Delivering Advanced Infotainment Software for a Premium Automotive Manufacturer

Key Highlights

• Accedia helped a premium car brand create a modern infotainment system that brings music, navigation, calls, and vehicle information into one smooth experience.
• The team designed a clean touch interface, added clear visuals and a friendly voice assistant, and made everything work well on different in-car screens and hardware.
• The system became much faster, including 92 ms touch response, a 6.5-second start-up, 25–35% quicker navigation tasks, and faster stakeholder decisions through a browser-based demo..

Client Background & Objectives: Elevating In-Car Experience Across Models

A leading automobile manufacturer, renowned for high-performance sports cars, SUVs, and sedans, partnered with Accedia to modernize its in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) platform. Together, we set a clear objective: unify entertainment, communications, and driver information into a single, intuitive experience that feels natural from first touch or voice. The goal of the solution was to work seamlessly with existing hardware across the full model range. This effort formed part of the client’s broader in-vehicle infotainment software development program to standardize the digital cockpit.

The Challenge: Seamless, Hardware-Integrated HMI at Automotive Grade

Infotainment sits at the intersection of sophisticated software and safety-critical hardware. The client required a contemporary human–machine interface (HMI) that integrated media playback, telephony, built-in navigation, radio data, and real-time vehicle insights without compromising responsiveness or reliability. Meeting that bar required a new UI/UX, supporting services, and deep integration with existing hardware modules and in-vehicle networks. The experience also needed to be consistent across screen sizes and trim levels - an archetypal challenge in automotive software engineering.

The uniqueness of each vehicle also presented challenges. Some cars ran on newer generations of in-car computers and more capable graphics processors, while others used earlier hardware. Touchscreens came from several suppliers, each with its own way of reporting a tap or a swipe. Inside the vehicle, different electronic networks carried messages at different speeds. All of this had to work together, so the driver experienced one smooth, consistent system.

Security was just as important. The platform had to pass strict reviews without adding any delay to the experience, so every screen still felt immediate, and every touch still felt instant.

Solution & What We Built: Human-Centered UI with a Production-Ready Backbone

Accedia co-created the end-to-end experience alongside the client’s product and hardware teams. Together, we applied proven in-vehicle infotainment software development patterns and disciplined automotive software engineering to ensure robust integration and reliability.

Design & Interaction

Starting at the surface, our team shaped a gesture-friendly, multi-touch interface built on a clean tile system with rounded elements. We added a themes app so drivers can match interior screen colors to the car’s exterior, carrying the brand into the cabin. To lift the first moments in the vehicle, we brought in real-time three-dimensional scenes such as welcome animations, lifelike vehicle views, and mode-specific environments.

Voice Assistant with Presence

Another goal of ours was to give the voice assistant a face and a rhythm. We succeeded by adding an animated avatar that shows when it is listening, thinking, and responding, so drivers always know what is happening. We positioned two microphones to tell whether the driver or passenger is speaking and to resolve overlaps. The assistant now supports 23 languages and helps with everyday tasks - finding parking and charging, choosing music, and adjusting comfort features - without breaking the flow of driving.

Platform & Performance

Under the hood, our team built on Android Automotive OS and warmed up critical services as soon as the key is detected, so core functions are ready on entry. We kept choice wide and friction low by running wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto alongside rich native apps. Guidance remains dependable in low-coverage areas through on-device maps and dead reckoning.

Navigation & EV Intelligence

Next on our agenda was making planning simple so drivers can create routes remotely and send them to the car, while maps and key road data update regularly. On long trips, the system suggests charging stops automatically using live traffic and your current battery. Additionally, we made it possible for ranges to update in real time based on how you drive, climate settings, traffic, and learned habits.

Architecture & Integration

Finally, we stitched it all together. Clear service boundaries coordinate media, calls, navigation, radio data, and vehicle information, so transitions stay smooth and recovery from interruptions is graceful. We validated the integration across the full model lineup, which keeps the look, feel, and behavior consistent across screen sizes and trims - and delivers one cohesive system in every vehicle.

Accedia’s Process, Collaboration & Delivery

We embedded a cross-functional team, including a product lead, business analyst, UI/UX designers, front-end and back-end engineers, QA automation, and DevOps consultants. Working in Agile with Scrum, the work ran in short, predictable sprints. Daily check-ins kept everyone aligned, and each sprint closed with a review and a retrospective. At the end of each sprint, we showed a working demo, so feedback from road drives and stakeholder sessions shaped what came next. Between reviews, changes went through automated and hands-on tests; build updates moved to test vehicles on a regular cadence. New capabilities rolled out gradually, keeping drivers safe and the experience smooth.

Results & Impact: Consistent UX, Faster Decisions, Road-Ready Software

By unifying design and engineering around a single interaction model, the client now offers an infotainment experience that feels cohesive across vehicles and feature areas. Drivers benefit from a more intuitive UI, quicker navigation, and smooth transitions between media, calls, maps, and vehicle data.

Deep integration with existing hardware reduced late-stage risk and shortened the path from concept to road-ready software. The browser-based demo accelerated decision-making and helped non-technical stakeholders engage earlier, streamlining approvals and clarifying release planning. In early pilots, navigation task time decreased by 25–35%, the solution was validated across 10+ vehicle models, and stakeholder approvals moved 2–4 weeks faster thanks to the browser-based demo.

More noteworthy improvements include:

• Touches showed up on screen in about a tenth of a second on average (≈92 ms), and even in busy moments stayed under two-tenths.
• Switching between apps felt quick - around six-tenths of a second on average (≈620 ms).
• Start-up time was nearly halved: from about 11 seconds to 6.5, so the interface feels ready as you sit down.
• Ease of use improved too: the System Usability Scale score was 86 (“excellent”), and address-entry mistakes dropped by nearly one-third (≈31%).

Technology Stack

The technology stack uses TypeScript for the web front end, combining Angular and React where each best fits the user experience. A Java service layer powers the core services and hardware integrations. Together, they deliver a polished interface, reliable business logic, and automotive-grade integration — all aligned with modern in-vehicle infotainment software standards.