It continues to boggle my mind how badly car companies handle in-car entertainment. ...,
I'm still not sure why the updated map DVDs for the nav systems in my Toyota and my wife's Honda have to cost around $150+ each. I can understand a small fee, but how many drivers are paying for an upgrade at that price? Besides, at the rate that roads change in the DC area, my maps would be outdated in months. It also seems that the DVDs are outdated in the first place, usually using two year old data...
There is a significant cost to maintaining the map data, estimated at perhaps $2 billion per year.
http://www.asymco.com/2015/06/15/where-are-maps-going/It is informative that there are very few global map databases and only a handful of companies with the means to continue maintaining and expanding the map data.
The distribution mechanism to the end users for the map updates also carries overhead as there are many different encoding formats and proprietary cruft. Many cars still need a physical DVD inserted to update the map data even if the navigation system uses a hard drive to hold the current maps.
The car makers are resistant to providing integration of outside technology into the core of the dashboard, yet they recognize that the old model of integrating technology that is effectively frozen in time during vehicle manufacture is unsatisfactory.
Apple CarPlay (as an example) is limited in scope as the car makers seem to currently be unwilling to allow deeper access between the Apple ecosystem and the core data the car itself has, such as real time fuel consumption, car configuration, engine status, vehicle speed, braking force, etc.
Some of this data is available via the ODB II port but many cars use proprietary modes for the brand specific details.
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