When you’ve already perfected the driving experience, there’s not much left to do but turn your development expertise to the in-car entertainment. Okay, maybe that’s a bit exaggerative, but anyway Porsche is working on integrating a new set of in-car apps for use with its infotainment systems, via an app store. This comes in conjunction with partners Volkswagen and Audi (and I assume later rollouts with other VAG brands), as the Group hopes to deliver a more app-integrated experience to its customers. If you’ve been looking forward to watching TikTok videos on your car’s dashboard, then you’ll be excited to hear that you soon can.
The initial app store rollout includes the usual heavy hitters like Spotify and Yelp, optimized for use on a large touch screen in the middle of your dashboard. Presumably this will include Porsche’s newly-revamped fun-road-seeking map app called ROADS. Not only will these apps make the driving experience more enjoyable without the unnecessary step of working through your iPhone to get apps into Apple CarPlay, but the apps will be better integrated with your car and screens.
The apps span a wide range of available uses. There is the immediately obvious entertainment apps for news, music, and podcasts. You’ve got the always necessary weather, parking, and map apps to help you get where you’re going, and get there safely. There are smart home integration apps to help you get your home ready for your arrival; run the Roomba, bump the temperature three degrees, preheat the oven, you know, that kind of thing. There are videoconferencing apps for when you’re working on the road. And finally, there are gaming and entertainment apps for when you’re parked and need to kill some time. That is a bit more likely in something like a Taycan or the upcoming all-electric Macan, where you may need to be parked up at a charging station for thirty minutes or whatever.
This app store is part of a new integrated infotainment stack that Volkswagen Group is calling One.Infotainment, which is a new Android-based computing system shared across all brands in the portfolio, and co-developed with Harman, which is now part of the Samsung family of brands.
As the world continues to proliferate screen engagement and tech-advancement, Volkswagen (and by extension Porsche) need to increase focus on infotainment. Many people report infotainment as the main reason they purchase a vehicle, with its importance increasing seemingly daily. With advanced tech-forward companies like BYD and Tesla pushing the infotainment experience first and the driving experience second, the rest of the industry must try to overtake them. I just hope Porsche doesn’t ever sacrifice the driving experience for the parked experience.