Fiat loading cheaper Microsoft infotainment software on 15 models

As the successful Ford Sync system has shown, software now reigns supreme in car infotainment, especially as cloud-based content on connected portable devices displaces physical media such as CDs. It’s also become the new battleground among automotive software suppliers.

Microsoft, which owns and publishes MSN, and the Canadian company QNX, a subsidiary of BlackBerry maker RIM, are the two biggest players in the industry and provide proprietary software for most current automotive infotainment applications. Linux’s open-source platform is also gaining traction, as seen on the Cadillac Cue system, as automakers warm to this more flexible approach.

But Microsoft has scored a major coup with Fiat as it launches a cheaper, simpler infotainment platform for future Chrysler and Fiat vehicles, despite Chrysler's awards for its QNX-backed Uconnect system in various models.

Microsoft says its new Uconnect 5.0 system will be available on 15 new models, including Dodge, Alfa Romeo and Fiat's European brand Lancia. The 2014 Fiat 500L will be the first model to offer the system when it goes on sale this summer.

Chrysler’s roundabout relationship with Microsoft can be traced back to one of the software giant’s first forays into consumer-facing automotive infotainment with Fiat’s Blue&Me system, which predated Ford Sync. Like Sync, Blue&Me started as a basic pairing system for Bluetooth phones and media players and then evolved to include other features, such as Fiat's eco:Drive app, which records fuel-economy data to a USB stick.

Microsoft's new software, based on its Windows Embedded operating system, has a smaller processor, reduced storage space and a touch screen that's half the size of the Uconnect screens on cars like the Dodge Dart, for example. The platform also can adapt to new portable devices and applications as they become available through the life cycle of a vehicle.

Chrysler declined to comment which models would receive the new software, but due to its more limited functionality, we'd expect it to be offered only on lower-trim models and commercial vehicles like the upcoming Fiat ProMaster van.

Fiat chose automotive supplier Continental to design the head unit for the infotainment system. Fiat also asked Continental to work with Windows Embedded to deliver the new system within 18 months – as opposed to the two years it took Microsoft and Fiat to develop the Blue&Me system – just in time for the European debut of the Fiat 500L at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

“We needed a high-quality, upgradable solution, but we didn’t want a huge processor that would drive up the cost,” Candido Peterlini, director of product planning for infotainment at Fiat, said in a statement. “We also have a lot of entertainment services that take advantage of Internet access and social networks. With an infotainment system based on Windows Embedded Automotive, we can integrate people’s digital lives with their cars in a balanced way.”

Peterlini said he expects Microsoft's Uconnect 5.0 system to not only remain on par with the highly regarded QNX-based system, but also to boost the status and sales of its global brands. "By offering the Uconnect infotainment system based on Windows Embedded in all models, we anticipate a 30 to 40 percent increase in market penetration," he said.

[Source: Microsoft]

Source: MSN