Just fifteen years ago, a central screen in a car was merely a nice bonus. You could listen to the radio, switch CDs, and that was about it. But in 2012, the Tesla Model S changed the game. The Model S showed the world a massive 17-inch touchscreen that controlled almost everything in the vehicle. It was a turning point: infotainment stopped being just a multimedia panel and transformed into the primary control and interaction center of the car.
Today, we live in an era where drivers expect the same from their vehicles as they do from smartphones. Personalization for each user, seamless connection to all devices, voice assistants that understand natural language, and mandatory over-the-air (OTA) updates. If your car can’t do this, it already feels outdated.
What awaits us in the coming years? 2025-2026 is the time when artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of infotainment. AI assistants are learning to anticipate your needs: suggesting when to stop for charging, proposing routes based on your habits, even adjusting climate control depending on the time of day. Augmented reality dashboards are emerging, where navigation prompts overlay directly onto the windshield or screen, showing arrows on the actual road. And synchronization between all your devices (phone, tablet, smartwatch) home everything works as a unified ecosystem.
What’s Inside: IVI System Architecture
To understand how to create modern infotainment, you need to understand what it consists of. The foundation is the head unit, the computer behind the screen that controls everything. Next comes the HMI (Human-Machine Interface) — what the user actually sees and hears: graphics, sound, touch response.
The connectivity module handles communication with the outside world: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile internet. Middleware is the software layer that connects the hardware with applications and services. And cloud services are the platforms where user data, music, settings are stored, and from where updates arrive.
But infotainment doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It integrates with all vehicle systems through the CAN bus, a kind of nervous system of the car, through which data from the engine, brakes, and sensors are transmitted. The telematics control unit (TCU) ensures connection to mobile networks. Thanks to this, the system knows speed, fuel level, door status and can respond to all these parameters.
Operating systems vary too. Android Automotive from Google is actively conquering the market, used by Volvo, Polestar, and GM. QNX from BlackBerry is a proven option that German automakers love for its reliability. AGL (Automotive Grade Linux) is an open standard that Toyota, Mazda, and other manufacturers work on. The choice of platform determines how flexible the system will be, how quickly updates will roll out, and how much it will cost.
That’s why proper architecture isn’t just a technical matter. It’s the foundation upon which the entire user experience is built. A mistake here can cost millions of dollars and years of development. Large companies with experience in digital transformation, such as https://dxc.com/us/en/industries/automotive, help automakers lay this foundation correctly from the very beginning, choosing an architecture that scales, updates easily, and stands the test of time.
Step 1: Research and UX Design
Any infotainment development project begins not with code, but with understanding people. Who will be sitting in this car? A driver who wants to quickly switch music without getting distracted from the road. Passengers who need to connect their phone or launch video on the rear screen. Children who want to play games. Each of these scenarios needs to be thought through in detail.
User research involves interviews, observations, and analysis of how people interact with technology in cars. What gestures are intuitively clear to them? What commands do they most often give by voice? What annoys them about existing systems? After this, prototyping begins: creating interface mockups, testing different options for button placement, menus, and widgets.
Gesture controls aren’t just a trendy feature. When you’re driving, waving your hand is much safer than searching for the right button on the screen. Voice UX voice interaction has become a mandatory requirement. But voice interfaces need to be designed just as carefully as graphical ones. The system must understand different accents, respond to natural language, and not demand precise commands.
Look at Tesla UI minimalist, intuitive, everything on one screen. Mercedes MBUX impressed the world with its voice assistant that responds to the phrase “Hey Mercedes” and understands conversational context. Volvo with Google OS integrated the entire Google ecosystem (Maps, Assistant, Play Store) and it works very organically. All these systems have one thing in common: they were built based on real user needs, not technical capabilities.
Design & Research Strategy: Explained With Examples
Step 2: Choosing the Technology Stack and Platform
Once UX is designed, it’s time to choose the tools. This is one of the most critical stages. The platform determines development speed, integration capabilities, maintenance costs, and even how quickly you’ll be able to add new features in a few years.
Android Automotive isn’t just Android Auto mirroring your phone. It’s a full-fledged operating system for automobiles, with access to all Google services and a vast number of ready-made applications. It provides flexibility and fast time-to-market. Linux-based systems like AGL offer more control, allowing deeper customization of each component to brand needs. Custom OS is an option for those who want a unique experience and are ready to invest significant time and money.
Main programming languages: C++ for low-level components that need to work lightning-fast. Java and Kotlin for Android platforms. Qt is a popular framework for creating beautiful interfaces, used by many automakers. Flutter for Automotive is a new player in the market promising fast development of cross-platform interfaces.
Cloud services are a separate story. Modern infotainment isn’t a standalone system. It constantly communicates with cloud platforms: downloading voice models for assistants, receiving traffic data, syncing user settings, collecting analytics. OTA updates, music streaming, real-time navigation, these are all SaaS components.
Choosing the right stack independently is difficult, especially if you’re an automaker, not an IT giant. This is where consulting partners help. They analyze the specific needs of an OEM, look at budget, timelines, strategic goals and select the optimal combination of technologies. DXC, for example, specializes in this: they help automotive brands avoid drowning millions in the wrong platform choice and select what will actually work and scale.
Step 3: Integration and Connectivity
Infotainment must communicate with all vehicle systems. It receives data from the engine to display fuel consumption. It talks to navigation to build routes. It integrates with ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) to warn about danger. It reads data from tire pressure sensors, temperature, and battery status.
At the same time, the system must support external connections. CarPlay from Apple, Android Auto — these are the minimum without which a modern car won’t sell. Bluetooth for wireless headphones and phones. Wi-Fi for passengers. And now 5G is becoming fashionable fast mobile internet that opens doors for 4K streaming services, online gaming, video calls while driving (for passengers, of course).
But with connectivity comes danger. Cybercriminals have long understood that a modern automobile is a computer on wheels. Therefore, data security becomes critical. Data privacy the system shouldn’t leak users’ personal information. Sandboxing, isolating applications from each other, so malicious software can’t access critical vehicle systems.
A new trend is“ as a node in a digital ecosystem” The automobile becomes a node in a large digital network. It communicates with your smart home: warming up the car when you wake up. Syncing your calendar and plotting a route to your next meeting. Ordering coffee on the road through Starbucks API integration. All this is possible thanks to SaaS architecture, where the automobile is a client and a huge number of cloud services are the backend.
Step 4: Testing, Validation, and Continuous Updates
Development is complete, but this isn’t the end. In fact, it’s only the beginning of the most complex stage testing. An IVI system can’t just be launched and forgotten. It must work in different conditions: heat, cold, humidity, vibrations. The screen must respond to touches, even with gloves on. The voice assistant must understand commands with engine and wind noise.
First, testing in simulators a virtual environment allows checking hundreds of scenarios in a matter of days. Then test routes: real roads, different weather conditions, cities with poor mobile coverage. And mandatory user testing. Real people get behind the wheel and try to use the system. Their feedback often reveals problems that engineers would never find.
OTA updates over-the-air updates changed everything. Previously, if a bug was discovered after release, cars had to be recalled for service. Now updates arrive automatically, like on a smartphone. This allows quickly fixing bugs, adding new features, and improving performance. Tesla regularly adds new games, driving modes, and even increases range through software updates.
But OTA isn’t just a technical feature. It’s a philosophy. SaaS mindset in action: the product is never finished, it constantly evolves based on user data. Analytics show which features are used most often, where problems arise, what causes dissatisfaction. And developers respond quickly.
Polestar, a young brand from Volvo, actively uses this approach. They release updates every few weeks, adding features that users request on forums. Tesla has made OTA its competitive advantage, their cars get better over time rather than becoming obsolete. This is the new industry standard.
Step 5: Launch and Post-Release Support
The system has hit the market, the first cars are sold. Now the long game begins. IVI support isn’t just about fixing bugs. It’s constant work on improvement, adaptation for new car models, and integration with new services.
Multi-platform updates are a challenge in themselves. You may have ten different car models, each with different hardware, screens, and processors. The update must work on all without exception. Interfaces may also differ premium models get additional features, budget ones get the basic version. All this needs to be maintained synchronously.
Analytics becomes key to success. Usage data helps understand what works and what doesn’t. Performance optimization constant improvement of speed, smoothness, and stability. Cybersecurity, an endless race with hackers looking for new vulnerabilities.
And here again the need for partners arises. Internal resources of automakers are often insufficient to support all this complexity. SaaS consulting services help organize processes, build proper support architecture, set up monitoring, and quick response to problems. Some companies offers a full cycle of post-release support, from technical maintenance to strategic consulting on product development. They work not as a contractor who completes a task and leaves, but as a long-term partner interested in the product’s success just as much as the client.
Conclusion: The Future of Infotainment Lies in Smart SaaS Integration
The time when infotainment was just a “screen with buttons” is gone forever. Modern systems are complex software platforms that integrate with dozens of services, constantly learning and improving. The trend toward modular design means system components can be replaced and updated independently of each other. SaaS integration makes the automobile part of a larger digital ecosystem it interacts with your home, office, and favorite apps.
Automakers who understand this are already working to make their cars not just means of transportation, but smart partners in everyday life. Cloud platforms, artificial intelligence, voice assistants, AR dashboards, all this is no longer science fiction but the reality of coming years.
The main thing is not to try to do everything independently. Technological complexity has reached a level where even automotive giants turn to IT experts. Consulting companies with experience in digital transformation help automotive brands go through the entire journey from strategy to technical implementation and support.
The industry is moving fast. Those who are now investing in proper architecture, flexible platforms, and the SaaS approach will have a huge competitive advantage in a few years. Infotainment is no longer an additional feature, it has become the main selection criterion for millions of car buyers worldwide.
