Car making partners, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi announced on Tuesday that in all its future editions, it will use Google Android operating system to avail the tech giant an opportunity in the infotainment market with the biggest share.
Last year, the combined sales of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi were about 10.6 million vehicles and from next time onwards they are preparing to “integrate Google applications and services” which include services like Maps and the voice-commanded Google Assistant into the cars.
The recent move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, as it tends to develop the cars with more leaning towards technology compared to many large or luxury rival carmakers. The main reason is to control the relationships with the customers along with their data and potentially significant future revenue from all kinds of connected services.
After the integration, Google’s Android will bring to the cars all kinds of applications like the Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi lineups, which include significant sales of with affordable prices and known to be no-frills cars.
The news will also prove to be of a bitter taste for some automotive technology suppliers like the satellite navigation specialist TomTom. The company shares went down by nearly quarter after the news spread.
The Google partnership comes with promises of “rich user experiences that are currently available only outside the vehicle or, to a limited extent, by connecting an Android device to supported vehicles,” said the alliance’s development chief Hadi Zablit.
The trend is to avail ‘mirroring’ of the infotainment by the volume carmakers to pair with Android smartphones or Apple iPhones, but for premium rivals, it’s completely different. Carmakers like BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes are trying to develop their own kind of operating systems, connected services, and vocal assistants by investing heavily.
Others like those who manufacture in small numbers as Geely-owned Volvo Cars have already decided to launch its future vehicles with Android Auto.
But this announcement by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi may prove to be very heavy for other competitors and compel them to rethink costly development activities on their own, as the move increases pressure on their manufacturers.
The first such series of vehicles with Android-equipped OS will come out in 2021, the alliance said on Tuesday, as it avoided to disclose the financial terms of the partnership.
Google’s Android is proving to be the top OS for all such kind of services with integration facility for everything possible.
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