Nokia announces cloud-based Here Auto infotainment and navigation system

Nokia has been looking to reinvent its in-car systems and bring a modern offering that can leverage many of the company's existing entertainment and navigation services. The Finnish company made a name for itself with navigation systems, but we had heard about the imminent launch of its next-gen system for automotives, and today Nokia took the wraps off Here Auto.

Describing the new system, Nokia's head of location, commerce and Here EVP Michael Halbherr said that the company would look at integrating autonomous driving and vehicles into future “smart city” networks. The newly minted Here Auto system seems to be the first step in achieving that dream, according to the company. While the idea of a self-driven car is still far from becoming reality, the announcement marks the Finnish company’s entry into the burgeoning field of Internet-linked entertainment and navigation systems. Nokia definitely has an edge, though, courtesy its existing work with the Cloud as well as its smartphone-centric applications.

Nokia Here Auto comes with an integrated set of features from Nokia's Here mapping apps

As the name suggests, Nokia’s Here mapping and navigation, available for Lumia smartphones, will be central to Here Auto. The in-dash software will come with all the important features of the Windows Phone 8 app. This includes 3D maps, real-time traffic updates, points of interest, street-level imaging and local business searches. But the system, unlike other embedded navigation systems, is not closed off, according to Here VP of Connected Car Floris Van-De-Klashorst, who spoke to GigaOM. Van-De-Klashorst said that the system ensures that users will have access to the same app as on their smartphones or PC browsers. Thus all bookmarked destinations, preferred destinations, preferred routes, contacts and preferences will be stored in the cloud and can be synced between devices. Thus if users want to map out a route on their phone or PC, the same route can be synced to the car as soon as it is connected to the network. And if for some reason users do fall off the grid, all the most recent route maps and settings will still stay saved in the car’s memory.

A noteworthy point here is that Here Auto is not an operating system. While Here Auto is designed as a full-fledged platform for hosting any kind of infotainment app, it will act like a layer built over whichever embedded OS the company’s automaker partners may use. While Nokia has had close ties with Microsoft over the past few years, Van-De-Klashorst has said that Here Auto will work just as easily with BlackBerry’s QNX car system as it will with Microsoft’s Windows embedded automotive OS.

Nokia's Here Auto comes with detailed instructions and real-time travel details

In order to get more apps onto Here Auto, Nokia is also coming up with a software development kit (SDK) and a set of application programming interfaces (APIs). This will help facilitate app makers who want to build their apps directly into Here Auto. The report suggests that these apps could vary from stand-alone entertainment apps like audio streaming or internet radio services to apps that can integrate with Here’s core mapping features.

Nokia is not trying to promote its brand through Here Auto, though, according to Van-De-Klashorst. The system will be sold to automakers in the same way as its sells maps for automotive navigation systems via the Navteq division. Automakers can customise the system to their liking and also add in their own apps and user interfaces. Automakers can even run their own developer programmes and pick which third party apps will finally make it to the dashboard. All pricing and branding rights will remain with the car makers.

Nokia has even made sure that the integration doesn’t stop with just the car. Along with Here Auto, the company is also launching a companion app for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and the web. This will function as the mobile and PC browser-equivalent of the in-car system. The app will also come with the core Here mapping software as well as any vehicle-specific apps made by the automaker. This includes services like remote unlocking, remote engine start, as well as fuel or battery power gauges.

While looking at the demo version of how the system would work, GigaOM reported that the demonstration lived up to a lot of what the company has promised, albeit the demo didn't happen inside a vehcile. They were able to map a route on an iPad and save the same into their favorites section, which appears a few minutes later on the mocked up dashboard screen. Here Auto, through a simulation, was also able to guide the user to upscale fashion retailer Nordstrom’s Washington outlet and into the outlet’s parking lot.

The system even saved the parking spot’s location on the map, and then passed all the saved information to the Here app on a Nokia Lumia phone. Demonstrating the synced nature of the system, the smartphone app provided walking directions into the store using its indoor mapping technology. It  was also able to guide the user back to the car, not only showing the route on a map, but its relative direction using Nokia’s City Lens augmented reality app. While this was just a demo, Here Auto will definitely be a considerable force to reckon with if it can pull this off and is accepted by the auto industry. The company has still not spoken about which automotive companies it plans to approach or how many markets it wants to offer the system in initially.