Enabling New Infotainment-Equipment Cost Structures With Open-System Architectures：The infotainment systems of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) recently have been subjected to increasing competition from the retrofitting solutions on the so-called aftermarket, for which there is at present no adequate
response. A similar situation has always been the case with car radios, where retrofitted units have long had an
obviously better price/performance ratio, not only in the low-price segment but even among very high-quality
systems.
Are Traditional Auto Microcontrollers Being Displaced From Infotainment Units?
Automotive suppliers have drawn their conclusions, and now serve not only the established manufacturers, but also to
a significant extent, the aftermarket, so as not to lose out to companies in the entertainment electronics industry. On
the other hand, the car manufacturers, not wishing to miss out on the lucrative original infotainment business, were
obliged to force the development of these systems. There was no way to win the price war over car radios. The
quality standard of integrated systems, which the buyer associates directly with the vehicle brand, must be higher out
of necessity than is the case with comparable aftermarket units. The manufacturers therefore created the
distinguishing feature of stylistic integration in the brand-specific car interior, which aftermarket systems by nature
cannot offer. In the premium sector, the media-orientated system transport (MOST) bus—optical-fiber cabling
previously unknown in the entertainment-electronics area—was introduced.
It was also in this premium sector that GPS-supported vehicle navigation was established as a distinguishing feature.
It did not, however, take the entertainment-electronics industry long to catch up and be in a position to offer units with
astonishing performance for a fraction of the price of integrated systems. Today, even the close meshing with sensors
that are integrated in the vehicle can be more or less compensated for by retrofitted units, without having to alter the long-term price relationship.