Ford Ditches Microsoft for QNX in Latest In-Vehicle Tech Platform
The whole thing reeks of NIH and some poor saps trying to save their butts by trying to be forcefully relevant.<p>Apple and Google already solved the UI problem - you don't need to have the damned ugly in-car UI anymore. Just stick  decent hardware with Android Auto and CarPlay support and be done with it. Make decent looking apps for each platform to provide functionality  outside of platform supported features.<p>I just don't understand why on earth would Ford need to have their own system with QNX, WiFi updates and Maps that are not free. What problem does it solve that is worth solving at the expense of reinventing the wheel and making users deal with yet another system?<p>Edit: One way Ford to justify it is to think of the non-SmartPhone, non-Apple, non-Google users. Though in terms of numbers, at least in the US this bunch is a tiny minority. Ford could give them a Moto G free with every Car for not having to pay for QNX licensing fees, maps and updates etc.! OR they could limit the QNX based independent system to lower end cars and make the higher end ones compatible with Android Auto and CarPlay.<p>There's also the question of longevity - what if in 2017 Apple and Google stop being compatible with the older version of Carplay/Auto compatible implementation Ford shipped in their 2014 car? What if users switched to non-Apple, non-Android phones? In that case it would make the in-car system useless for the user. So given people use cars for way longer than SmartPhones - I guess it makes some sense for Ford to have an independent system.<p>Regardless they should still rid themselves of the NIH and stick with Android based UI and not have their own based on QNX. That part hardly makes sense.