Automotive safety: ActivityView enabled split-screen

In-Vehicle Infotainment systems are representatives of a new generation of multimedia in vehicle systems. As the name proposes, the main goal of these systems is to provide entertainment and informational content to the driver and passengers. Automotive industry is undergoing dramatic changes nowadays and there is a lack of standards for what operating system should be applied to certain vehicle display. Availability of Android operating system (AOS) on most of the modern portable devices and ability to re-use existing tested and reliable applications, encourage automotive industry to integrate AOS in vehicles, usually in head unit display. The goal is to build systems that will be easy to handle. It will impose minimal distraction of the driver. One way to achieve higher safety level while in traffic is by allowing driver to manipulate two or more applications simultaneously. This work is based on expanding multimedia system in the vehicle based on Android operating system so it can show two or more apps at the same time while using this new Android component called ActivityView. In this paper we argue that with this software component, interaction with central information display is going to be more efficient and safety will be enhancedas well.