Supposedly the Chinese have a saying: May you live in uninteresting times. The implication is that interesting times are usually fraught with problems or conflict and are consequently not good for your blood pressure. The car audio industry has had its uninteresting period during which manufacturers made nice margins and product went in one door and out the front with plenty of happy customers. Things have become a little more interesting since then.
With the 2006 CES imminent, it's clear that we do indeed live in interesting times. And in a way, the content in this issue is a reflection of that. Look at the new Acura TL covered in this issue, or to a lesser extent the new Hyundai Azera. Big companies are part of the automotive in-car entertainment or infotainment business. I'm not talking about just really huge corporations that try to find out what you want and then supply products, but companies that have a key channeling impact on our culture-they supply us with things we didn't know we needed. For instance, Microsoft for years has been developing and refining its Windows Automotive platform. It has been partnering with some of the biggest names in the audio aftermarket, but its software also is in the biggest carmakers on the planet. If Microsoft builds a platform that makes it easier for other engineers to design electronic systems, who in their right business mind would say no? The company may be as fundamental in automotive as it is in computers.
It's a digit-crazy world. While Microsoft continues to build on its automotive platform, smaller companies are brazenly producing in-car computer systems (e.g., the one from Icon TV in this issue of Car Audio)-of course, they all utilize Microsoft software. The most interesting thing happening in our industry is, frankly, in-car computing, whether it's happening in the aftermarket or at the OE level: navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, telematics, voice recognition software, etc. The fear is that things will become so complex and complicated that no one would dare customize their car. In fact, after checking out the new TL, I would understand the consumer who has no desire to upgrade the system. The audio could be improved upon perhaps, but everything else is so damned good I would be loathe to bother with it myself. One thinks of current trends and develops a nostalgic feeling-an image of the good ol' days when a guy could wrench on a car without course study or swap a head unit and build some sub boxes without wondering if it's even technically feasible. So it's heartening to see a show car like the old VW Bug, or in a different context, a spectacular sound competition Corvette that has much to offer the eyes as well as ears (not to say the systems within don't have their fair share of computing powers). We may fast be approaching an ultra-digital age, but we're not quite there yet.
Even if we are all becoming nothing more than numbers, I doubt it will be as serious of a constraint as some might think. Beyond making a lot of things more convenient, computers also offer another benefit: It is to some extent an anti-hierarchal technology. It's relatively new, it's becoming cheaper to buy in whole or in parts by the day, and any kid interested enough can play it like some of us older guys picked up musical instruments and learned without formal training. Journalist Thomas Friedman talks about a flat world. True. And it wouldn't be possible without the computer. In-car computing may take us far away from what we know, but it will take us back to where we want: If someone makes it, someone else will always take it and remake it. If that doesn't happen-well, then that really would be interesting, wouldn't it?