http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png http://jalopnik.com/tag/telematics http://jalopnik.com/tag/telematics Microsoft and Toyota today announced they've forged a strategic partnership to build a global platform for ToMoCo's next-generation telematics services using the Windows Azure platform. In layman's terms — they're building a GM OnStar competitor. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5789498&view=rss&microfeed=true OnStar subscribers along the Pacific coast can push the blue button and get access to trained crisis-assist advisors who can give info or send help. OnStar also urges those with the button to help out non-subscribers too. More »
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Anything GM's OnStar can do, Hyundai hopes it can do better with Blue Link, its new telematics service for future Hyundai models. First up will be the Sonata and the Veloster 3-door coupe later this year. More info here. More »
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Imagine a car that personalizes its navigation, information and connectivity to your needs. Sounds great, right? Well, it exists right now, but it's going to be awhile before you can buy a car with it. More »
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BMW is getting a telematics ménage à trois going with Connexis LLC and WirelessCar to more or less create a future-proof telematics system. This miraculous creation is being called the Next Generation Telematics Protocol, and the purpose is to allow for new services and features to be added to a vehicle without requiring equipment updates and purchases. More »
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Fiat Auto, Microsoft and components developer Magneti Marelli whipped up the "Blue & Me" system gracing the Fiat 500's furnishings (along with those of other Fiat models). The tech platform uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system to manage a network that integrates voice activation, steering wheel control buttons and the dashboard display and any Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. The setup is similar to Ford's Sync system; It reads incoming SMS messages aloud to the driver and incorporates music stored on a mobile phone, smart phone, MP3 player or USB memory into the audio system via console-mounted USB port. For a few extra webdollarz, Blue&Me Nav adds navigation and telematics services like emergency management, service info and as-yet indeterminate insurance services. A next evolution, Fiat says, will include interactive navigation and information services like addresses, weather and traffic forecasts, satellite localization in case of theft. The whole dealy underscores the company's tech-urban positioning of the 500, which will likely squeeze higher profit margins out of the Euroeconobox. Click through for corporate-release details. – Mike Spinelli More »
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Here's the thing: A company called SameLane created a social-networking scheme that involves drivers on the highway. We'll let Dutch Mandel, writing for Automotive News explain it. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=243448&view=rss&microfeed=true Finally, BMW and Google have made that most crucial of connections between our digital and IRL lives. And that's not just more dipshit tech-hype speak. BMW announced a new system that combines Google Maps with its cellular-based Drive Assist system. BMW drivers no longer have to stop and get analog with pen and paper. They can now send locations from Google Maps Deutchland right to their cars. Then they can use the address as their sat-nav destination, or call it from their car. It's part of Google's nascent "Send to Car" service, which is destined to blow up once more automakers and aftermarket suppliers get on board. – Mike Spinelli More »
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Forget about updating your nav system's software every six months or whatever. Toyota's working on a system it says will provide instant mapping capability, updating roadway conditions at every startup. Using a wireless Internet connection, the system, called Map on Demand, updates info on roadway conditions, including construction and detours within a 50-mile radius of the user's home and destinations. It'll be offered first in Japan, in cars loaded with Toyota's G-Book telematic service. No word on worldwide rollout, but don't expect it in time for the holidays. – Mike Spinelli More »
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Word came down from Tokyo today that Toyota's developing a cell phone with Japan's #2 wireless carrier, KDDI Corp (in which Big T owns an 11 percent stake). It's not just any throwaway burner, mind you; the handsets — dubbed "TiMO" — which are based on an existing KDDI phone made by Toshiba, will tie in via Bluetooth to navigation and other systems already installed in the company's cars. The service will include downloads of music, games and various manner of digital media, as well as an emergency telematics dealie that may or may not involve a team of unicorns that cascade down a sparkly rainbow to provide 24-hour road service. The phones will go on sale this October in Japan at the company's automotive outlets. More »
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Mazda is launching its own version of G-Book Alpha telematics service at the Tokyo motor show. It's the second manufacturer to employ the Toyota-developed system (guess who the first is), which provides a number of data-centric driver-assistance functions, including safety and security services, like those GM offers with OnStar, as well as "driving intelligence" (navigation and traffic avoidance) and entertainment features like downloadable music and (good lord) karaoke. If you don't intend to tool around Tokyo anytime soon, you probably won't see the system — which uses Japan's newest third-generation CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network to enables a transfer rate of 2.4 Mbps — in action, though similar systems are likely in the works for the US, possibly by 2007. More »
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