Top automakers are introducing new ways at CES 2023 to reshape the in-car entertainment experience
What started as a novelty offered to Tesla owners by Elon Musk has turned into table stakes in the next generation of electric vehicles.
Automakers from Sony Honda to Hyundai are presenting ways to innovate the in-car entertainment experience, including offering video games during rides, at the CES 2023 technology trade show this week. They are positioning themselves to take advantage of the time people spend in their cars as a source of potentially lucrative, recurring revenue.
"This is an area that can be deployed very quickly," Dirk Hilgenberg, head of Volkswagen AG's CARIAD software unit, told Reuters at CES. "You can just host third-party apps for the streaming service, or generate a combined platform. You guarantee a certain volume, you guarantee a certain revenue."
While car radios have been an entertainment staple in vehicles for decades, Tesla vehicles have redefined consumer expectations with the ability to watch popular video streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube and Hulu while the vehicle is parked and charging. being done.
In December, Tesla released a "holiday update" to its software to add access to 1,000 PC games through the Steam platform.
Other automakers have followed suit. In October, BMW announced a partnership with AirConsole to bring casual gaming to its vehicles. Stellantis last year announced plans to add Amazon.com Inc's Fire TV to its new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs for autos.
In Las Vegas, South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Co said it will use technology developed by Nvidia Corp, whose chips power PC gaming, to stream PC gaming to cars.
Nvidia's cloud-based game service, known as GeForce Now, will provide access to more than 1,000 titles from PC game stores like Steam, as well as free-to-play games like Fortnite. China's BYD and Swedish electric vehicle brand Polestar are also working with Nvidia
Japan's Sony, maker of the market-leading PlayStation video game console, said Wednesday at CES that its newly named electric vehicle, Afila, will be powered by the same Unreal Engine 3D technology used in video games.
Sony promised "best-in-class" movies, games and music, though it offered few details on a vehicle it's developing jointly with Honda Motor Co.
"Achieving intelligent mobility requires continuous software updates and high-performance computing," Yasuhide Mizuno, CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, said at the trade show.
The auto industry is grappling with how to safely introduce these new features, and how to restrict passenger use while the vehicle is operating.
Tesla became the focus of regulators in 2021 after reports that a feature allowed drivers to play games on the cars' tablet-like touch screens. Tesla disabled the feature when the car was in motion.
Hilgenberg said Volkswagen is developing vehicles that can drive themselves on the highway or in traffic jams, giving drivers and passengers more time to watch videos or play games. But those vehicles will have safety systems that can make the driver turn off gaming or video displays if automated driving is unsafe, he said.
Still, these are features consumers are demanding, so VW is seeking partnerships at CES.
"In some areas, we'll see people say, 'You don't have that? I'm not buying that,'" Hilgenberg said. "We will see the content ... that is provided by the software enabled functionality will be a deciding factor in whether to buy."
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