The competition for shares of the fast-growing smartphone app market — “a central battlefront in the global technology industry,” as the research firm iSuppli put it recently — has spread to the automotive market. With the upcoming launch of a new generation of plug-in vehicles, the stakes and opportunity for app developers serving the automotive market — via mobile devices or vehicle intelligence systems — could grow significantly.

For electric vehicles, connectivity to the web and data (enabled by on-board communication systems like Ford’s Sync or General Motors’ OnStar as well as off-board mobile devices) are “required over and above what gas engines require,” according to Doug VanDagens, director of connective services for Ford Motor Co. Apps can use data — about topography, traffic, battery and vehicle health, infrastructure availability, driving behavior — to help orient drivers in the nascent world of electric mobility, both in and out of their vehicle.

To Go Mobile or Not to Go Mobile
According to Oliver Hazimeh, lead director of the North America automotive segment and clean mobility initiative at PRTM Management Consultants, an increasing number of services are becoming available via smart phones that have previously been “bundled” with a vehicle or provided in dedicated services — notably GPS-enabled location-based services. But several core functions will likely remain embedded in electric vehicles, predicted Hazimeh, whose firm worked on the inaugural policy paper from the new Electrification Coalition, a group of 13 companies (including Nissan) hoping to influence the creation of more EV-friendly policies in Washington. For example, he expects battery notification systems — designed to track a battery’s charge level, list nearby charge stations and potentially “get a reservation going” for a charging session — to become a standard safety feature in electric vehicles.

But there’s room for these and other EV-centric apps and services to also be delivered through a handheld mobile device. As Hazimeh pointed out, drivers will sometimes want to check their charge level and reserve a charge spot before hitting the road. “So charge point reservation systems could end up on the mobile side,” said Hazimeh. Smartphones could also provide “a base level of authentication” at charging stations (to log in for your reservation), he said, although “some level of authentication will stay on the vehicle.” As analysts John Gartner and Clint Wheelock explained in their GigaOM Pro report, “IT and Networking Issues for the Electric Vehicle Market“:

EV batteries are a developing technology whose health will be cautiously protected by the OEMs, which are understandably concerned about the consumer experience and potential cost of supporting battery warranties. Batteries will have various capabilities for storage capacity (kWh), energy transfer rate, and performance characteristics (such as the maximum allowable percentage of battery discharge), requiring that this profile be stored on the vehicle and communicated to the charging equipment.

“This has been the long debate,” said Hazimeh, since “the early telematics days with two camps firmly believing in the ‘bookend’ scenarios.” That is to say, there should be either “full mobile enablement” (all connectivity services or features provided through a handheld mobile device) or “full embedded functionality” (all features embedded in the vehicle itself). “So often, the likely answer is in between,” Hazimeh said. “Now, with the emergence of electric vehicles, there will be a need for a new set of applications that will have to be ‘allocated’ to either in-vehicle or to mobile devices.”

Those allocations will be based on cost (as Hazimeh put it, automakers are “not the cash-richest” at this point), the need for portability outside the vehicle (as in charge point reservation systems), passenger safety and integration with critical vehicle systems. They’ll also hinge on who has access to what data. According to VanDagens, a key piece is missing at this point for the creation of essential services such as real-time information about things like a battery’s state of charge or routing to avoid hilly terrain that could drain a battery more quickly: a database that says where charging stations are located and whether they’ll be available for you to use when you get there.

VanDagens said this type of database will likely become available in the near future, provided by “giants in information technology or energy, or government.” (He acknowledged that Ford is in talks with players in one or more of those groups, and said the automaker will likely have an announcement related to this at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010). Once that data opens up, said VanDagens, “then app developers can provide a nice interface,” calling up the data and making it useful for electric car drivers.

What Features & Functions Will Help an EV App Gain Traction?
The success of new applications for electric vehicles will depend largely on factors that are also relevant for the automotive market at large. Hazimeh described six main variables that could drive an app’s “stickiness” in this space after the initial cool factor of smart phones and vehicle connectivity wears off:

1. How strong is the need for access outside the vehicle? For example, this need is greater for navigation tools than for vehicle dynamometers.
2. How much value does the app provide for customers, whether en masse or in a specific niche? Not every app needs to serve every EV driver in order to achieve long-term viability. For example, remote control starting or charge controls “may be highly attractive” in hot or cold climates, said Hazimeh, while apps that help drivers find the lowest-cost refueling options “may work well only for a small segment of highly price sensitive car owners” (who are not likely to be the earliest adopters of relatively pricey electric vehicles).
3. How accurate does the content need to be? Underestimate how far a driver can go on a battery charge, and you can expect to lose customers fast. For other services, such as efficiency gauges or remote temperature controls, pin-point accuracy may not be as critical.
4. How quickly and seamlessly does the service integrate with the vehicle as well as home and work computing platforms? Syncing a mobile app with the vehicle communication system should take a matter of seconds, said Hazimeh. These apps are about connecting EVs to the mobile web, and as Om has written over on GigaOM, “a faster web is good for everyone,” and as “the web becomes more intricately intertwined,” performance hiccups at one service could disrupt others.
5. How simple and direct is the user interface? Hazimeh, pointing to BMW’s iDrive as an example of an automotive platform that sputtered in the marketplace because the interface was too complex, and users had to sort through multiple layers of folders. Voice-controlled navigation should be easy and accurate for in-vehicle use, and as Hazmieh put it, “In two clicks, you should get where you need to go.”
6. How easily can users upgrade the system?

Future Opportunities: Augmented Reality?
A perfect storm of factors including (a) a new generation of plug-in and hybrid electric vehicles (b) the explosive popularity of the Android and iPhone platforms, and (c) increased pressure on U.S. automakers to demonstrate innovation and advanced technology, is helping to define the range of new apps and app stores coming into the automotive market. Other tech trends now beginning to take shape could similarly drive opportunities in the automotive app market down the road. Among the buzziest are augmented reality, or AR, apps — meant to erase the line between the real and virtual worlds — which are finally making their way onto mobile phones.

As Colin Gibbs explained last month here on Pro, while plenty of hurdles remain for the technology, “AR can be used by hydrologists and geologists to display an interactive analysis of terrain characteristics.” Eventually, that type of analysis could potentially beef up the efficiency-focused routing tools described by VanDagens.

According to Gibbs, “If you’re just using GPS or cellular triangulation to deliver content and services to users based on location, you may already be a step behind.” Who knows: If AR and EVs live up to their promise, maybe you’ll one day be able to check the availability of a charge point at a prime parking space and reserve it on the spot by viewing it through your smartphone camera (a next-next-gen version of Intridea’s Car Finder). What do you think?

Josie Garthwaite is a Staff Writer for Earth2Tech.