New Technology Makes Automotive Internet a Reality

With stunning advancements in technology occurring on an almost daily basis, it's about time the internet and automobiles have finally made a successful merger to become one. The technology has been deemed 'telematics,' the multimedia communications with vehicles. Several models and companies stake their claim as the most advanced and practical, however a few stand out as the most likely to end up in your car sooner or later.

The first telematic service, introduced by GM in 1996, is OnStar. For an annual fee, a phonelink between the car and GM's command center alerts the dispatch center when an airbag has been deployed, and emergency services are automatically dispatched. OnStar also offers concierge services such as hotel, restaurant, or theatre reservations, automatically unlocking the car if you lock your keys inside, and can trigger the horns and lights if you can't find your car in a large parking lot, such as Disney Land.

With so many different features available to the driver, focus must be given to the fact that the driver has to keep their eyes on the road. Millions of dollars in research and development has gone into Voice Recognition Technology: a way of telling the car what to do, from dialing/answering phone calls, retrieving e-mail, reading sports/stock updates. The major glitches come in when the car mistakes a conversation with the passenger for a command. The Jaguar S-Type is the first practical system, which, at $4,300, allows the driver to dictate what radio station to play, who to call, and what the cabin temperature should be.

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GM had a recent demonstration with their Virtual Advisor, a sort of automotive secretary, which worked well. The advisor read stocks, sports, e-mail, and directions with ease. A minor glitch came when asking for the weather, but when the request was repeated, the system responded beautifully.

Cadillac's impressive Infotainment center was a $2,000 in dash unit that, using Windows CE, read the usual stock quotes, weather updates, and sports scores. It also stored addresses, voice memos, and allowed the occupant to play CD's, CD-ROMs, and MP3's all via Voice recognition. The system also contains an infrared port allowing an easy, wireless, connection between (capable) hand held computers and cell phones. Cadillac's year old night vision system is still getting attention due to its practicality. A heads up display of the road, using infrared thermal imaging, can alert the driver of living things (people, animals) in the road much farther than the lights can see. The images are placed in the driverÕs peripheral vision, so their eyes are never taken off the road.

Satellite radio is a trend that will definitely catch on. For a monthly fee, drivers can subscribe to satellite radio similar to cable television. Using 100 channels, a driver can select what channel they prefer listening to. Channels will be categorized by genre, from Rap to Classical, New Age to Chant, Big Band to talk shows, everything imaginable, and will be receivable anywhere on the planet in perfect clarity. Expect high- end receivers from Pioneer, Sony, and Alpine.

Some recent advancements that are already becoming standard in automobiles is adaptive cruise control, where by the car sense if it is to close to the car in front of it and automatically slows down. Rear-park-assist, where the car uses radar to sense the rear as it's backing up, should it feel it is getting to close to an object, it audibly alerts the driver to slow down or stop. Rear seat tv/vcr combos are becoming a must for those long hauls, and kids are much more comfortable in the back with movies to watch. Optional gaming systems, such as Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 can also aid in passing the time by and can be added to the system for a nominal fee.

Automotive Technology is increasing faster now than ever before, and it might soon be a reality where there wonÕt be anything you can't do from your car than you can do at home. AZ/AutoNetDirect .