Google joined Monday with automakers General Motors, Audi, Honda and Hyundai in a new partnership to bring the Android mobile system to vehicles. The companies, with semiconductor firm Nvidia, announced the formation of the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), an industry group "committed to bringing the Android platform to cars starting in 2014," according to a statement.
"The OAA is dedicated to a common platform that will drive innovation, and make technology in the car safer and more intuitive for everyone," the statement added. "This open development model and common platform will allow automakers to more easily bring cutting-edge technology to their drivers, and create new opportunities for developers to deliver powerful experiences for drivers and passengers in a safe and scalable way." The announcement comes with automakers looking at new technologies for the connected car, to bring navigation, entertainment and other applications to vehicles. "Millions of people are already familiar with Android and use it everyday," said Google vice president Sundar Pichai.Some automakers are looking at developing their own platforms, while others are considering platforms like Apple's iOS or BlackBerry-owned QNX. But Monday's announcement looks to put Google and Android in the driver's seat. "The expansion of the Android platform into automotive will allow our industry partners to more easily integrate mobile technology into cars and offer drivers a familiar, seamless experience so they can focus on the road." Apple, China Mobile sign iPhone deal Apple said Sunday it had reached agreement with China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless network, to bring the iPhone to customers in a market dominated by low-cost Android smartphones. Under the agreement, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c phones will be available at China Mobile and Apple retail stores across mainland China starting January 17, Apple said in a statement. Google buys military robot-maker Boston Dynamics for battle with Amazon Google has acquired robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics, best known for its line of quadrupeds with funny gaits and often mind-blowing capabilities. Products that the firm has demonstrated in recent years include BigDog, a motorized robot that can handle ice and snow, the 29 mile-per-hour Cheetah, and an eerily convincing humanoid known as PETMAN. Boston Dynamics, which contracts for the US military, is the eighth robotics company snapped up by Google this year. Both the price and size of the project, which is led by former Android boss Andy Rubin, are being kept under wraps. However, analysts say the purchases signal a rising interest in robotics use by consumer internet companies. "We are looking forward to this next chapter in robotics and in what we can accomplish as part of the Google team," Boston Dynamics co-founder Marc Raibert said via email. In an excellent piece of reporting, The New York Times’ John Markoff reveals that, led by the former head of its Android mobile operating system, Google is quietly buying up robotics startups for a project that appears more than just experimental. "If Amazon can imagine delivering books by drones," Markoff writes, "is it too much to think that Google might be planning to one day have one of the robots hop off an automated Google Car and race to your doorstep to deliver a package?" The difference between Amazon’s drone stunt and Google’s retail robot skunkworks, run by Andy Rubin, is that it seems far more serious. While Amazon released an unrealistic marketing video that had little to do with how its operations really work, Markoff’s sources say that Google is taking incremental steps to automate steps all along the consumer-product supply chain, from manufacturing to shipping. Robots developed by Boston Dynamics include the insect-like Rise, which climbs vertical surfaces, and SquishBot, described as "a shape-changing chemical robot" that can move "through tight space." The company also developed the DI-Guy software tools for simulating human reactions and movements in different scenarios and events. Source: Article
