On top of all the arcane business problems they face, General Motors and Ford Motor also suffer from boring cars. Factor out Cadillacs, F-Series trucks, Corvettes, and Mustangs, and Detroit is handing us uninteresting vehicles. What could make their cars more interesting? More horsepower? No, almost every car today has an ample amount. Swoopier sheet metal? Nope. Regulations, litigation, and fuel-efficiency demands have put an end to really gorgeous cars. No, the way to inject excitement and fascination back into American cars is to return them to their leadership in technology innovation, a position they once gripped tightly.
It's the American carmakers that have brought us waves of new tech over the last century--automatic transmissions, air conditioning, self-dimming high beams, hemispherical combustion chambers, sequential taillights, the WonderBar radio, and yes, even the
hoary old V-8-6-4 engine. (Hey, I at least applaud the attempt.)
But mention the phrase technologically advanced car today, and I believe most consumers will imagine a Japanese or a German product. Detroit needs to get back in front of the parade. Its potential customers spend many hours and many dollars shopping for technology products. On weekends, they stroll the aisles of Best Buy for sport. They wear a Sam Browne's worth of gadgets around their plump waistlines. They can tell you the specs on their iPod, their digital camera, their HDTV, their broadband connection, their smart phone, and their TiVo. Ask about their American car, and they recall mostly the rebate it came with.
To realign themselves with our love for innovation, here are some right-now technologies--all homegrown in America, by the way--that U.S. carmakers can and should get in front of.
HD Radio: Developed by U.S. firm Ibiquity, which itself was formed by the merger of two homegrown predecessors, HD Radio takes our current broadcast radio stations from analog to digital, retaining their existing dial position. It delivers digital clarity that makes FM sound like a CD and AM sound like FM. It also creates a secondary channel for each station to offer a "version B" of itself. The radio industry--a medium with higher penetration than TV or the Internet--is all over it.
Navigation with traffic: In-dash nav systems are a dud. But add live traffic information, and they become the antidote to America's favorite watercooler bitch-session topic: traffic jams. Just a few carmakers currently offer in-dash nav with live traffic; Ford and GM could yet steal the thunder if they move fast and use their considerable weight to encourage improvements in the data-sensor infrastructure. Check out Pioneer's new AVIC Z-1 for a glimpse of a live-traffic nav unit that also has important learning ability.
A great control surface: I've driven BMW's iDrive, Audi's MMI, and the Infiniti Controller. Let me tell you, there is still plenty of fertile ground to capture in the area of the definitive vehicle interface. Just like American companies standardized the PRNDL column-mounted gear lever, we can sort out this new control surface mess. Note to Ford: Your spin-off Visteon has a very interesting control surface in its TACNET line for cop cars. Check it out.
A new OnStar: Instead of positioning OnStar as the system that helps the feckless when they lock their keys in the car or drive off the road for no apparent reason, GM could reposition it as a source of useful daily information and assistance. Use its network and brand equity to create a really comprehensive drivers' information service that doesn't require a tedious call to a live adviser. Drivers could get restaurant reviews and reservations, store promotions, movie reviews, schedules, and ticketing--all powered by audio content and geotargeting--and without the cumbersome chat with an OnStar operator unless necessary. I'm not versed in the network technology that underlies OnStar, but I suspect it can do things that are sexy, not just prudent. As it is, having OnStar just makes you feel like a dork who needs adult supervision, not a technology adopter.
What should American car companies do to compete with Japanese and German carmakers?
In-car TV: I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I think there is a significant market for in-car TV--for rear-seat passengers, of course. Rear-seat DVD systems are nice, but having to shuttle DVDs back and forth from the car is archaic. There is great traction to be found in live TV on the road. KVH and RaySat currently offer antennas that tune DirecTV and Dish. And both are developing low-profile antennas that don't look like they belong on a bus, perhaps even hiding inside a vehicle's headliner, which then opens the door to becoming factory options. They're probably pounding on doors in Detroit right now--take their meetings.
Car entertainment hub: I dreamed of a wireless, smart entertainment hub for cars in a previous column and immediately heard veiled references from several manufacturers that they're working on it. Get in front of the introduction of such a system--it will create a new state of seamless integration between our personal portables and our cars, two classes of products that people are avid about.
Not one of these is going to reposition Detroit overnight, but a consistent and persistent pursuit of such high-touch, in-car tech will over time restore to American car brands something they offered when I was a kid: the latest and the greatest.
Post your comment here
