Harman And Microsoft Collaborate To Bring Office 365 To Cars

Harman and Microsoft are joining forces to bring features from the Office 365 suite of productivity software to infotainment systems in cars, in an effort to provide drivers with the ability to safely conduct business in the vehicles of the future.

“By ensuring that Office 365 services are seamlessly integrated with car and driver telematics and performance data, we will allow consumers to be more productive during their driving hours, while enjoying far greater convenience, safety and reliability,” said Peggy Johnson, Microsoft’s executive vice president of business development.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, the companies illustrated that the technology will allow drivers to schedule meetings, check email and join conference calls in their car. The system also supports Skype, but the vehicle must be parked to utilize this feature. However, video while moving may be available in future self-driving cars. Harman integrates the features into the vehicle’s sensors to ensure that this functionality is only used in safe contexts.

“When the car is in autonomous mode, for instance, a video conference could be activated but when in manual mode the drive sensors would prevent that and revert to voice only,” explained Harman representative Vivian Jee.

Jee said Harman plans to include Office 365 integration in the next 12 to 18 months on vehicles with the company’s next-gen infotainment systems. Although the specific models that the technology will appear in first weren’t disclosed, Jee said that “we are in active discussions with several automakers.”

Microsoft certainly isn’t new to the world of connected cars, having already partnered with Toyota, Ford, Qoros, Delphi and others to integrate its products and services into vehicles.

A few other illustrations of Microsoft’s in-vehicle capabilities will be on display at CES. Volvo will demonstrate the integration of Microsoft Band 2 with Windows 10 smartphones and the Volvo on Call Universal app, which will allow drivers to issue voice commands to their cars. Additionally, IAV, an automotive engineering company, will use Windows 10 Continuum to stream Windows 10 to a car’s dashboard via a mobile device. This technology will provide drivers with access to features such as Cortana, thereby allowing Cortana Analytics to gather data from the car’s surroundings to help the driver improve safety by anticipating road hazards.

“In the near future, the car will be connected to the internet, as well as to other cars, your mobile phone and your home computer,” said Johnson. “The car becomes a companion and an assistant to your digital life. And so our strategy is to be the ultimate platform for all intelligent cars.”