Count the number of vehicles with just one occupant on an arterial road during rush hour sometime. (Century Avenue, Allen Boulevard, and University Avenue work well for this exercise in Middleton.)
Carmakers race to exploit Internet. (San Jose Mercury News, 6/25/2011)
Excerpt: Carmakers are racing to exploit one of the Internet's final frontiers -- the driver's seat.
From luxury manufacturer BMW to high-tech electric carmaker Tesla to affordable Fords, automobiles increasingly are coming with Internet-connected features to inform, entertain and protect the driver.
"Our lifestyles have become so increasingly connected, both real-time and online," says Sven Beiker, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University. "Why not in the car, where we are spending a lot of time?"
At BMW's Silicon Valley technology office in Mountain View, senior engineer Robert Passaro turns the key on a 2011 Mini Cooper and a vivid blue display springs to life within the speedometer. Controlled by a small joystick to the driver's right, the screen offers a series of choices, including Google (GOOG) search, Facebook, Twitter or a personalized news feed.
At Tesla, designers are hard at work deciding which Internet services to offer on its forthcoming Model S electric sedan, which will have an iPad-like touchscreen embedded in the center of the dashboard.
No comments:
Post a Comment