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CarOS, a real-time linux distro designed specifically as a car operating system.
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this is how I see it structured::
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- dev:: mostly facilitating a web browser (firefox) and existing linux drivers (ie: gps, wireless keyboards, etc) and last but far from least a slick heads-up display, friendly/skinable/customizable for all installed and configured services
- dev:: web 2.0-like ifaces, you know the drill
- CarOS, a real-time linux distro designed specifically as a car operating system
- CarOS Distro Site, the community space where dev/commerce/social comm./etc occurs
- Professional Services and certification/OEM/Automaker Division, where the fruits of the Distro community are picked, tested and packaged for integration
This is very doable w/a smallish team (gradient 10 -> 20) — I would expect significant movement within a year — the real x-factor with all of this would be the projected display — I have followed the various projects (in academia and out) and know there are usable tech, however I know integration in this area, though doable, will be tricky. Though early gen versions do not need projected displays and will comply with din standards.
Always-on internet comm. in most major metropolitan areas will be easy with existing (EVDO/EDGE) and emerging technologies (I imagine a commercial where a user jacks their phone into their car when they get in for data comm). An added plus in this department is the eventual demise of Satellite radio and HD radio, DM is the future (for my thoughts on this, see: The Future of Radio is DM not AM/FM). IP is the way to go and wireless data nets will only increase in bandwidth and coverage.
Additionally, as a community platform I see addition points in which this can easily grow into a media platform — think Radio++ images, text, video delivered in synch with traditional AM/FM broadcasts as well as internet/pod casts –
On the road social capability is immense, there are many interesting protocols with sufficient bandwidth and secure handshake times to make possible ad-hoc CarNets (share data like safety info, song playlists, dating profiles, etc), static broadcast advertising nodes in urban areas, this also opens up government contracts in the areas of traffic flow modeling and others — also interesting are what the social mapping groups will be making:: think about groups real-time geo-tagging police car movements/speed traps/cameras/etc– that is headline grabbing stuff.
The beauty is not that this is such an elegant platform that all of these things can evolve upon it; its that they can and will — these things will tend to evolve within the community anyway. It is just a question of focus and strategy for the money engine within this community.
To recap, I see money initially in two main places via this structure::
- Community real estate for third-party equipment manufactures to sell their CarOS-compliant wares and services
- Professional Services and certification, OEM, Automakers divisions
June 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I went on a weekend road trip and there was two HUGE traffic jams in the highway.
If we had a mesh networking messaging system installed on our cars we could have notified people before they get into the jam. And even more a local truck driver told use about a backroad to save time, we could have saved tons of people hours of waiting time.
In no more than 5 years, any car that lacks of an OS will be obsolete