Apple has CarPlay, Google has Android Auto, and Android Automotive, and now OPPO is joining the fun with its very own platform that doesn’t even compare to these products.
OPPO, the Chinese tech behemoth, announced at the OPPO Developer Conference 2021 that it’s expanding its ecosystem by putting its foot into the automotive business with a platform called Carlink. OPPO also showcased ray tracing on smartphones.
OPPOs Carlink
OPPO states that Carlink will be a feature-packed platform that brings several systems whose adoption is currently on the rise under just a single roof.
For example, the company says Carlink will allow automakers to equip their vehicles with digital car keys. Apple already has such a feature in partnership with BMW, and Samsung, too, has been updating its phones to support similar systems.
OPPO, however, believes that by offering this system pre-loaded, the adoption of digital car keys would substantially gain more traction.
And unsurprisingly, OPPO is trying to expand on several fronts, so the company is also promising vehicle management systems that would allow owners to control certain features remotely. But, again, this is something that’s been around for a while, though in most cases, carmakers themselves have been offering such functionality through their own dedicated apps.
OPPO will bring similar features right on your wrist by developing compatibility with smartwatches.
The Chinese phone maker says it has already worked with a series of carmakers to prepare its platform for mass adoption, and some companies have already confirmed it’d install it on their vehicles. It remains to be seen if Carlink is ready to expand beyond the borders of China. Right now, it’s pretty clear OPPO doesn’t want to remain just a regular phone manufacturer.
OPPOs Ray Tracing
For years, ray tracing had been exclusive to computers. This feature enables the physical behavior of light in a digital environment to produce life-like content.
OPPO demoed ray tracing on one of its current-gen OPPO Reno6 series phones at the OPPO Developers Conference 2021. Although the company did not mention the handset used, it appears to be an OPPO Reno6 Pro 5G as the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset present inside the device has support for ray tracing.
OPPO stated that its ray tracing technology is based on Vulkan API and it is part of ColorOS. The firm also revealed that its tech can not only be used in games but also in live wallpapers, image filters, AR applications, and more.
Ray tracing on OPPO smartphones is expected to debut in 2022. The Chinese company will not be the only one to offer this tech next year. Samsung has also confirmed to debut ray tracing-supported new Exynos chipset with AMD mRDNA GPU. The new silicon will likely power the upcoming Galaxy S22 series.
