In Pictures: Beyond the smartphone - Emerging platforms developers should target next

From the car to the living room, technologies and markets are quickly evolving to offer lucrative possibilities for programming pioneers

Car app development caveats

Safety is among car builders’ greatest detractions in opening up their platforms. While people can change radio stations while driving, changing a CD isn’t nearly as safe. Some argue even the best-designed hands-free interfaces can't solve the cognitive limitations of the human brain. The driver's brain should put driving first; even talking on a hands-free phones can be suspect.

Programmers aren't known for building crash-free products, and in the auto business, "crash" has ominous overtones. It's one thing to let the curious programmer monkey around with OBD-II to suck down stats about the efficiency of the engine, but what if the programmer stumbles onto a switch that changes an important setting irrevocably? It only takes a few high-profile mistakes to sully the platform.

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