Android Auto and Apple CarPlay lastly have some actual competitors

The infotainment wars are formally in full swing, and one firm you won’t be too accustomed to is making its holistic in-car infotainment suite irresistible.

Harman Automotive is a subsidiary of Samsung, and whereas many already recognize its audio experience by way of manufacturers like Harman Kardon, JBL, AKG, and extra, the common client won’t concentrate on how huge a participant the corporate is positioning itself to be within the battle for the latest screens we spend ample time in entrance of—those in our vehicles. It is no secret that producer considerations round third-party platforms like CarPlay and Android Auto are rising, and with corporations like General Motors opting to drop them entirely, extra controversy is certain to observe.

That is why, at its current Harman Discover occasion at its exhibition workplaces in Michigan, I went up shut and private with Harman and its Ready Link Marketplace.

You utilize fewer apps than you assume in your automotive

However even nonetheless, Prepared Hyperlink Market has you coated

Once I final spoke to Huibert Verhhoeven, Harman’s SVP of its Digital Cockpit expertise, Prepared Hyperlink Market featured simply round 150 apps. That was back in August 2025. Now, the platform boasts nearer to 200 apps, all designed particularly for automotive use, because of some useful instruments that Prepared Hyperlink Market offers its builders.

The identical apps we use on daily basis can be found on the Market, too, together with your favourite audiobook apps and, in fact, Spotify. Harman is even working to carry Apple Music to the platform, which is able to undoubtedly please many potential customers. What’s extra, whereas Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play Retailer boast tens of millions of apps between the 2 of them, what number of do you really use? Now, take into consideration what number of you really use whereas driving? There isn’t any approach to match the sheer variety of apps provided by both platform, however there’s a approach to enhance the expertise of utilizing obligatory apps whereas driving, and that is the method Harman is taking with the Prepared Hyperlink Market.

Getting ready for the long run is paramount

And it stretches all the best way to your dashboard

Credit score: Harman/Pocket-lint

One of many largest attracts of Harman’s Prepared suite is that it runs on the Android Automotive Operating System, which is predicted to be normal in 70% ofmanufacturing vehicles by 2030. Actually, some drivers are already benefiting from Prepared Hyperlink Market, as CARIAD and Harman introduced a collaboration in 2024 that has led to a number of Volkswagen Group fashions implementing the Market know-how within the 2025 mannequin 12 months. In case your Volkswagen or Audi automotive can obtain apps with out utilizing the App Retailer or Play Retailer, there is a good likelihood it is due to Harman.

Presently, this characteristic works with a subscription mannequin. Nonetheless, as with most options reminiscent of this, as mannequin years cross, it might very effectively turn into normal tools for varied teams all through the automotive panorama. As manufacturers utilizing the Prepared Hyperlink Market proceed to develop, anticipate characteristic availability to do the identical.

The platform is continually enhancing itself

OTA updates are the brand new regular

Credit score: Harman/Pocket-lint

One factor producers love is the flexibility to enhance upon or make cash off a product even after it sells, and with Over the Air Updates, corporations can just do that. Prepared Hyperlink Market operates identical to the App Retailer and Play Retailer: if an app is developed or added to the storefront throughout a automotive’s life cycle, it might simply be added to the automotive effectively after the precise sale. Software program updates aren’t precisely new tech, however the extent to which they have been used within the automotive panorama remains to be untapped.

Should you assume that is all a waste of time and market analysis, assume once more. Automakers are more and more involved about their clients’ information and its worth, and are not eager on handing entry to that information to a 3rd get together. The 12 months of the infotainment wars is upon us, and Harman may simply have a leg up on the competitors.