Apple, Google Preferred as Designers of Next in-Car Infotainment

The tech giants are looking for ways to expand into the auto industry beyond Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the firm says. Google is working on an Android OS infotainment system that would be built directly into cars.

In an IHS survey 60% of car buyers in the UK and 55% in Germany said they would prefer a radio or infotainment system designed by Apple or Google. Right now automakers and their Tier 1 suppliers are handling the bulk of this work.

Buyers not only expect to be able to connect their phones with their cars, they expect to be able to operate them through built-in voice commands. This preference is expressed by four out of five car buyers in Germany and three out of five in the UK.

Most of these consumers -- more than 60% -- also indicated that they would prefer to interact with smartphones through an in-vehicle touchscreen and steering wheel controls, according to the IHS survey.

The research reveals that the connectivity expectations of smartphone-owning new car buyers in Germany and the UK are rising rapidly. The IHS survey found that 85 % of people in these two countries who already own a car and expect to buy another within the next three years now own a smartphone.

The use of smartphones for in-car navigation was preferred by 65% of respondents in both Germany and the UK.

In the UK Samsung was the No. 1 smartphone at 34%, followed by Apple at 33% while Android was the preferred operating system (more than 50%) followed by Apple's iOS (30%).

The IHS study Apps in the Car 2015 is based on research undertaken with approximately 4,000 car owners in Germany, the UK, the U.S. and China.