Harman preps in-car infotainment with Android

Harman often works behind the scenes to supply the infotainment systems for the cars we know. This year, it's hoping to catch more of the limelight by putting mobile front and center. Its high-end car system for 2013 runs a unique virtualized platform that keeps vital car functions running on QNX, with an Android-based interface on top: drivers will have access to Android's usual app suite as well as an automaker-run app store. While exacting details aren't available, Harman does promise integration with mobile devices (including Apple's Siri and Google Voice Search) as well as an interface that expands the touch target when fingers get close.

If that's not sufficiently future-forward, the company also has a potentially distraction-free infotainment concept waiting in the wings. While the prototype isn't quite groundbreaking in carrying a heads-up display with augmented reality information, it builds in a pair of gesture control sensors as well; drivers won't have to take their eyes off the road, or their hands off the wheel, just to decline a call. Harman is likewise promising LTE data and a possible smart grid tie-in that shows messages only when the car is stopped at a red light. Any adoption of the infotainment updates will depend on car manufacturers lining up at an unspecified point in the future, but those who can't wait can learn more (including word of a third, basic system) after the break.