Dan Tynan
From the May 2006 issue of PC World magazine
A few gadgets have truly changed my life. One was a dual-screen DVD player that we put in our aging minivan. Overnight we could take the kids on long road trips without constant whining, fighting, or Happy Meal toys whizzing past my ear while I was negotiating traffic.
Yet that DVD player is nothing compared with what's coming down the pike. This year we'll see a whole fleet of automobile gadgets that combine navigation, safety, and entertainment systems, and possibly some products that deliver live video and Internet connections. But these gizmos certainly won't be cheap, and you may encounter speed bumps along the way.
The convergence of auto and digital technologies is clear from devices such as the Pioneer AVIC-Z1 audio system ($2250, www.pioneerelectronics.com, out this spring), which offers turn-by-turn directions, connects to your iPod, and plays DVDs on a 7-inch LCD. Subscribe to XM Radio's NavTraffic ($17 a month, including 150-plus channels of satellite radio), and the Z1 will alert you to traffic jams and suggest other routes. Garmin's StreetPilot 7200 ($1616, www.garmin.com, available now) also features live traffic data from XM or Clear Channel on its 7-inch touch screen, along with SD Card support so you can load new maps or play MP3s and audio books.This spring, Jaguar plans to offer an add-on entertainment system that plays back music, photos, or movies stored on flash memory cards such as SD, MMC, or Memory Stick, as well as a satellite-based antitheft service. If your car is stolen, you can call your service provider to find out where it is; or you can subscribe to a $15-per-month plan that "breadcrumbs" your vehicle, tracking its precise location and speed every few minutes.
Once available only in luxury models, such tracking systems are becoming inexpensive and widespread enough for every car owner to have one, says Hap Flaherty, vice president of marketing for MicroTrakgps in Dallas, which makes Jaguar's antitheft tracking system.
Microsoft is getting into cars in a big way. The software colossus provides navigation software for 61 models, as well as for the AVIC-Z1 and other add-on products, says Mark Spain, director of Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit. The company also recently teamed with European automaker Fiat to bring wireless Net connectivity to the road. When drivers see a warning light indicating a car problem, they can press a button on the Fiat's dash to receive an instant text response clarifying the issue, which the car reads back aloud. Spain says such features will eventually reach U.S. cars.
The best may be yet to come. Comcast, Delphi, and Sirius plan to send live video feeds to the backseat, possibly in time for 2007's cars. Aeris Networks, which offers cellular communications services for fleet vehicles, says it's designing a system for delivering broadband movies and music that's due before year's end.
Big Brother on Board
But you could pay a big price for all this cool stuff, and not just in money. If you can track your vehicle's movements, so can the cops or any attorney with a court order. Insurance firms will want your road data; some already offer discounts to customers who share their records (provided, of course, they don't drive like maniacs).
And when it comes to sharing your data with, say, a store or a restaurant that you drive by each day, data collectors are in the driver's seat. That doesn't mean your car will get beamed ads every time you pass a KFC, but you might receive other marketing offers based on your driving habits. Every company offering these products and services vows to protect the privacy of such information, and maybe they will. But U.S. firms have an extremely poor track record on other forms of data sharing.
My advice? Don't drive blindly into this new car tech. Ease into it with your eyes open and your foot near the brake.
Contributing Editor Dan Tynan is the author of Computer Privacy Annoyances (O'Reilly Media, 2005). You can send e-mail to him at gadgetfreak@pcworld.com.
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