Umair Mohammad

After several years of powering various in-car entertainment systems, Microsoft wants to take a more hands-on approach to car entertainment.

The company has unveiled a concept called Windows in Car at its Build developer conference. Even though work on this is at an early stage, it's clear that the company is trying to take on Apple’s CarPlay offering, as well as keeping an eye on Google's Android in the Car project.

The company also wants to bring the Windows Phone experience to the car's dashboard. Here's a video released by Microsoft:



Although right now it is at the concept stage, Windows in Car is being tested in some vehicles, as reported by The Verge. Just like Apple is trying to bring an iPhone-like experience with its soon-to-be launched car system, Microsoft too intends to do the same by bringing the Modern UI and “Live Tiles” from its Windows Phone OS into the car's entertainment console interface. Windows in Car will let users check emails, messages and even make calls, through the dashboard.

Powering this concept is Mirrorlink interoperability system. Mirrorlink is used by major car makers like Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen in their vehicles. One of the biggest advantages that Microsoft could have over Apple is that it has opened up its platform for developers. This is not the case with Apple which has not taken any such steps to bring developers on board for CarPlay. The demo also hinted that there could be a marketplace for apps which will run in Windows in Car UI

One sour note during the presentation was that the demo being shown by Microsoft crashed, so we are not yet sure when we will see a field-tested version ready to hit automakers. But it is expected that company will not delay the official launch since Apple will be coming out with CarPlay before the end of this year. Microsoft certainly will not want to give Apple any head start in this segment.