Our car has an app store!
Meen OS
Yes, you read that right.
This one’s for tech nerds, btw.
Last week, we wrote about our goal and design language and our reasoning behind it. But, let’s look beyond physical design. It is reported that each person spends a minimum of 2 hours per day in their favourite mode of transport during their daily commute. Doesn’t sound like much? Well, in a regular work week, that’s at least 10 hours. We didn’t count weekends and we’re assuming a total distance of only 20 km. Also, we probably didn’t say it enough, but that’s at least 10 hours. You’re paid for 40 hours a week and you’re spending more than an entire work day in your car! These numbers are significantly higher on average.
We’re not promising we can solve traffic woes. But, we can make your journey exponentially more enjoyable. Meen One comes with a massive touchscreen with an operating system built from scratch specially for our car. Why didn’t we just go with existing solutions and vendors, you ask? You’re smart if you did.
When was the last time you downloaded an app in your car? No, not on your phone through Android Auto or CarPlay but directly in your car’s infotainment system? Most of us have never experienced this - at least not in India. Some recent manufacturers from around the world have gotten us interesting integrations with Netflix, Youtube, and Spotify. And we’ll probably see a lot of that happening in India over the next few years. That’s great news!
But, who’s thinking beyond the big guys?
What if we released an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allowed devs to use our car’s and OS’s features and build innovative apps and services? We’re shaping our OS to be built on open source technology to ensure we can load apps that are developed by engineers from around the world. Owners could add these apps from the Meen Store and seamlessly integrate with the Meen App on your phone - your privacy is protected, of course.
This opens up the door to boundless interesting ideas. Since our cars come with a bunch of sensors, sensor data can be used in combination with our OS’s features along with our available APIs to create incredible experiences. We’ll explore a few examples in future blog posts - for now, we wait.
So, where does that leave us?
We’re currently putting things together in the current prototype for Meen One. If you’re lucky - and if you’re in Bangalore - you might see one of our colourful cars drive by you in a few months’ time. We will be publishing more information about improvements with our tech and a release timeline for V1 of our SDK for all those eager to try it out.
We can’t wait to reject apps developed by the big tech boys and give them a piece of their own medicine! Okay, that’s a joke, obviously. Obviously!
Before we leave for the day, we thought we’d leave you with a video of an AI masked version of our dashboard and interiors. Why AI, you ask? You’re smarter than we assumed, clearly. That, dear Watson, is an excellent question. Until next time!
