New GMC Hummer Infotainment System will be powered by Unreal Engine

[lazypc]

Summary

Epic Games announced this week that Unreal Engine is being used to power the infotainment system in the upcoming GMC Hummer EV.

 

Quotes

Quote

 If you've been an avid video gamer anytime in the last 20 years, Unreal Engine should be recognizable. The first version of it powered Epic's "Unreal" and "Unreal Tournament" games, and more recent versions power multiplayer hits such as Epic's "Fortnite" and Psyonix's "Rocket League." The engine has been licensed out to countless other game developers for titles by both indie developers and large game companies. But its use in the GMC Hummer will be the first time it has powered a production car's infotainment system.

 

My thoughts

I am all for getting rid of the unresponsive clunky interfaces that I have seen in cars for over the last decade. I think it's a great idea actually. But, watching the video that epic put out for the announcement showed almost nothing relating to the Hummer it is supposed to debut in, other then activating the crab walk feature, that was more of a 15 degree slant than a crab walk. In fact, the video showed mostly things that would not relate at all, like changing colors of 3d models that were not a hummer, particle effects, and rocket league. So this perhaps was due to GMC not allowing them to show those screens, but I will really have to see the end result as it relates to actual use before really forming an opinion.

 

Sources

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/10/07/gmc-hummer-ev-infotainment-unreal-engine/

https://basictech.tips/2020/10/09/unreal-engine-used-to-power-new-gmc-hummer-infotainment-system/

[williamcll]

Seems excessive for a device that most people will only spend listening to music and at most, youtube.

[Doobeedoo]

Hmm ok sure. 

[TrigrH]

i'm sure this will be packed full of features just like the epic games store

[Mark Kaine]

Clay engine is strangely fitting for an "off road"vehicle.

 

Also good luck if your car stops on the highway unexpectedly with "D3D error"  ... 

[Bombastinator]

“Powered by” huh?

[StDragon]

How about a reliable utility truck that doesn't cost 40+ grand. The price inflation of vehicles is ridiculous! I personally don't care for any of that infotainment crap. 

[Trik'Stari]

Still waiting on the built in gps voiced by Ahnuld himself.

 

"Follow my directions if you want to live".

[Bombastinator]

10 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Still waiting on the built in gps voiced by Ahnuld himself.

 

"Follow my directions if you want to live".

Ooh.  That’s even better than the Homer Simpson voice.  

[PlayStation 2]

17 hours ago, StDragon said:

How about a reliable utility truck that doesn't cost 40+ grand. The price inflation of vehicles is ridiculous! I personally don't care for any of that infotainment crap. 

Then the Nissan Titan is probably the truck for you if you want something basic.

[Bombastinator]

17 hours ago, StDragon said:

How about a reliable utility truck that doesn't cost 40+ grand. The price inflation of vehicles is ridiculous! I personally don't care for any of that infotainment crap. 

I totally agree in dash electronics are crap.  Just gimme some plugs and let me buy and update my own electronics.  It will last longer, be cheaper, and work better.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I doubt this is going to gain any traction. Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes already have advanced and responsive infotainment systems. They're not going to partner with a company that's equivalent to a toy company to build their vehicles. Which leaves the lower tier brands like Honda, Toyota, etc. which historically had very clunky and unresponsive systems. That being said, there's no way I can see those companies using Unreal Engine as that's just going to require even more compute power to run those unnecessary effects being shown off. For these lower tier brands, all they really need to do is to make the system boot quickly, slap Android Auto/ Apple Car Play on it as that's what most buyers are going to use these days and they're golden. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

I totally agree in dash electronics are crap.  Just gimme some plugs and let me buy and update my own electronics.  It will last longer, be cheaper, and work better.

The only issue I see from that is the same problem we had during the 2000s where people kept breaking into cars to steal car stereos. I think Linus himself said the reason why he kept his car unlocked was because he had his stereo stolen several times and every time they broke his car windows. Which are expensive and a hassle to replace. 

[Bombastinator]

16 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I doubt this is going to gain any traction. Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes already have advanced and responsive infotainment systems. They're not going to partner with a company that's equivalent to a toy company to build their vehicles. Which leaves the lower tier brands like Honda, Toyota, etc. which historically had very clunky and unresponsive systems. That being said, there's no way I can see those companies using Unreal Engine as that's just going to require even more compute power to run those unnecessary effects being shown off. For these lower tier brands, all they really need to do is to make the system boot quickly, slap Android Auto/ Apple Car Play on it as that's what most buyers are going to use these days and they're golden. 

 

 

The only issue I see from that is the same problem we had during the 2000s where people kept breaking into cars to steal car stereos. I think Linus himself said the reason why he kept his car unlocked was because he had his stereo stolen several times and every time they broke his car windows. Which are expensive and a hassle to replace. 

Yup.  Got the choice of locking it in or taking it with you. See removable face car stereos. It’s quite galling paying an extra $1500 for something you can get for $200 that works better in the first place though. IT moves faster than car design. You get an installed device in your car it’s going to suck long before your car is ready to die.  If IT slows down they may become more practical.  It has been slowing slightly.  Doesn’t look like that’s going come to a meeting point real soon though.  The tesla concept of an installed screen with DLC everything else seems like an attempt to meet that.

[StDragon]

23 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Yup.  Got the choice of locking it in or taking it with you. See removable face car stereos. It’s quite galling paying an extra $1500 for something you can get for $200 that works better in the first place though. IT moves faster than car design. You get an installed device in your car it’s going to suck long before your car is ready to die. 

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto was a real paradigm shift. Traditionally, the audio system was the heart with the phone just being a paired accessory to it. Now the tables have turned and the exact opposite is true; that the phone is the center piece and the audio system and screen becomes the paired accessory to it. Getting updated maps, apps, and features becomes just a phone OS update away. No need to worry about paying ridiculous dealership fees or worry about the tech becoming obsolete after a few years of car ownership.

 

When my factory dash receiver died, I just purchased an aftermarket dash double-din bracket and Alpine receiver. Most aftermarket units will support both CarPlay AND Android Auto. The problem is most of the stuff nowadays is just junk. LEDs burn out, the heat glitches the unit, and charging by USB for some reason will crash the receiver. Buggy crap like that. It's not like back in the 90's when stuff was truly quality built. That, and and the dash is so custom that it can be impossible to retrofit with an aftermarket unit. 

[Kisai]

On 10/11/2020 at 11:48 AM, StDragon said:

 

When my factory dash receiver died, I just purchased an aftermarket dash double-din bracket and Alpine receiver. Most aftermarket units will support both CarPlay AND Android Auto. The problem is most of the stuff nowadays is just junk. LEDs burn out, the heat glitches the unit, and charging by USB for some reason will crash the receiver. Buggy crap like that. It's not like back in the 90's when stuff was truly quality built. That, and and the dash is so custom that it can be impossible to retrofit with an aftermarket unit. 

Nah. At best you could make the claim that the factory options were superior to dealer options, but in practice aftermarket options were really superior, provided they were installed by people who knew what they were doing, not hobbyists or minimum-wagers at Canadian Tire/Walmart/FutureShop.

 

The problem is that cellular phone tech leap frogged the typical amount of time people owned cars, and people didn't like ripping out "carphone" kits, and factory options were obsolete by the time the car was shipped. Like as an example here, my parents car, that they bought, brand-new around Christmas 2015, only supports WiFi or USB hotspots, or plugging in an iPhone by USB. It doesn't come with a cellular radio, the GPS system requires updates that come on a SD-card, and having the car communicate by WiFi doesn't generally serve a purpose. Pairing a cell phone to it, has issues. Android phones drop every minute or so on it. Works fine with iPhone. The iPhone 6S and later the XS I bought to replace it are both newer than the car and still work with that car, BUT, my mom's android phone has gone from working, to mostly not working. My mom doesn't know how to much on the phone, so upgrading her phone is pointless until it dies. My mom is certainly not going to buy a new car just to make a new phone work on it. When the company who provides the maps stops producing maps for the car, that's likely the end of the system. 

 

Funny thing, eBay has a lot of counterfeit copies of the GPS maps for 1/3 the price.

 

What I predict is that once USB-C is more standard, vehicle entertainment systems will simply be a USB-C displayport/hdmi interface with the vehicle controls all mapped to HID input on the phone/tablet so hands-free apps operate. Until then, the existing USB and Bluetooth solutions have to do.

[dalekphalm]

 

On 10/9/2020 at 5:12 AM, lazypc said:

I am all for getting rid of the unresponsive clunky interfaces that I have seen in cars for over the last decade.

While there are still a few auto manufacturers that have bad interfaces, that problem is actually largely solved already. The likes of Kia, Mercedes, Audi, etc, have infotainment systems that are fast and responsive. Granted, this is mostly just from the last few years, so it'll take time for that to trickle down to all cars.

 

Add in CarPlay and AndroidAuto, and the systems that currently exist pretty much serve most needs already.

On 10/9/2020 at 5:12 AM, lazypc said:

I think it's a great idea actually. But, watching the video that epic put out for the announcement showed almost nothing relating to the Hummer it is supposed to debut in, other then activating the crab walk feature, that was more of a 15 degree slant than a crab walk. In fact, the video showed mostly things that would not relate at all, like changing colors of 3d models that were not a hummer, particle effects, and rocket league. So this perhaps was due to GMC not allowing them to show those screens, but I will really have to see the end result as it relates to actual use before really forming an opinion.

What exactly does Unreal bring to the table here that doesn't exist elsewhere? They're not putting a Gaming PC inside the hummer (and even if they did, it would be so stupid niche that the vast majority of users wouldn't care).

 

[Kisai]

 

44 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

What exactly does Unreal bring to the table here that doesn't exist elsewhere? They're not putting a Gaming PC inside the hummer (and even if they did, it would be so stupid niche that the vast majority of users wouldn't care).

 

Probably appealing to people who would buy these in the first place. They're popular with people who (claim) to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff. Film productions also like to use larger vehicles (when paid to) because it's easier to film inside of. So if an Unreal Engine infotainment system becomes something programmable without having to fake it, then they won't have to do it via their visual effects department.

 

But aside from that it's not like they're getting the epic game store on the infotainment system, at least not something that wouldn't detract/distract from driving. I could see maybe fancying up the GPS system with it, or having it use digital avatars, not just voice guides, but that goes back to distractions.

 

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

Probably appealing to people who would buy these in the first place. They're popular with people who (claim) to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff. Film productions also like to use larger vehicles (when paid to) because it's easier to film inside of. So if an Unreal Engine infotainment system becomes something programmable without having to fake it, then they won't have to do it via their visual effects department.

Okay, but is Epic talking about making the Hummer infotainment system programmable to the end user? Or is that just something you're guessing about?

 

Because in theory, Audi or whoever could make their systems programmable too.

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

But aside from that it's not like they're getting the epic game store on the infotainment system, at least not something that wouldn't detract/distract from driving. I could see maybe fancying up the GPS system with it, or having it use digital avatars, not just voice guides, but that goes back to distractions.

Some vehicles already use digital avatars (it's really niche though and I don't think any of them work well).

 

Frankly it just seems like they are using Unreal Engine as a platform for a pretty standard Infotainment system - but I struggle to see any benefit to this. There may well be some - but it seems really niche at best.

[Warin]

On 10/10/2020 at 9:49 AM, Bombastinator said:

Ooh.  That’s even better than the Homer Simpson voice.  

The only thing I miss from my old Garmin outboard GPS compared to my built in nav system on the new car is my Darth Vader voice.

[Drama Lama]

But can it run crysis?

[dizmo]

It's good to see automotive manufacturers looking beyond their own backyard for tech. There's so much out there for them to integrate, instead of trying to make it rather poorly themselves from the ground up. Take VW for example; a huge part of the reason their latest electric car was late to launch and isn't doing that great isn't because of anything engineering related, but rather because of software. They simply don't have the developers required to do what needs to be done. Software is going to play a massive roll in the automotive industry going forward, be it from gathering and implementing the data gained from the ever growing sensors around the vehicle, to the UI people interact with every day.

 

I find it hilarious that everyone thinks Epic is involved. I didn't bother reading the article (I mean, really, the OP should have done a good job of summarizing it), but from what it seems they're simply using the Unreal engine. It's not like Epic is making anything for them.

 

On 10/9/2020 at 6:38 AM, williamcll said:

Seems excessive for a device that most people will only spend listening to music and at most, youtube.

The UI does a whole hell of a lot more than that.

On 10/9/2020 at 5:58 PM, StDragon said:

How about a reliable utility truck that doesn't cost 40+ grand. The price inflation of vehicles is ridiculous! I personally don't care for any of that infotainment crap. 

There's lots. Dodge still puts out a Classic RAM, there's budget F150's and I'm sure Chev has a budget version of their truck for trades as well.

On 10/10/2020 at 12:30 PM, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I doubt this is going to gain any traction. Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes already have advanced and responsive infotainment systems. They're not going to partner with a company that's equivalent to a toy company to build their vehicles. Which leaves the lower tier brands like Honda, Toyota, etc. which historically had very clunky and unresponsive systems. That being said, there's no way I can see those companies using Unreal Engine as that's just going to require even more compute power to run those unnecessary effects being shown off. For these lower tier brands, all they really need to do is to make the system boot quickly, slap Android Auto/ Apple Car Play on it as that's what most buyers are going to use these days and they're golden.

I'm not sure what you mean by gain traction? It's not like Epic has their sites on taking over the entire industry.

On 10/13/2020 at 12:38 AM, Kisai said:

Nah. At best you could make the claim that the factory options were superior to dealer options, but in practice aftermarket options were really superior, provided they were installed by people who knew what they were doing, not hobbyists or minimum-wagers at Canadian Tire/Walmart/FutureShop.

 

The problem is that cellular phone tech leap frogged the typical amount of time people owned cars, and people didn't like ripping out "carphone" kits, and factory options were obsolete by the time the car was shipped. Like as an example here, my parents car, that they bought, brand-new around Christmas 2015, only supports WiFi or USB hotspots, or plugging in an iPhone by USB. It doesn't come with a cellular radio, the GPS system requires updates that come on a SD-card, and having the car communicate by WiFi doesn't generally serve a purpose. Pairing a cell phone to it, has issues. Android phones drop every minute or so on it. Works fine with iPhone. The iPhone 6S and later the XS I bought to replace it are both newer than the car and still work with that car, BUT, my mom's android phone has gone from working, to mostly not working. My mom doesn't know how to much on the phone, so upgrading her phone is pointless until it dies. My mom is certainly not going to buy a new car just to make a new phone work on it. When the company who provides the maps stops producing maps for the car, that's likely the end of the system. 

 

Funny thing, eBay has a lot of counterfeit copies of the GPS maps for 1/3 the price.

 

What I predict is that once USB-C is more standard, vehicle entertainment systems will simply be a USB-C displayport/hdmi interface with the vehicle controls all mapped to HID input on the phone/tablet so hands-free apps operate. Until then, the existing USB and Bluetooth solutions have to do.

Most cars have options for them that are relatively cheap, and are Android units that replace the OEM one. They drastically improve the interface, and are relatively cheap in terms of aftermarket head units. Some even retain the original vehicles systems, so that you can switch between the two making sure you lose absolutely nothing.

 

I think if auto manufacturers are really smart, they'll have the base system that handles all of the vehicle controls, and simply have Android Auto and Apple CarPlay installed as well. They can't fully depend on these, as they don't do everything, and you'd never want to be dependent on these companies; they're simply a nice addition.

 

Canadian Tire doesn't do any stereo installation work, and Future Shop doesn't exist

4 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

What exactly does Unreal bring to the table here that doesn't exist elsewhere? They're not putting a Gaming PC inside the hummer (and even if they did, it would be so stupid niche that the vast majority of users wouldn't care).

The whole base for getting the system up and running.

They might want to have a way to show the vehicle on the screen, it's wheel articulation, angles, etc. So you get a picture of what it's doing. The Unreal Engine would let them accomplish that with a fairly high degree of polish. Remember, they're not getting Epic to do it for them, they're simply using the Unreal Engine.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

UE is used in everything now, why not cars? (There the whole UE stage thing)

[Kisai]

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Okay, but is Epic talking about making the Hummer infotainment system programmable to the end user? Or is that just something you're guessing about?

Well you can fake a lot of stuff in a car, but you almost never see films use a tiny car, it's always a SUV if more than one person is inside it. They otherwise have to buy a few identical cars and take one apart just to film on.

 

My guess is that if they wanted to silly CSI "fake" crap to make it look like the car's been hacked or whatever it would be easier to just sideload something that can look like it's doing something evil rather than having to have a VFX department build something from scratch.

 

Like when you see fake iPhone stuff on TV, that's also generally faked with software rather than VFX replacing the screen.

 

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Because in theory, Audi or whoever could make their systems programmable too.

Some vehicles already use digital avatars (it's really niche though and I don't think any of them work well).

I wouldn't expect any car company to put enough effort into one, which is why using a stock Unreal system might be better for this case as people know how to make assets for Unreal, not proprietary systems.

 

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Frankly it just seems like they are using Unreal Engine as a platform for a pretty standard Infotainment system - but I struggle to see any benefit to this. There may well be some - but it seems really niche at best.

Yeah. I doubt we'll start seeing infotainment systems from everyone using it. My preference (given I don't own a car, and have had very little incentive to own one) would be the car manufactures to just standardize on a hotpluggable system driven by USB-C, with fixed dimensions like how desktop PC's have ATX profiles. If the system is removed, and the vehicle relies on it for HVAC controls it would just reset whatever doesn't make the vehicle unbearable to be inside. Basically the infotainment system mostly reads inputs, it doesn't override hardcoded into the vehicle HVAC, speaker amplifier power, etc.

 

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

 

I think if auto manufacturers are really smart, they'll have the base system that handles all of the vehicle controls, and simply have Android Auto and Apple CarPlay installed as well. They can't fully depend on these, as they don't do everything, and you'd never want to be dependent on these companies; they're simply a nice addition.

 

I'm just assuming Android Auto and Apple Carplay are just "apps" whatever the proprietary platform runs when it detects that API requesting access, and not actually something like airplay/chromecast.  

 

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

Canadian Tire doesn't do any stereo installation work, and Future Shop doesn't exist

I said that knowing that. I don't have a car, and it was something Futureshop did when I worked there. I don't know the name of any non-dealer car stereo chain.

 

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

The whole base for getting the system up and running.

They might want to have a way to show the vehicle on the screen, it's wheel articulation, angles, etc. So you get a picture of what it's doing. The Unreal Engine would let them accomplish that with a fairly high degree of polish. Remember, they're not getting Epic to do it for them, they're simply using the Unreal Engine.

 

Yeah like it's probably intended to render some things in 3D, or maybe help the owner/service staff locate a problem in the vehicle without having to guess from 2D low-resolution images I guess. If an entire 3D model of the car is available on the infotainment you could probably tap "show me" and it will do a "cut-away" or a "how to access it" type of thing, but that's just me guessing at this point.

 

I'm reminded of those "damage" schematics you see in games where it shows you where the space ship/mech/plane/sub/car/etc recieved damage.

 

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

Yeah like it's probably intended to render some things in 3D, or maybe help the owner/service staff locate a problem in the vehicle without having to guess from 2D low-resolution images I guess. If an entire 3D model of the car is available on the infotainment you could probably tap "show me" and it will do a "cut-away" or a "how to access it" type of thing, but that's just me guessing at this point.

 

I'm reminded of those "damage" schematics you see in games where it shows you where the space ship/mech/plane/sub/car/etc recieved damage.

Yeah, I imagine it'll be some kind of combination of these:

Spoiler