Drivemode app turns your Android device into your car's dashboard

It makes sense that you can use your smartphone to navigate a lot of your car's features. It's basically a mobile PC at this point. And that's what Drivemode wanted to demonstrate with their new idea. CNET got to test the app to show it had to offer. Drivemode partnered with Honda for this demo. They took out the head unit of the CR-V and put in a dock for the Nexus 6.

What the demo showed was the Drivemode app easily helped with navigation, audio, and messaging needs of a driver or passenger. It can make use of built-in music app or online services like Spotify for your tunes and Google Maps for navigation. And since it connects to the car's audio system via Bluetooth, you can stream music or navigation instructions that way. The phone can be docked in a windshield or dashboard mount. And it can even be controled via a four-way steering wheel-mounted controller. Another thing it can do is show you a video feed of the car's rear-view camera complete with trajectory lines based on the position of the steering wheel.

It's great in concept but one of the things that may hamper it would be manufacturer's might not be so keen to leave a gaping space on their dashboard where you can house the phone (unless they start selling mobile phones with their cars) and there would have to be so many docking options to address the variety of mobile phone sizes there are right now. Also, Google and Apple have been aggressively promoting their own in-car software, which will be Drivemode's biggest competition. We're not sure how far Drivemode's concept will go. It's good in theory but we're not so sure about application.

Source: CNET