Panasonic says ‘The phone is the brain’

Panasonic uses the phrase 'The phone is the brain' for its phone-powered head unit tech.

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

DETROIT–With shorter life cycles, navigation and other features on phones tends to be more advanced than those found in cars. During the Detroit auto show, Panasonic showed off head unit concepts with navigation and entertainment powered by a connected phone.

Panasonic had on hand a head unit running its own, embedded infotainment system, one showing Android phone integration through MirrorLink, and a third also running navigation from an Android phone, but this one connected through CloudCar.

Panasonic showed this head unit running the CloudCar service, which translates phone output to the head unit screen.

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

With both the MirrorLink and CloudCar implementations, navigation and entertainment functions running on the phone were translated to an appropriate interface for the automotive head unit. A driver could control these functions through the head unit touchscreen or voice comm… [Read more]