Panasonic upgrades its in-car infotainment platform for Chevrolet

Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America has announced that it has upgraded its in-car connected infotainment platform. This in-car infotainment system is used by Chevrolet in some select 2014 vehicle models with the MyLink infotainment system. The latest version of Panasonic's system will deploy a flexible application framework to select 2014 Chevrolet vehicles.

This flexible framework includes an app catalog allowing vehicle owners to choose from a menu of available applications designed specifically for in-vehicle use. The Chevrolet MyLink system features a high-resolution full-color touchscreen display that integrates all sorts of online services such as Pandora and Stitcher via Bluetooth enabled smartphones.

The Chevrolet infotainment system recognizes speech allowing users to make phone calls, select radio stations, and play music from the smartphone using their voice. The new upgrade to the infotainment system Panasonic makes is the addition of an HTML5 web browser. Panasonic and Chevrolet say that the addition of the web browser is a key enabler for a number of connected features such as the Flexible Application Framework Chevrolet is launching.

With the growing number of applications for smartphones and other devices programmed using HTML 5, the addition of the browser to the Chevrolet infotainment system should open doors for in vehicle entertainment. Chevrolet and Panasonic have a goal of creating an infinitely updatable infotainment system for vehicle owners that can change over time. Most current infotainment systems are just as they were when the vehicle was purchased for the entire vehicle lifetime.

[via Panasonic]