In recent years, car manufacturers and phone makers have come together to stop people from using their phones while driving. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is just one way tech companies are helping drivers overcome the bad habit.
A recently released patent filed by Apple shows how the company plans to use your iPhone to communicate with the car and receive information about the type of display it has on the dashboard and how it can use it.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Called “Instrument cluster metadata to support second screen”, the feature gathers detailed information about the display’s size, resolution, color-reproduction capabilities and so on, and then determines what data can be displayed on it and transmits it in the appropriate format.
So what the iPhone will display on your car’s dashboard will depend on the type of display its equipped with. If there is a single-color digital display between the speedometer and the tachometer, the iPhone will display simple arrows and numbers for navigation. And if your whole dashboard is a massive LCD then you’ll see graphics more appropriate for it.
Apple is planning to show more than just directions on the dashboard of your car. The patent mentions “wherein the metadata comprises one or more of navigation information, news information, and weather information”. Reading the news while driving isn’t ideal, but perhaps Apple is thinking to use the feature for emergency alerts concerning road conditions.
Apple shouldn’t have a problem convincing car manufacturers to implement this, considering the automotive industry’s wide adoption of CarPlay.
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