Car entertainment software race of the world's top 3 technology companies

In the introduction of car manufacturers' features, phone-to-car connectivity applications such as Apple Carplay and Android Auto are proudly "showed off" to consumers as essential equipment, according to analysis from strategic consulting firm JATO Dynamics.

This is a two-way effort, car manufacturers are forced to connect this software to the operating system of the entertainment center screen, with the aim of making it convenient for smartphone users to use in the car.

Huawei's HiCar software comes pre-installed on most cars made by Chinese company BYD.

On the software side, Apple and Google (the makers of iOS and Android software) also spend billions of dollars to develop software that is compatible with hundreds of car models while also collecting driver behavior through data.

Recently, China's Huawei HiCar announced its roadmap to compete with Apple Carplay and Android Auto by becoming a fully featured car operating system, even with more features than the two American software companies.

China is currently the world's largest automobile producer and consumer (about 22 million vehicles/year), and is also the largest automobile exporter by quarter.

In the first quarter of this year, China surpassed Japan for the first time to become the world's largest automobile exporter, so the phone and software company Huawei is determined to gain a worthy position in cars.

Huawei's automotive ambitions revolve around software and services available in cars, while also providing a number of other cutting-edge solutions to upgrade the driving experience.

HiCar has identified its core strategy as becoming an alternative to Google's Android Auto.

The difference is that HiCar does not require a standalone mobile device to run as it is pre-installed at the hardware level from the factory.

In other words, it is the operating system that supports the available infotainment, the driver starts the engine and will see HiCar running on the center screen.

Huawei's HiCar Determines Strategy to Replace Google's Android Auto App

Huawei recently updated HiCar to version 13.2.0.501, one of the highlights is the cruise control function added to this software.

More specifically, the HiCar operating system software will automatically turn on the cruise control function when the vehicle reaches a speed of over 30 km/h.

That means a very deep level of intervention (connection) of the pure entertainment navigation application into the vehicle's internal ECU software system.

Currently, the Cruise Control on/off feature on the car is still set by default by global car manufacturers using a button (on the steering wheel) or pressing the brake to cancel this feature, that is, by hardware.

With HiCar, users can turn Cruise Control on/off by touching the icon in the HiCar screen or by voice command.

HiCar's biggest shortcoming is the limited number and range of installations, as the software is currently available exclusively to Chinese automakers.