8/05/2009

Building automotive user interfaces in a Flash

Literally. Recently, a colleague posted a video of the QNX CAR infotainment reference, which sports a user interface implemented entirely in Adobe Flash Lite. (There are also many QNX technologies running under the hood, including an RTOS and a real-time graphics framework, but the parts you see all run in Flash.)

The infotainment reference, which provides automakers with a platform for building their own in-car products, contains a YouTube widget, an MP3 player, and a photo album — things that would be familiar to any iPhone user. For me, the surprising bits include a Pandora music player and the (extremely useful) sound-system controls. I don't know about you, but I've always hated fiddling with the Fade and Balance controls on my car radio. With QNX CAR, you can simply drag your finger to where you want the sound to go.

Enough blather. Let's watch the darn thing:

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