Abstract:
In cars, audio represents the most important form of entertainment. Until very recently an FM radio and a cassette or CD player had been enough to satisfy the automotive customer. Then a multitude of compressed audio formats (in combination with the Internet) changed the way music is consumed. Furthermore, another multitude of digital radio standards has emerged and is currently being discussed by regulatory authorities. The right choice of audio related entertainment technologies to support has thus become more complex for car manufacturers; especially as the decisions have to be taken several years ahead of implementation.
This article shows
•That audio entertainment will remain important
•That analogue, terrestrial radio is there to stay (despite the fact that the traditional business model based on broadcasted advertisements is becoming less suitable)
•That good content management (mood dependent compilation of entertainment programs) is the differentiating feature of the future
•That digital satellite radio systems are more suitable for cars than terrestrial ones
•That with the digitalization the technological gap between home and car entertainment increases.
1. Introduction
In cars, audio entertainment plays an undeniably large role. As hands and eyes are needed for the task of driving (while the driver needs to stay fixed in the seat), the ears are the next logical sense to address. This is reflected in the history and sales of car radios. As early as the 1930s the first industrial car radios (AM) were produced. The first FM car radios were introduced soon after the launch of FM radio in 1952 [WiPa-w08]. Today, roughly 95% of new cars are sold with factory-fitted radios. Another third of the car radios produced are sold in the aftermarket, either to renew existing radios or to equip cars that have been produced without a line fitted one [NXP-e08]. What changed over time were the additional technologies that supported recorded music. For a very long time integrated cassette players (introduced 1968) and CD drives (introduced 1983) dominated the market.
With the advent of digital music compression formats this relatively stable situation changed. While the prices for memory dropped, personal music collections multiplied and with it the expectations on choice and availability. Furthermore, the compression formats represent the basis for various digital radio broadcast standards, as they allow using scarce transmission frequencies in an efficient way. Last but not least, digitalisation allows presenting the entertainment in various new ways (shuffle mode, playlists, "like music" recommendation, etc.).
Another form of "entertainment" in the car is being engaged in conversations, either with fellow passengers or over the phone. Nevertheless, in the majority of journeys there is one person in the car only (see e.g. [BV-r04]) and only a small minority of people uses all driving time for making phone calls. So, until automated driving relieves the driver from his task, audio will remain the most important form of entertainment in the car. For the developing visual entertainment market, see [Mat-a09].
Car and car radio manufacturers are now confronted with changing user behaviour, different compression formats (MPEG-versions (including AAC), WMA, Ogg Vorbis, etc. and the respective digital rights management technologies), different storage media (CD, DVD, SD-card, USB-stick, portable music player, mobile phone, hard drives ) as well as leftover demands for audio CD/DVD support. There are various standards suitable to transmit digital radio (DAB plus derivatives, DVB-T, DRM, HD-radio, ISDB-T, SDARS based proprietary systems ) and to make the situation more complicated, most of them are not yet established in their respective regions.
The problem for car or car radio manufacturers is that it is not economical to support all possible technologies. Their market is only a certain share of the car market, which again is significantly smaller than the consumer electronics market. Therefore, the introduction of a new technology into the car entertainment system requires the expectation of a certain acceptance level, which needs to be predicted a long time ahead.
This article describes audio entertainment possibilities, their likeliness to be accepted and their suitability for in-car use. The methodology is thereby not only based on projections and common sense but also considers structural implications inherent in the market relations of the industries.
First, in Section 2, the special (listening) environment a car represents is discussed. We need to be aware of the differences to the consumer electronics environment, to better understand the choices the car industry has. Sections 3-5 investigate recorded media, broadcast technologies, and current & future developments. Broadcasting is thereby the most complex and challenging topic, because a large number of stakeholders and external drivers influence the success of its technologies. Section 6 gives an overview on the main technical and implementation aspects of future audio entertainment systems. The section thereby distinguishes between in-built entertainment and mobile device based solutions. Section 7 closes the article with the summary.
2. Particularities of the Audio Entertainment Environment in Cars
The distinctive features of the audio entertainment environment in the car will be discussed on three levels: Market, User behaviour, and Technical challenges.
Market: Because the car entertainment market is comparably small, the number of technologies and features possible to offer at competitive prices is small. Additionally, cars are not primarily bought for their infotainment features. Aspects like price, engine power/fuel economy, style and after sales service are generally more important than the infotainment options [Cg-r04].
Figure 1 gives an impression of the audio features offered as factory installed solutions with cars today in Germany, Japan and the US. Whereas FM radio and CD are offered in about all car models, all other features vary. Japan offers more storage based entertainment3. In Germany and the US connectivity features are more dominant. Currently the US is the only country where satellite radio is offered.
User behaviour: Audio entertainment is the most dominant form of entertainment in the car. A study with focus groups in the UK showed that on only 10% of all trips undertaken (private as well as business trips) the test persons did not activate the audio entertainment [Strategy Analytics, 2008]. While at home several sources of entertainment are often consumed simultaneously (e.g. 70% of users in Germany read, use the Internet or have the radio running in parallel to the TV [Bis08]), the audio entertainment in the car generally shares the user attention only with the visual impressions of the surroundings.
Figure 1: Audio entertainment functionality offered in car radios today. Investigation us based on about 275 models / derivates sold in each country
The driver's position inside a car is fixed. He/she needs to be able to control the audio comfortably from that position. Car radios are often significantly advanced over consumer electronics radios with respect to changing programs or sources of media and the HMI (Human Machine Interface) design represents an ever more important aspect of value creation by the car manufacturers. As cars mean mobility, car radios better support specific services related to traffic information (storing of latest traffic messages, TMC decoding, etc.) and enable features related to changing broadcast regions (like automatic switching to the same program on a different/better frequency).
