Built-in gadgets, devices are now in a Car dashboards.Well, the technology is really amazing! This a marketing technique to attract more buyers. NHTSA guidelines to curb dashboard electronics is a good idea. With Auto dashboards high technology design, a driver can be distracted from his driving activity. With all its dashboard devices, a driver can't focus in his driving. The government is really strict when it comes to safe road driving.
Microsoft's battle for the dashboard
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: Monday, 18. December 2006
The dashboard used to be just a panel under the windshield of your car that held the instruments and some controls. Now it's a hot area, a high-priority space fought over by hi-tech special interest groups.
The latest special interest is Microsoft, which wants specially designed versions of its Windows operating system to be the command and control technology for all the new hi-tech wizardry that's on the way to your car.
Microsoft has its eye on the kids who will be buying cars in the future. "Today's internet kid is used to instant messaging, immediate data download," says Manuel Simas, European automotive business development manager at Microsoft. "In five to 10 years, when he wants to buy a car he will expect these there too."
"What we are looking at really is the car as a mobile PC," Simas told London's Financial times recently. "The way we see it, the driver is just a driver but everyone else is either in the home or office. It is about the digital lifestyle and integration between the car, office and home."
On February 28, Microsoft and Fiat Auto Group introduced a brand new in-car system titled Blue and Me at the 2006 Geneva International Motor Show. The software and hardware design uses Windows Mobile for Automotive, and it was featured in three new auto models.
Purchasers of these models will get the first cars with a factory-installed USB port. This allows almost any music player to be plugged in . They will also get a wireless Bluetooth link, which enables hands-free use of most mobile phones, and navigation connections, which allow mapping and navigation devices to be installed.
The USB port approach to in-car electronics may herald a new era on on-board digital information facilities. One of the problems facing manufacturers that built these systems into cars was that the systems became quicly outdated. The design cycle for cars is 6 to 7 years but the design cycle for devices such as phones, navigation and 'infotainment' systems is 2-3 years. However, most car owners keep their vehicles at least every three years and the average car stays on the road for 12 to 13 years.
"Normally with embedded electronics it gets old and if you want to update it with new features you basically have to buy a new car," says, Giuseppe Bonollo, who oversaw the development of the system for Fiat. "This is changing the paradigm."
Mr Bonollo says Fiat is preparing to allow upgrades of the system to be compatible with new music players and navigation computers. It is also considering whether customers should be able to download and install the upgrades themselves using a USB data storage device
Microsoft has advantages over other competitors in the battle for control over the new devices. It has easy access to software such as Windows Media Player for music and video and compatibility with many portable devices using Windows. Microsoft is also working on voice recognition software and internet access.
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