????

????等到2015款梅塞德斯奔馳C級轎車于今年秋天發布時，與它一同面世的將還有蘋果的CarPlay車內科技系統。這套系統使用了一個模仿智能手機的界面，還包括一塊觸屏，一眼看去，和人們每天都使用的智能手機相差無幾。

????從幾個方面看，蘋果進軍汽車界都非常值得注意。每當蘋果謹慎而無情地殺入一個新市場，基本上意味著這個市場就要重新洗牌。汽車行業是一個規模龐大、利潤豐厚的市場，這個行業的主宰者的地位基本都很穩固，有些公司主導汽車行業的歷史甚至比泰坦尼克號還悠久。但更重要的是，汽車行業的消費技術在體驗上一直是一塊短板。與此同時，智能手機在汽車導航和回復信息等方面的簡潔性卻深得消費者的歡心，因此他們自然會抱怨汽車在執行同樣任務時的復雜?？梢韵胍姡谙M技術被整合進這個一噸多重的大鐵塊的過程中，一定是缺失了點什么東西。

????汽車業并不缺少這樣的嘗試。通用汽車公司（General Motors）在2012年的車型上就推出了它的MyLink車載信息系統；福特（Ford）更是在之前一年就推出了MyFordTouch系統，另外它早在2007年（也就是iPhone問世的同年）就推出了自己的Sync系統。奧迪（Audi）有自己的Connect系統，豐田（Toyota）也有自家的Entune系統。起亞用的是基于微軟的Uvo系統，它的大哥現代則有一個叫做Blue Link的系統。

????但是似乎沒有哪一家汽車廠商的車內系統擁有自己的粉絲。這些系統都很復雜，好像只是一堆硬件按鈕的堆砌，它們的界面連最會玩智能手機的用戶都覺得頭痛。這些系統都處在各自的雛型階段，還很不完美，經常挑戰用戶的耐心。而且它們還給駕駛這樣一項單純的工作增加了一項新的工作量——光為給軟件升級值不值得跑一趟4S店？

????從事車內科技研究的高德納咨詢公司（Gartner）分析師蒂洛?科斯洛夫斯基說：“它還沒有優化好，還沒有真正捕捉到它應有的體驗?！?/p>

????通用汽車的子公司安吉星公司負責產品和應用研發的工程組經理馬克?斯卡夫認為，這種局面有一部分原因是汽車的工程周期造成的。一輛今天在市面上銷售的汽車，它的車內技術都是三到五年前研制成的。這就意味著今天的工程師們都在為2018年、2019年甚至2020年才能上市的汽車“打包整合規格和設計”。

????但這并不是說這些系統的唯一問題就是它們的年齡。

????通用汽車全球顧客互聯集團（Global Connected Customer Group）信息娛樂系統總監菲爾?艾布拉姆指出：“我們目前的集成水平還比較原始，剩下的技術已經達到了即將可以整合到汽車里的臨界點，要靠蘋果、谷歌和移動運營商們推出行得通的系統和標準。我們現在才剛剛進入這個階段?！?/p>

????換句話說，車內科技系統本身并不是特別復雜的東西，只不過他們還沒有領會到應該為駕駛員提供什么樣的技術體驗，因為工程師甚至包括駕駛員自己現在都還沒有搞清楚那種體驗應該是什么樣的。高德納公司的科斯洛夫斯基也認為，今天的車內科技系統之所以很不好用，部分原因就是由于汽車廠商誤解了什么是消費者想要的東西。

????他說：“對于消費者來說，車內科技應該能幫助他們把數字化的生活方式擴展到汽車里。而汽車公司并不是非常了解數碼世界?！?/p>

????When the 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class is unveiled this fall, making its proper debut with it will be Apple's CarPlay, an in-car technology system that will mimic the smartphone interface -- including the touch-screen, if present -- that legions of people carry in their pockets every day.

????Apple's (AAPL) entry into the world of automobiles is noteworthy for several reasons. The company enters markets deliberately and ruthlessly, for one, rarely doing so without readjusting the playing field. The automotive industry is large and lucrative, dominated by players so established that some predate the sinking of the Titanic. And above all, the application of consumer technology to the automotive industry has been sorely and frustratingly lacking in terms of the experience to which drivers and passengers are subject. As consumers marvel at the phone's simplicity in summoning driving directions or responding to a friend's message, they scowl at the car's complexity in doing the same. Something is surely lost in translation with the addition of 3,000 lbs. of steel in motion.

????It's not for lack of trying. General Motors (GM) introduced its MyLink telematics system in its 2012 models; Ford (F) rolled out its MyFordTouch system the year prior and its Sync system in 2007, the same year that the iPhone was introduced. Audi has its Connect system. Toyota (TM) has its Entune. Kia has its Microsoft-powered Uvo (MSFT) and big brother Hyundai its Blue Link.

????What none of these carmakers seem to have is fans of their in-car technology. The systems are complex, a nest of hardware buttons and interface flows that confound even the savviest of smartphone users. They can be imperfect in their relative infancy, challenging the patience of drivers who know better than to look away from the road. And they add a new dynamic -- does a software update warrant a dealer visit? -- to the relatively straightforward driving experience.

????"It's not optimal," says Thilo Koslowski, a Gartner analyst who studies in-car technology. "It hasn't really captured the experience that it should look like."

????Part of this has to do with the engineering cycle of cars, says Mark Scalf, the OnStar engineering group manager for developer products and applications at General Motors. The technology available in cars today was finished in production three to five years ago, he says. That means that engineers today are "wrapping up specifications and designs" for technology in vehicles scheduled to hit showrooms in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

????Not that frustration with these systems is derived solely from their age.

????"The level of integration we have right now is rather primitive," says Phil Abram, chief infotainment officer for GM's Global Connected Customer Group. "The rest of the technology is getting to the point where it's ready to be integrated into a car. That's on Apple and Google and ... the [wireless] carriers to bring forth systems and standards that make sense. We're just entering that phase right now."

????In other words, it isn't so much that in-car technology systems are especially complicated; they just haven't captured what a technology experience for a driver ought to look like because engineers and drivers alike are still learning what that experience should be. Gartner's Koslowski partly attributes the unwieldy experience of today's in-car tech to automakers' misunderstandings of what consumers want.

????"[In-car technology] should be for consumers to extend their digital lifestyle into an automobile," he says. "Car companies are not understanding this digital world really well."