In his debut book "Digital Fortress", Dan Brown (of Da Vinci Code fame) has a character named Greg Hale who has GPS, voice activated doors, and a bunch of other gadgets in his car. Granted he was a "crypto-geek" in the NSA but the book was written in 1998. In 2005, most of us still rely on printed maps and listen to FM radio in our cars. But technology is coming to make cars - and highways - much smarter.
Give GM credit for having pioneered "telematics" with its OnStar service since 1997- a combination of GPS and cell phone technology. Remote vehicle diagnostics, auto-notification of air bag deployment, stolen vehicle location, route directions, even remote door unlock, and built in, hands free cell service. GM has been offering packages of OnStar services free for the first year with many of its models. GM even informs its customers about the diagnostics and suggested maintenance by email
GM has also been experimenting with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology using wireless technology. It detects the presence of the others and avoids collisions by either alerting the driver of danger or by automatically stopping the vehicle in an emergency.
Of course, not everyone is a GM customer. Mercedes offers TeleAid and Volvo on Call offers OnStar like features, this BusinessWeek article talks about 4 technologies you can buy independently: Parrot hands-free calling kit to work with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones; Davis Instruments diagnostic tool (if I had that I would definitely have challenged my last ticket!); Directed Electronics two-way security system; and finally the increasingly ubiquitous Garmin GPS navigation systems.
This Business 2.0 article describes the coming "media hub" for the car. Live traffic feeds, satellite radio and TV feeds, broadband web access from vendors like Alpine, Sirius, RaySat. With all these distractions the radar feature above may become even more useful!
Of course, established tech vendors do not want to miss our on this potentially huge market. Windows Mobile for Automotive is a scaled down version of Microsoft's attempts to be a player in the auto market.
The technology in cars will soon be matched with technologies in "smart" highways and roads. Most states now offer electronic toll booths like the E-ZPass system. In Florida, where I live 450 miles are covered by the comparable SunPass program. Not only are toll rates cheaper than if you pay cash, the fact that they automatically replenish by charging my credit card makes it really convenient. Many airports are starting to accept it for parking charges.
Highways are emerging which will use sensor based traffic management technology. Of course, with any public works projects, funding is tricky - but the promise of smart cars and smart highways is pretty exciting. Now we just need to make sure we can afford to keep fuel prices reasonable - more about those technologies in a future post.
BusinessWeek has a nice article in its Jan 16, 2006 issue on technologies becoming more of a competitive differentiator in car sales.
