Soon you’ll be able to surf the Web, download music, and check e-mail in your car!
a s regular readers of this column
are aware, I can’t go on vacation or to the
grocery store without my Internet fi x. So
naturally, I crave a constant high-speed
connection for my car so that I can download
MP3s as I roll down I-40 (a robotic
chauff eur would be nice, too).
The good news is that the Internet is
coming to automobiles later this year.
And when it arrives, it will start to
change how we interact with each
other and the world around us.
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
2007 will be the year cars and
tech really mesh, thanks in part to
Ford’s Sync, a hands-free cell
phone gizmo running on Microsoft’s
Auto operating system. It
also lets you control your MP3
player using voice commands.
Sync will be available on about a
dozen 2007 car models in the fall,
and, yes, it even works with iPods.
But this is only the beginning,
says Velle Kolde, product manager
for Microsoft’s in-vehicle systems.
Future versions of Sync could incorporate
Wi-Fi, so you could download your
e-mail while driving through a Net cloud
and then have the system read it to you.
Autonet Mobile ( autonetmobile.com),
meanwhile, wants to turn your car into a
rolling hotspot. Autonet’s book-size router
plugs into your cigarette lighter and
connects to the same kind of high-speed
cell networks used by wireless PC Cards,
while broadcasting a secure 802.11g network
in your car (and a little beyond).
Autonet has two big advantages over
wireless cards, according to the company’s
CEO, Sterling Prantz. It is better
at managing handoffs when you move
from fast networks to slower ones, allowing
for seamless data streaming. And
everyone can share one connection, so
Mom can watch YouTube on her laptop
while Sis IMs her posse and Junior plays
multiplayer games on his PSP—assuming,
of course, that you’re hooked into a
fast EvDO Rev A network. By the time
you read this, cars with Autonet in side
should be available at select Avis Rent A
Car locations; late this spring you’ll be
able to buy the router for $399, plus $50 a
month for access to Autonet’s network.
MOVING TARGETS
i f you want broadband built into your
car, you’ll have to wait a bit longer, says
Bob Schoenfield, senior vice president
for Aeris ( aeris.net), a company that runs
a communications network for telematic
services. Aeris is working with a “non-
U.S. car company” on a 2008-model automobile
that can download data at up to 2
megabits per second. As today’s fastest
cellular networks get even faster, we will
see a tsunami of mobile content, from
movies and music to live broadcasts.
Moreover, as Internet Protocol version
6 becomes more common, cars could be
used to gather data about the weather,
traffi c patterns, and more, says Tom Patterson,
CEO of Command Information
(commandinformation.com), a consultancy
that specializes in IPv6. The fi rm
has built the “Veesix,” a 1970s-era
Porsche designed to show off
IPv6’s automotive potential.
Because IPv6 allows for trillions
of new IP addresses, your speedometer
and windshield wipers
could have their own addresses,
enabling them to broadcast data to
a server that aggregates the information
and feeds back real-time
weather and traffi c reports.
IPv6 also lets devices communicate
automatically. So if another car
were approaching a blind intersection
at high speed, your car could
detect it and sound an alarm.
IPv6 is being built into cars in
Europe and Japan, and car area networks
that connect all of the devices in -
side your ride should start appearing in
2009. Important questions remain, of
course—like whether you’ll have to share
your driving data with the police or your
insurance company, or what happens
when you send an angry text message to
the Hummer driver who just cut you off .
But the potential is awesome. I’d take
the Veesix in a heartbeat—and a designated
driver when I just have to surf.
*__O’Reilly Media, 2007
