Hyundai integrates Smartphones in to their cars

Hyundai is harnessing the power of the Smartphone to make in-car information and driver settings integrate seamlessly.

For those of us old enough to remember the first mobile phones – and the first home PCs – the realisation that we’re all walking round now with Smartphones that have more processing power than it took to put a man on the moon is almost mind boggling.

Sadly, most of us use just a fraction of the capabilities of our phones, but the fact we have all that clever tech tucked in our trouser pockets gives car makers the opportunity to harness it to provide more functionality for their cars. And that’s exactly what Hyundai has up its sleeve.

Hyundai is working with Broadcom Corporation to integrate Smartphone technology in to Hyundai’s cars with functions like infotainment, telematics and driver assistance systems getting powered by that little bit of high tech we all carry around, and this week Hyundai has been showing off what they’ve got planned, with a new i30 showcasing what they’ve achieved so far.

That includes a quick wave of your phone at the car to unlock it using Near Field Communication (the same tech you use to make small payments with a Smartphone), and then once inside you plonk your phone in the centre console where it syncs with the car to provide all the phone’s functions on the car’s display. It even charges your phone wirelessly.

What the technology will also do is allow every driver to have their personal preferences stored on their phones – like seats and mirrors – so as soon as the car recognises the phone everything will be automatically set up.

It’s a hugely sensible step by Hyundai to harness the free processing power of our phones to provide much more functionality in their cars, and at minimal cost.

And it will be coming to a Hyundai near you by 2015.