Automotive Adds New Platform

A new Microsoft platform for automotive functions will give Fiat drivers hands-free control of their Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and portable music players. Windows Mobile for Automotive (WMFA) uses a standard hardware reference design and is less expensive to implement than the older Microsoft Automotive platform, but it has only one customer and future versions might be significantly different, raising questions about whether WMFA is truly a platform.

Eight Years of Windows Automotive

Microsoft introduced its first automotive platform in 1998. This platform, now called Windows Automotive, is built on Windows CE and consists of more than 500 components tailored for automotive functions, such as driver distraction control (disabling the full-screen display when the car is moving, for example), a 3D graphics display for navigation systems, and the ability to read and display data from computerized diagnostic systems. The most recent update, Windows Automotive 5.0, was released in July 2005 and added a toolkit for user interface development and support for more virtual memory to enable more sophisticated applications, such as improved speech recognition and 3D navigation displays.