Hyundai and Kia – powered by Microsoft
May 7, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Korean manufacturers Hyundai and Kia have signed a deal with the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, for infotainment systems powered by Microsoft’s in car operating system.
The software which can run everything from the stereo to satellite navigation to showing service intervals, could find its way in all models in the Korean lineups. It will be designed both for premium and entry level applications.
The in-car operating system is expected for a 2010 deployment in the North American market. Other markets will follow depending on the program’s success.
The deal between Microsoft and Hyundai is the first of its kind between the software giant and an Asian auto-manufacturer, Ford already deploy a similar Microsoft system called Sync.
The Ford Sync can do a few cool things, it allows drivers to connect nearly any mobile phone or digital media player and operate them using voice commands or radio controls.
It can even receive SMS messages and read them aloud using a digitised female voice. The system is smart enough to convert shorthand messages such as LOL to “laughing out loud” and, it will even read swear words. But one thing it won’t do is decipher obscene acronyms!
Print it: 
Begs all the obvious jokes about crashing botting up pressig start to stop.
Oh well I guess its progress.
FIAT already have similar in Europe
OLD news.
Cheers
F-0
There are plenty of modern cars which have their management systems run by an ECU with some sort of operating system. They are not immune to the OS crashing or not booting properly, although they are nothing like a PC (thank god !). Imagine sailing along at 100ks and the ECU crashes – who knows what would happen :)
I’m willing to bet that everyone has had a problem with their mobile phone crashing or not booting properly – my new Nokia E65 is a shocker compared to the previous 6288, which very rarely had a drama.
I’m pretty comfortable that Microsoft’s OS for Auto ECUs will be rock solid – after all the majority of Windows problems are caused by the infinite number of poor quality hardware and non-OEM software that the native OS has to run.
Rock Solid and Microshit in the same sentence? R u serious??
Reckless, your comment has to be the biggest load of BS I have ever read on this site and that is saying something.
MS s/w is amongst the most poorly tested and poor quality on the face of this planet and this is a great reason to stay right away from the car brands that utilise it.
Oh my god! I cant believe someone would actually write acomment like that. I am still in shock!
“It can even receive SMS messages and read them aloud using a digitised female voice….it will even read swear words.”
That sounds kinda kinky…ask a mate to send you a dirty sms…and the female voice will read for you..lol…
But seriously, Microsoft have to make a bullet proof s/w. I think they are gonna spend some time testing and idiot-proofing them, it’s people’s lives at stake here, not just some idiot (like me) browsing some pron…
Ah – like bees to the honey pot. Those who have never contributed one iota to the world are full of themselves to the extent that they JUST KNOW MS is rubbish.
Flying High is no doubt sitting on his Unix/Linux developing something that will remove MS from the face of the earth.
Well, idiot, I say bring it on. When you have something that holds the entire western world together, do let us all know, won’t you. I’m sure all big business will instantly cease using Exchange, Servers, and desktops and take up your option without batting an eyelid.
What a fool….did you even read what I wrote?
I’ll spell it out a bit better, since you have geek written all over you.
When you develop an OS which requires very little functionality (like Linux) and put on it an application with very little functionality, such as an ECU, in a piece of hardware that is fixed and of high quality you can easily get robust reliability.
Kind of like the cheap linux boxes that run TVs, modem/routers etc – except many of those boxes are notoriously unreliable, requiring frequent reboots.
By jingo I think u are right Reckless. Your points are all valid and no file violations here.
M$ and Rock Solid ? You MUST be on crack Reckless1.
Im not going to get into a whole debate about it but i have to agree with Flying High, M$ and reliability just cannot go in a sentence together.
Google is your friend so please do some research about the whole IT industry’s use of windows vs Unix(and its derivatives) Some starting areas include The Server market, Defence and Research Departments. I think you’ll be surprised as to how reliable M$ products really are and will explain why its not used for anything ‘important’ =)
Also ‘Linux’ is not an OS its simply the kernel.. Damn script kiddies and there Winblows
wow isnt it funny that only last week some were questioning what the hell MS had to do with cars when the topic went there
the system needs to appraised before any of the above comments are relevant.
i highly doubt that this will be a MS windows derivative that gets updated with out the initial bugs being fixed.
this would be a start from scratch system i would reckon, and hence no relation to poor performing windows operations.
also keep in mind that this system wouldnt allow users to modify it like you can a PC.
once users start installing this and that and visiting this and that on the internet, thats when the real problems start with computers
Andrew M, your exactly right. The main problems start with people initially stuffing around with stuff that they shouldn’t, and in turn, affects the reliability. I use XP and don’t have any problems and I believe it comes down to the fact I don’t stuff around with it or install/download programs that I belive could ruin something. Also, lets not go on trying to say the other operating systems doesn’t have it’s problems either.
In my honest opinion, I think people are just trying to find yet another flawed excuse to bag out Kia and Hyundai…
Reckless; Youngun, Why just stop with your lips – with a little push, you could shove your whole head up Bills backside.
How long have you even used a computer fella? Oh hail to MS the saviour of the Western World. Are you for real?!
If there is ANYONE in the world we can thank and give praise to, it is Archimedes, the inventor of the greatest invention the industrialised world has ever known – the ’screw’. And believe me, we can live and prosper without Microsoft products, but try living without a screw and see how everything will fall apart
Speaking of screw, you probably need one to get things back into perspective… :-)
I specifically bought my FIAT without any MS “enhancements”. It’s tragic enough that I earn a living off the ill-fated operating system. I’d hate to be someone who goes to a car wreck and they ask me to recover the last logs to see what happened, only to find that there was a kernel panic and the car skid off into an on-coming bus.
I’m an old skool mechanic. But I like EFI. Though it’s really hard to go wrong. With a computer, and not just any computer. A Microsoft powered one… we’re all destined to die.
SteveC