Ford wants to build a better app store for cars

Last year Ford brought on the startup Autonomic to create the Transportation Mobility Cloud, or TMC, to build “smart” car applications for real-time data and connectivity in cars. On Tuesday, Ford announced Amazon Web Services will power the cloud-based platform.

The platform has since been available for all car makers, not just Ford. It creates a space for services and apps, like those used for parking, real-time traffic information, and in-car payment options. Think of it like the Apple App Store, but with apps and services made solely for the car.

The TMC also connects cars to city infrastructure, public transit systems, and other “smart” city platforms. Ford has partnered with Argo.AI to develop self-driving cars — in the coming years, its robo-cars could tap into the TMC for traffic information to avoid construction zones or street festivals. It’s potentially more valuable in a more connected future than now, though 152 million cars are expected to be “connected” on all roads by 2020.

The issue with Ford’s expanded platform is that car makers have traditionally botched connected services. Instead of building intuitive interfaces, we get clunky, instantly outdated features and designs. Each car company develops its own separate system for its cars, which gets messy fast. So Ford’s universal platform could exacerbate low-quality app development or incongruent services in infotainment systems. Or, yes, it could corral and organize all our connected car features, but that seems unlikely.  

More car makers are admitting defeat with their native connected systems— like Toyota which acquiesced earlier this year and brought in Android Auto to its connect car service. Platforms that effortlessly sync with smartphones are often a more compatible, easier way to access internet-connected features and tools.

But even improvements with Apple’s CarPlay (Google Maps and Waze finally arrived last year) and Android Auto, bringing tech into cars is so messy. A car “app store” isn’t going to fix that.