The latest technology as revealed at CES 2012 includes apps for your car’s media center.  Think of your Smart Phone as being imbedded in your car’s dash.  Imagine the capabilities now found on your phone to now be available hands-free in your cloud-connected vehicle and in gorgeous, ultra HD audio clarity.

We’re resuming our look at CNET’s “Best of Show” list from CES 2012 in Las Vegas earlier this month.  I’m gonna spend a little time on this emerging technology because the marriage of automotive and digital is well underway.  The morphing of the car as a vehicle of communication and not simply transportation is practically here already!

QNX showcased a new mobile app platform they call CAR 2 based on HTML5 with an infotainment system that car manufacturers can use with a flexibility that adapts to the needs of any OEM.  In fact, CNET called it QNX’s “vision for the future of dashboard technologies.”

The concept Porsche Carrera they outfitted for the show had an innovative application that instantly and automatically pairs a Bluetooth smartphone. It also included ultra HD voice technology that brings stereo CD quality to phone calls. Apps integration for both front and backseat added another layer of coolness to make this car a pretty sweet ride.

The concept car offered flexible integration between tablets and in-car systems, with front-seat control of rear-seat tablets and the ability for any device to play media stored on any other device.  Automakers could begin to incorporate CAR 2 in their designs beginning mid-2012.  This video by CNET will give you the grand tour.

If you’re an investor, you might want to give QNX a good look.  This product might really take off!

by Bryan Naquin.  Follow Bryan on Twitter @ACIexperts.  And you can always contact him at 225.906.2589 or by email at bryan@aciexperts.net.

Bryan Naquin is president of Acadian Home Theater and Automation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CEPro Magazine ranked Acadian in the top 100 consumer electronic companies in the U.S. coming in at Number 87 for 2011.