYTHING FROM THE MOVIES IS HERE YET
Even though that integrated allergy-detection sys-
tem is nowhere near a reality right now, it’s around
the corner compared with motion-based technol-
ogy. Given all the other development concerns that
carmakers face, gesture control almost seems like
an impossible dream. Whurley says that one day
in the indeterminate future, we’re going to see cars
that can, with the wave of a hand, be able to “shade
the windows, play relaxing music, give you a book
to read.”
The present moment, he says, is much messier
and more intermediate. High-end Cadillacs flash
blinking red lights on the windshield if you need to
brake suddenly. Seats buzz and ding, mirror lights
shimmer. Cars are even starting to respond to voice
commands. But heads-up, Google Glass-like dis-
plays, manipulated with finger gestures, are still off
somewhere on the unmarked development-cycle
horizon, though they could probably start getting
implemented tomorrow, or at least within the year.
“I know it takes a long time to get things through
the approval process, but that’s not really an
excuse,” whurley says. “A lot of these technologies
are add-on after the fact. If you look at it, there’s no
reason why you shouldn’t have better technologies
for driver distraction built in. It’s kind of ridiculous
that you don’t.”
Or, more simply, as Ford’s Gary Strumulo says,
“Everything is within the capability of the car.
Whether it’s within the business plan is another
matter.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
FULL THROTTLE THINKING
Awesome stuff happens when we get behind the wheel
GESTURE-CONTROLLED
INFOTAINMENT
AN iOS SHOWROOM
TO GET UP TO SPEED,CONTACT: John Fremont
Executive Vice President
fremont@chaoticmoon.com
612-559-9077

Chaotic Moon designs, develops and delivers the world’s best
software for the planet’s biggest brands — like FOX, Disney, GM,
Pizza Hut and more.
We’re a group of thinkers, builders, designers, developers,
leaders, dreamers and doers hell-bent on changing lives through
better experience design.
Through talent, expertise and sheer brute force, we transform
bold ideas into awesome software products. Simply put, we’re
the best.
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