The new year has arrived and it is the perfect time for Google and Kia to announce a new strategic partnership that will change the game. Via press release, Kia announced that it is working with Google to provide better content and search-based solutions for its second-generation UVO eServices telematics system. Kia’s UVO eServices is a telematics system that is based on the UVO infotainment system that Kia and Microsoft first announced in 2010. This year, Kia’s updated UVO eServices will be utilizing Google’s solutions, and the automaker’s new 2014 Sorento CUV will be the first to endorse the new system.
Basically, Google Maps and Google Places will be integrated into the telematics system. This will help users find driving directions and locate Points of Interest (POIs) in a seamless and organic manner. “The newest iteration of the UVO platform is a breakthrough as one of the industry’s first mobile pure app-based telematics systems, and now with the Google solutions and APIs, we take the platform to yet another level of enhancement for the Kia customer,” said Henry Bzeih, the Head of the Connected Car Program and Chief Technology Strategist at Kia.
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