The Web has been in 2.0 mode for a while now, and in-car tech is starting to follow suit.
One of the noticeable trends at this year's CES in Las Vegas was the emerging next generation of in-car technologies, from GPS unit/social networking mash-ups to heads-up night vision displays and collision avoidance systems, to the holy grail of in-car entertainment systems. The entire North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center was devoted to cars and in-car technology this year.
Here are a few of the most interesting products we saw:
Now you can take advantage of Bluetooth wireless - and hands free - operation of your cell phone without having to wear a headset. If you know how to plug into your cigarette lighter, you can have Bluetooth wireless in your car.
There is a very, very powerful reason for going hands-free when doing calls in your car: it is rapidly becoming illegal in many states to hold a cell phone and drive at the same time.
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As a call comes through to a Bluetooth enabled cell phone, a user can either manually answer the call using the push-to-talk button included on the microphone, or a call can be automatically answered.
The product is offered thru Scosche dealers or directly from the company.
Billed as the first GPS system that can send and receive data over both Wi-Fi and GPRS connections, Dash Express looks like it could be the future model for in-car nav systems.
It has real-time traffic information, which is nothing new for GPS units, but what's special about Dash Express is that it culls traffic information together from other cars that have a Dash Express unit installed. This living on-road data swarm is used to calculate the best route on the fly, based on traffic flow rather than just accidents and road closures.
Here's where it gets even more interesting: using its dual Wi-Fi and GPRS connectivity capabilities, the Dash Express unit will always stay connected. The unit can pull in real-time data for gas prices by station, nearby dinner specials, and addresses sent to the unit by friends and family over a Web browser or Microsoft Outlook. That means you don't need to input destinations manually or pull over to write down an address told to you over the phone.
Borrowing a page from Yelp and other social networking sites, Dash Express also lets you sync lists of your favorite restaurants and locations from your computer or cell phone and send that information to the in-car unit. You can also pull in other peoples' favorite lists -- a trusted friend's picks of sushi places in the vicinity, for example -- and the addresses and driving directions will show up on the unit.
According to company representatives at the CES booth, Dash Express is slated to be available as early as February. The pricing structure will be tiered; there will be a base price for the hardware unit itself, but to get the full package of features, it will be $9.99 per month for a two-year plan or $12.99 per month for a straight month-to-month plan.
Every year 10% to 15% of the roads in the U.S. change in some significant way, construction detours are the most common, but road names change, and streets that were two-way are converted into one-way roads. Unfortunately, the maps that in-car GPS systems rely on don't update fast enough to account for these changes, especially when some sort of disaster knocks a road out.
TomTom's new Mapshare system tries to address this by having users change maps to reflect new realities. When a user encounters something, they can make a correction on the TomTom device. This can then be shared with the community of users by, in effect, posting the change to the TomTom community site.
Map changes are updated daily, and users can choose to download only those validated by TomTom, or from "trusted" members of the community, or from any community member.
Even with your brights on, driving at night can be nerve-wracking, eye-testing process. Odds are, you'll always have a tough time seeing as far down the road as you need to to feel safe.
Flir's PathFindIR system uses a thermal-imaging camera installed in a car's grille and an in-dash or rear-view-mirror-mounted monitor to solve that problem. According to Flir's Web site, the system allows you to see four times further down the road than normal headlights will. This system even cuts through the thickest fog.
The key to the Flir's night-vision enhancement is in the thermal imaging. It picks up any sources of heat, such as a person walking across the street or an animal about to dart out of the woods, and displays it as a high-contrast image on the in-car monitor.
The system is only offered as a custom installation on most cars, but another exhibitor on the CES show floor this year, NAV-TV, is working with car manufacturers to get the system offered as an option in future cars.
Hemp-based Subwoofer Is Winner For JVC
No, you can't smoke it, but JVC's awesomely powerful Arsenal AW8500 Series 15" Subwoofers can sure blow you away. And yeah, like an earlier
Gimmick? Maybe, but the sound from this sub is amazingly clean, good enough, in fact, to win a CES Innovation award against a ton of competitors in the category.
Family road trips are a great way to bond, but only ifyou can keep the kids from duking it out and arguing non-stop in the backseat. Portable DVD players and iPods have gone along way towards keeping road trips peaceful, but VizuaLogic's A-1290 and A-1250 entertainment systems integrate all that kid-quieting tech into the back of your car'sfront-seat headrests.
These headrest monitor systems flip down to let the user load in DVDs -- one per headrest, in case thekids can't agree on which movie they want to watch.They also support video iPods, using a proprietaryconnector to jack up the image size of the iPod videosource to a 9-inch diagonal on the A-1290 or a 7-inchdiagonal on the A-1250.
If DVDs and iPods are way too 2007 for you, VizuaLogicalso offers the VMOD, an 8-inch by 5-inch black Wi-Fibox with an integrated 40GB hard drive that lets youdownload digital media and watch it on its headrestmonitors. Information superhighway, indeed.
You can do a lot of things with your smartphone today, but AutoPage has upped the ante with it's C3 telematics module that turns the phone into remote that manages your car's security, remote start-up and GPS tracking without adding extra minutes to your phone bill. You need a GSM phone for the system to work.
Folks who live in cold climates will appreciate the remote start capability in the system. Fire up the engine inside your house, wait till it warms up, and voila, a nice cozy vehicle to get into. Oh yeah, you manual users might want to take it out of gear when you park it!
Think the opposite if it's hot outside, the system can also start your engine and air conditioning before you get in.
You can also run security features remotely, including locking and unlocking your doors and trunk from much further distances than a standard key fob. Alarms can be turned on or off and you can get alerts if someone is trying to break-in to the vehicle.
The GPS tracking features allow owners to monitor where their car is, how fast its going (handy if you lend your car to your kids) and can tell you where its been over the last few days.
The system will be available from dealers in mid-January and is expected to retail for $429. Annual service fees run from $149 to $249 a year and are based on expected usage.
Known principally as a satellite radio system, Sirius has taken the jump into in-vehicle live television.
The system is called Sirius Backseat TV, and is powered by the SCV1 satellite radio tuner. Designed to keep the kids busy, the tuner delivers programming from three child-oriented networks: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The system will also provide simultaneous access to over 130 Sirius radio channels.
The SCV1 is available from for $300 and is designed to work in any car with an FM radio and a rear seat video monitor.
One of the coolest demos on the show floor came from a true old school company: Delphi, famed for its auto parts, components, and car electronics gear which took a GMC Acadia and transformed its cockpit into what the car of 2013 could look like.
A primary goal of the transformation was to give the driver a complete view of all sides of the car. This was done with a series of cameras that display the rear and sides on LCD screens.
Instead of the typical speedometer and RPM gauges in front of the steering wheel, drivers have the option, while in park, to call up menus for audio, video, and even repair and maintenance information on an LCD, all controlled from a touch wheel and buttons on the steering wheel.
When driving, the screen switches to standard RPM and speedometer readouts, while a headup display on the windshield provides additional driving information. All of the entertainment information was still accessable from the steering wheel.
Delphi also demonstrated products that use radar sensors and automatic controls to avoid collisions and warn about other vehicles on either side while attempting turns or passes, technology that is already being incorporated in some vehicles.
After racing and burning up his tires with a series of screaming donuts in a Formula 2 racing car at BMW's F1 Sauber exhibition, youthful F2 competitor Daniel Morad was asked if he gets a lot of speeding tickets.
"Not yet," he said. "I don't have a driver's license."
Ramon G. McLeod and Tim Moynihan
