The earliest car radio
The earliest car was a simple three-wheeled structure, and there was not much space, just to meet the travel function. As the automobile industry gradually matured, the mileage and internal space continued to increase. How should people kill the boredom of the journey when driving outside?
In 1922, Chevrolet installed a $200 radio on its own car. This innovation officially opened the era of in-car entertainment systems.
It has to be said that this move was magical at the time, but it was also very expensive. At that time, a Ford T car only sold for $600, and this radio was worth $200! So this is not something that ordinary consumers can afford.
At that time, people also believed that car radios would affect drivers' safe driving, which was opposed by local governments and consumers in the United States. But even so, it did not stop the development of car radios. With the development of industrial technology, the cost of radios has become lower and lower, and more and more cars have begun to be equipped with car radio systems. At the same time, a large number of car radios were born, providing entertainment functions, and broadcasting traffic and weather reports. People have gradually accepted car radios.
From cassettes to the CD era
However, some people soon got tired of the passive entertainment method of radio. "I can't hear what I want to hear, and I don't want to hear what I can hear" became the focus of many people's complaints at the time. In 1965, Ford and Motorola made a new attempt to bring 8-track players to the automotive field, but because the record player has very high requirements for the stability of the equipment, the car record player did not become popular in the end.
However, this method provided people with new ideas. It was not until the 1970s that Philips of the Netherlands installed small cassette players on cars. This in-car entertainment method began to sweep the world's cars. People finally didn't have to endure the advertisements on the radio, and they could also record their favorite music by themselves, which also made it last until the late 1990s.
In 1985, the first car equipped with a CD host was born. This more advanced in-car entertainment system has the advantages of large storage capacity, high audio fidelity, and small size for easy storage. It quickly "occupied" the center console, and tapes became history. Entertainment devices represented by CDs and VCDs have been launched one after another, and the in-car entertainment system has ushered in a new round of development.
The emergence of color display screens
As in-car CD players gradually gained popularity, car companies also began to consider using screens to replace messy buttons. The 1986 Buick seventh-generation Riviera was the world's first car equipped with a touch screen, and the 9-inch screen integrated the vehicle functions.
In 1987, Toyota brought greater changes to the in-car screen. Toyota equipped the world's first in-car color display screen on the top-of-the-line model of the eighth-generation Crown sold in Japan, which is of epoch-making significance.
Although at that time, the in-car screen could only realize some simple functions, and there was no display effect. But for the development of automobiles, the emergence of in-car screens is of vital significance, making it possible for in-car entertainment functions to change from "listening" to "seeing".
The advent of multimedia players
After entering the new century, the digital audio revolution swept the world. The emergence of MP3 subverted people's perception of listening to music and also kicked off the digital revolution of in-car entertainment.
When people rushed to buy digital walkmans, cars were also equipped with connection devices. Only a data cable was needed to transfer the music stored in MP3 to the car, completely replacing the bulky CD series.
With the in-car display, the in-car multimedia entertainment center control that we are familiar with today gradually took shape.
Entering the intelligent era
With the advent of the smart phone era, when smart chips and operating systems developed rapidly, the past tapes, CDs, MP3s, and MP4s were gradually eliminated.
In-car entertainment is also becoming more and more intelligent, and it has begun to integrate interconnection, entertainment, navigation and vehicle control. It has everything from audio-visual, information, in-car karaoke, voice chat and even games. In-car entertainment has entered the intelligent era.
In the small world of cars, people have experienced more convenient ways of entertainment, and car entertainment systems are becoming more and more intelligent, providing drivers with pleasant and rich experiences through audio, video and voice entertainment functions.