Image: Honda Motor Company
Every automaker works with outside suppliers to develop and produce anything from window switches to alternator pulleys. It’s how modern automobiles are made. And that same relationship extends into your dashboard.
So it’s not completely surprising that Honda has partnered with Harman – makers of the Aha app for iOS and Android – to plump streaming content into its next-generation HondaLink infotainment system, starting with the 2013 Honda Accord.
If you’re unfamiliar with Aha, the app allows you to create content channels based on music, news and social feeds, and with the HondaLink integration, the audio is streamed to the vehicle’s head-unit through either a USB cable (iOS) or Bluetooth audio connection (Android).
So in addition to the standard terrestrial and satellite offerings – along with a new Pandora app – you can access a myriad of podcasts, have your Facebook and Twitter news feeds read to you, find tunes through Slacker, and get service listings from Yelp.
All that content is delivered through a custom user interface specific to the Aha service, although it’s more than an app, but not quite as entrenched as an embedded platform.
“This is the next evolution of the connected car and the connected customer,” says Charles Koch, Honda’s manager of new business development.
Delivering a more seamless experience to that new “connected customer” is key to the Honda/Aha partnership. Drivers are expecting the same ease-of-use and functionality they get with a smartphone, and that includes regular app updates, customization, and a platform that’s not tied down to an aging automotive architecture. Aha has the potential to provide that, and with Honda becoming the first major OEM to integrate the service into a production vehicle, Harman has the backing of an automaker that’s apparently open to ceding some control of the dashboard to deliver a better consumer experience.
However, Honda has a long way to go.
Its current crop of embedded navigation and voice control systems are incredibly long in the tooth, and despite all the features provided by Aha, there’s still a lot missing from HondaLink to make it competitive with Ford’s Sync system and new infotainment setups from top tier automakers like General Motors and Toyota.
We’ve been told to expect more announcements about HondaLink functionality between now and the launch of the 2013 Accord, but for now this is just one small step for Honda, while the competition is already on its second lap.
