Apple Designing Car Interfaces?

[zombitronic]

Finally... Ive been posting this since Tuesday and have been mocked and ridiculed... Finally someone realised that Apple and Jaguar worked together.

I would love some recognition.

I hear ya, man. I've been reading tons of this Apple vehicle interface news elsewhere for over a month now. Not a lot of concrete info, but still bits and pieces. To be fair, MR did post about it in June, but I'd still like to see the info collected here, at least on Page 2.

 

[gugy]

I'm sure Jaguar isn't the only one. And if they are, surely other companies will be interested now that the news is out. Hopefully we will see more design improvements of this nature in the future, regardless of whether it's Apple's doing or not.

Oh, and posting a one-word reply, then going back and editing it in a sad attempt to get the first post in the thread? Pretty weak - and you failed in any case...

hahaha, I did not know competing to be the first post in Macrumors is the ultimatum nerd dream. Congrats to you!

 

[Consultant]

First the iPhone, then the iCar, then the iConquer !

=)

 

[corywoolf]

It's official, another Apple vs. Microsoft venture. Microsoft has already partnered with Ford and is testing it's car media center interface, now Apple is going to steal the show. It's about time Apple got into making car stereo/ navigation products. They should have been doing it years ago, the iPod has always sucked in the car. Even with my Alpine interface, it is not the quality controls/interface of Apple. All those FM transmitters are pretty lame too. The auto industry just doesn't innovate much when it comes to the entertainment aspect of cars.

 

[fanbrain]

(not dissimilar to BMW's iDrive control) ??

Not dissimilar? WTF? This writing is as confusing as the iDrive...

Good english talker write there.

 

[Chris Bangle]

he key thing here is What Does CONTROL INTERFACES mean... Is it the buttons and controls, or is the GUI and user experience stuff on the touch screen display. These two pics should brighten up this thread.

 

[macsamillion]

Yes and yes. Chris Bangle is the head of BMW styling, and yes he has been ridiculed in the automotive press--by people who wouldn't know design if it hit them in the face--for the so called "Bangle Butt." Why do we empower people, who studied journalism, to tell us about design. It's kind of like having a cook tell how great Unix could be. Strother MacMinn the only automotive journalist that was qualified to tell us about design, also practiced it, and taught it--interestingly was one of Bangle's teachers--died 14 years ago. I can assure you that MacMinn would have understood the BMW surface development and would have appreciated it.

As for 'Fake Chris Bangle's' great observation, I have often wondered why one could buy a car as technically advanced as the Prius with on screen graphics as crude as a PC's, on the Nav computer. Hello Toyota and others. We live in a post OSX world. Could it be that the real problem is that the majority of people buying cars are just too conservative, leaving the door wide open for an Apple Automotive Consultancy????

 

[bretm]

LOL. You were screaming (literally) for some attention. Maybe it was the double-posts or the CAPS THAT SCREAMED AT EVERYONE, but either way it was a good find.

But seriously. Next time, lose the CAPS!

And the post could've actually included some sort of info. Like what they were working on, etc. Maybe even a link to the thread where he was referring. All he had was a broken link.

 

[motulist]

I hope Apple's next product is the iVote. That way our votes would actually count, instead of just Diebold's owners deciding who wins elections.

 

[Chris Bangle]

Yes and yes. Chris Bangle is the head of BMW styling, and yes he has been ridiculed in the automotive press--by people who wouldn't design if it hit them in the face--for the so called "Bangle Butt." Why do we empower people, who studied journalism, to tell us about design. It's kind of like having a cook tell how great Unix could be. Strother MacMinn the only automotive journalist that was qualified to tell us about design, also practiced it, and taught it--interestingly was one of Bangle's teachers--died 14 years ago. I can assure you that Mac would have understood the BMW surface development and would have appreciated it.

As for 'Fake Chris Bangle's' great observation, I have often wondered why one could buy a car a technically advanced as the Prius with on screen graphics as crude as a PC's, on the Nav computer. Hello Toyota and others. We live in a post OSX world. Could it be that the real problem is that the majority of people buying cars are just too conservative, leaving the door wide open for an Apple Automotive Consultancy????

Are you reading my mind?... Thats exactly what i think... The automotive industry is a complete mess and so are the journalists. Cheap Plastics are horrible... And even bentleys and jaguars are full of it. So little effort goes into the design of small but important details.. Only a few car compnies pay attention to these. e.g BMW... Even the Audi A3 isnt brillaint... So so plasticky Apple needs to work with Jaguar and BMW very very closely. hmmm stainless steel macbook pro like dashboard... How lovely.

 

[savar]

Cool...I guess. Two thoughts:

1) Why Jaguar? They make kinda lousy cars. Why not BMW/Lexus/Acura/Benz/Infiniti or any other of the car companies that make sweet cars?

2) While I like Apple design in general...if everything in my life had that glossy glass-over-black-plastic sheen I think I might go nuts. In other words, the Apple aesthetic can be taken too far.

 

[slicecom]

This is great news for BMW fans. iDrive is HORRIBLE! It takes like 20 click and turns to turn on the friggin air vents! (Ok i exaggerated a little, but it really is a stupid interface!).

 

[Horseface]

Finally... Ive been posting this since Tuesday and have been mocked and ridiculed... Finally someone realised that Apple and Jaguar worked together.

I would love some recognition.

You want recognition?

Isn't being the one who single-handedly ruined the BMW aesthetic with overly busy just-for-the-sake-of-it, up-its-own-arse, seriously misguided and coke-fuelled design not enough for you, Christopher?

 

[ClassicMac247]

Hoping for a universal surround sound for cars.

It would make sense for apple to create a surround sound audio system for automobiles, it would make mores sense if it could be fitted into any cars not just the expensive partners they are working with.

 

[p8ntballguy]

I always thought apple could slap appleTV in a car, give it a good onscreen interface, a lil different than on the appleTV currently, an easier one to navigate with touch, + radio controller. Every time you pull in your driveway, it would sync all your music and movies.......perfect.

 

[arn]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1C28 Safari/419.3)

Finally... Ive been posting this since Tuesday and have been mocked and ridiculed... Finally someone realised that Apple and Jaguar worked together.

I would love some recognition.

I hear ya, man. I've been reading tons of this Apple vehicle interface news elsewhere for over a month now. Not a lot of concrete info, but still bits and pieces. To be fair, MR did post about it in June, but I'd still like to see the info collected here, at least on Page 2.

You should submit news or tidbits. We miss things of course and everything submitted we don't post but you shouldn't assume the editors see everything or even read all the comments in the discussion.

 

[Chris Bangle]

Found this on Auto express

What’s more, proximity sensors trigger the glovebox to open or the interior lights to dim with just the wave of a hand, while there’s classy phosphor blue cabin illumination. So it’s clear Jaguar has pulled out all the stops.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/210192/jaguar_xf.html


Proximity sensors.... Sounds like one or two apple patents.... Sounds like the kind of thing they would do.... I thiink about a year ago with one of the touchscreen apple patents there was something about hovering your finger over the screen and buttons would be enlarged on the screen... It was like touch screen but without touching.... Sounds familiar to this Jaguar stuff.


Dont worry I dont really want any recognition.... I just hope this ends on on appleinsider or at least engadget....

 

[eatapc]

Yes he is... Sadly im not the real Chris Bangle Ive been screaming it on the forums... Not the real Chris Bangle...

Odd. I looked up your forum profile. It says: Location: Kent. Interests: BMW. Occupation: Chief of design @ BMW designworks.

Is your profile a joke, then? The real Chris Bangle might not be amused.

As to the criticisms of the Bangle Butt styling and iDrive dysfunctionality, it's ludicrous for people on this forum to blame journalists. Journalists' criticisms were pretty mild compared to BMW owners and dealers.

Journalists may not be schooled in styling and industrial design, but then what do computer geeks know about journalism? Critics do not need to practice within the profession they write about.

 

[grumpy]

Cool...I guess. Two thoughts:

1) Why Jaguar? They make kinda lousy cars. Why not BMW/Lexus/Acura/Benz/Infiniti or any other of the car companies that make sweet cars?

I find my Jag quite enjoyable, reliable and distinct from the bland monochromatic competitor offerings that fill the parking lot. But, that's just me.

But, moving forward, I see from the pictures and the system description that apparently the pure enjoyment of driving a manual has been bred out of the race.

 

[Horseface]

Odd. I looked up your forum profile. It says: Location: Kent. Interests: BMW. Occupation: Chief of design @ BMW designworks.

Is your profile a joke, then? The real Chris Bangle might not be amused.

As to the criticisms of the Bangle Butt styling and iDrive dysfunctionality, it's ludicrous for people on this forum to blame journalists. Journalists' criticisms were pretty mild compared to BMW owners and dealers.

Journalists may not be schooled in styling and industrial design, but then what do computer geeks know about journalism? Critics do not need to practice within the profession they write about.

I'm hoping the real Chris Bangle is so unamused that he drives himself into the sea. Then he won't pollute the world with any more of his eyesores.



Chris needs to take his head out of his arse and realise that people have to LIKE what he designs. He can't just waffle on about some high concept and that 'some people just don't get it', because what does that matter if it results in something ugly and unappealing?

Beep beep.

Anyway. iDrive is like a bad joke and should be buried.

 

[Chris Bangle]

Oh come on... The 5 series is awesome, the M3, 335i, M6 how can you be so harsh to these brilliant machines. I admit the 7 series is not nice but BMW bashing gets boring after a while.

 

[EagerDragon]

Well this is interesting, expecially if you remember that M$ is also making software for cars.

I can see a portable Mac with 4 doors, authomatic transmission, roomy trunk and your choice of 3 engines. Maybe Intel will start making engines.

 

[hooch]

he key thing here is What Does CONTROL INTERFACES mean... Is it the buttons and controls, or is the GUI and user experience stuff on the touch screen display. These two pics should brighten up this thread.

What if they added a track pad on the top of that knob and have a pointer on the monitor? That would be a very sleek, wouldn't it? Eliminates finger prints anyway.

 

[Chris Bangle]

What if they added a track pad on the top of that knob and have a pointer on the monitor? That would be a very sleek, wouldn't it? Eliminates finger prints anyway.

Can you remember the James Bond with the BMW 7 series... I think it was tomorrow never dies... The sony ericsson and when it opened up there was a touch pad which controlled his car. How cool would that be. Being able to drive your car from your iphone.

But controlling the touchscreen from the dial is also a brilliant idea. But our Jaguar XJ had touchscreen and it didn't really get that dirty. Finger prints wernt as bad as you would expect.

 

[glennyboiwpg]

WTF does using CAPS have to do with screaming at people, I've never understood it and never will. It makes no difference whether the text is capitalised or not, just GET OVER IT ALREADY.

Its a well known and well followed fact that using CAPS in internet text (email, im, etc) means your SCREAMING AT THE PERSON.

It doesn't matter if you like this or not. If you use CAPS in your MESSAGES people will get upset at you. END OF STORY!