Ya know - if we've seen anything proven over the last 20 years or more, it's that any technology related to computers moves QUICKLY.

So it is with that reasoning that I'm honestly kind of surprised that the nav systems I'm seeing now, in 2007, aren't really THAT much different than the nav systems I was seeing 5 years ago.

Honda's nav system was industry-leading, IMO, in 2002 when they first released it on the 2003 Accord. Since then, it has gotten a little bit prettier to look at, and incorporated a couple of nifty features like traffic conditions and even a feature that tells the climate control system where the sun should be shining into the vehicle and has it direct more cool air in that direction (if applicable).

Even looking at Mercedes - the maker of cars that seem to stretch into the 6-figures more often than not... cars that are otherwise too technologically amped up for their own good sometimes... they had some of the most ridiculously "post-production" looking nav systems out there a few years ago, IMO - tiny screens, too.


They seem to have caught up these days


But still nothing really mind blowing.

The problem is... and maybe this is the reason nothing is really happening - I have no idea where they SHOULD go from here - only that if there IS somewhere they should be going... it doesn't seem to be happening as quickly as the rest of modern day computer-based devices seem to be moving.


A few additional observations:
Nav-integrated traffic management needs to be a 2-way system that is not proprietary to any one manufacturer. I think it's a good thing that XM radio seems to be pioneering an open-interface system, but I'm not sure it's really 2-way yet. I thought it was, but as best as I could tell when I drove my friend's 2007 TL Type-S... it just told us where construction was - I never saw mention of traffic jams, and I never saw mention of how "bad" it really was. A 4 mile long 5mph jam due to construction was listed all the same as the 20 foot area where 1 lane was blocked on a 6-lane road that is so rarely traveled that people almost forget there's even been "construction" going on there for months now. It also seemed to do nothing in the way of taking this into consideration when planning our routes. You could tell it to avoid construction and traffic jams, but again - as far as I can tell it may very well end up sending you on a route 50% longer to avoid a "construction zone" that isn't causing any slowdowns whatsoever.

This could be a flawed observation, though - maybe it's because I'm in Memphis and to my knowledge XM doesn't do full-fledged traffic management in this area - or at least they don't on their radio... they have like 20-25 cities, but not Memphis...

Also..
Streaming music on demand - I'm expecting this very soon. Pay a monthly fee and setup your own playlists. I don't think bandwidth is that much of an issue that you really need to download from your house to your mp3 player and then plug that in.

Hmmm.. what else. Seeing that commercial where I think a Benz SUV or something of a similar variety is pulling up to the house and they are pushing their home link buttons to turn things on in the house... I don't think that's very realistic. I know it's possible, but half the people I know with home link can't even be bothered to program it to work with their frequency hopping garage door opener - they just use the clip, on remote, still and leave the buttons alone. I don't think many people would care much to wire up their entire home to turn devices on and off and program that with their homelink remote. I guess the lighting thing is "kinda" nice for people who are nervous about getting home and all the lights being off, but still... what else? The coffee maker? The TV? Is that really any better than just turning it on when you walk in the room? I'm just not sure how much of a future I see with that sort of stuff until it becomes satellite-connected and home builders start building something like an open interface IP-connected wiring system in homes. I don't see that happening anytime in the next decade, to be honest, just because it's mainly the 'wow' factor and it's not worth the learning curve and cost at the moment.

Oh, yeah, this looks like it has a LOT of potential to me - google earth and google maps is already really impressive stuff - using a hard drive based dynamically updated nav system based on it would be really killer... but this article is already over a year old and I haven't heard much more about it...
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/03/v...on-technology/

Sorry for rambling... this stuff just interests me since I'm a computer nerd and cars are getting more and more computer like these days.

 

BMW germany has an association with google maps now:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/...nd-to-car.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgTx9nUJfOc

I think development is slow because people are unwilling to pay for it, remebering how fast computers advance. Many people may think "why spend 2000 on this navigation screen, when in two years they will have traffic updates, or satellite images, or "fill in the blank". So the car companies aren't spending the money to significanlty develop these potential technologies. People are more interested in seeing development in other areas like better efficiency and more power. The parallel to me is safety. People think its neat and important, but safety does not get people into the showroom. High efficiency, styling, and big horsepower get people to notice.

 

A nav system that drives the car.

 

Somewhere, theres a government official that just got a hard-on, because you thought of something he could legislate into existence, tax for, and completely F up.

I like the idea, really I do. But keep the freaking government out of it, or we'll end up with a totally useless service.

As for the entertainment functions you mentioned, I think the advanced MP3 capabilities are coming. The stumbling block is going to be bandwidth, which is very limited (and expensive) in cell-format. Municipal (bleh) and private, city-wide wi-fi is going to make this one possible imo. Some of your other ideas are worthy, but Im already a little nervous putting a big, pretty, multicolored LCD in front of drivers that have already proven they have roughly the same attention span as a goldfish, let alone enourmously expanding the entertainment options availible within.

 

I think it'd be nice to see a basic HUD Nav display. I'd be *really* cool if it actually detected road signs and lane lines and lit them up on the windshield with indicators telling you where to go.

I also think a NAV system with a Satellite overlay, like on google maps would be nice....that gives a topographical view of things, not just green or brown. If you're next to a field, or an industrial park, it'd be nice to see the building/road/etc. that you are 'aiming' for. Real time imagery would be especially nice in order to help with traffic congestion and looking at alternate routes.

 

The nav system should also show the locations of all emergency vehicles. That way you will know where all the police are in case you need to contact them for some reason

 

Yeah they'll make sure they show the location of all cops just as soon as they make the cars start issuing the driver instant tickets for speeding infractions.

 

huh? He didn't mention the government anywhere in that post. You do not need the government to have a set of industry standards and open access. The electronic and software industries have more different communication protocols than you could shake a stick at and none of them are government regulated.

On the flip side, i could see wuch data being useful for mining by the government if traffic engineers were actually interested (or allowed anyway) to do something about bad traffic areas.

On the dark side, i myself wouldn't want a car that was reporting my position and speed to ANY system regardless of government oversight. I'm not a fan of big brother. Like i said, wouldn't even matter if the government was involved. Who would stop private industry from using the data during background checks for example. The insurance companies would DEFINITELY like a look at that data. This isn't even close to a slippery slope given the changes our society is going through. 10 years ago if you said that some companies would choose not to hire someone because they smoked or were a little overweight you would have been thought mad. Now it's reality.

 

OnStar

 

Honestly, an input for users to alert other users of road debri would be great. Every other day I see a retread or something in the road.

 

I would *never* own a vehicle with functionaing onstar. If i buy a new GM car after it becomes standard, the first thing i will do when i get home is find the wire to the antenna and cut it.

 

I porgrammed my home-link to both open my garage door and to disarm my home alarm system (which is rather necessary since my garage is also protected by the system)...I still have one more device I could program if I had something else that operates by remote (which I don't).

 

Ditto