TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Here's A NASA Control Panel - Wait, It's Your Dashboard

ADVERTISEMENT

By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 19, 2008

Updated: 01/19/2008 12:12 am

TAMPA - Cookie Ginex likes the keyless remote system and the ability to load up her CD player with a half-dozen country recordings, but mostly her needs are "pretty basic" when it comes to cars, she says.

Ginex chose the factory option rear-seat DVD player, mostly for the grandkids, when she bought a Kia Sedona minivan last summer. Given a choice of after-market options, however, she is skipping a satellite radio, navigation system and the Bluetooth feature to allow hands-free cell phone use.

"As long as it has heat, air and a radio, I'm happy," said Ginex, a 65-year-old grandmother of four who lives in South Tampa. "I don't need all those bells and whistles."

Shopping for a car these days, though, is an exercise in bells and whistles.

In-vehicle technology is abundant, and car makers and after-market manufacturers are waging pitched battles to outfit cars with what once was the domain of homes and offices.

From navigational touch screens to On-Star "concierge service" to steering wheel temperature and volume control buttons, technological accouterments are piling up.

Automakers are betting the same consumers fueling sales of PCs, iPods and Blackberrys will propel sales of cars loaded to the gills with technology. Among the latest options: voice-activated compact disc players, GPS systems, video cameras to help in backing up, touch screens, light-sensitive rear-view mirrors to screen out glare and, of course, iPod docking stations.

Those gadgets don't come cheap, but that's not stopping consumers. In-vehicle technology sales topped $10 billion, and the market is expected to balloon to $12 billion wholesale this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

"For a long time the motor vehicle was seen as an island, but now that's changing," said Steven Koenig, the association's senior manager of industry analysis.

All this technology is designed to keep us better informed and entertained, but it also can change how motorists and passengers experience driving. Koenig said tomorrow's dashboards are being influenced by today's consumer gadgets.

As Internet speeds increase, drivers soon might be able to stream music from the Web directly into their cars and download videos from home computers. Voice-activated software might allow motorists to send and receive e-mail while driving.

"We do lead increasingly itinerant lives. We're always on the go, and consumer electronics products and technologies have really enabled us to stay connected," Koenig said.

SYNC, a partnership between Microsoft and Ford, is an example. The technology, available on the Ford Focus and other models, uses voice-activated software that lets drivers play music and make phone calls if their phone is connected to Bluetooth, a wireless technology.

"It allows for people who don't have all the money in the world to have some of these gadgets you might see on higher-end cars," said Tamari Thompson, a salesman at Bill Currie Ford in Tampa.

Automakers haven't always been quick to introduce technology. Things such as seat belts and in-dash AM radios were well-established after-market products before auto manufacturers started inserting them into new cars.

From there, after-market companies started introducing GPS systems and DVD players to cars. Again, automakers followed.

"Our part of the industry isn't always what you really need but all the stuff that you want," said Peter MacGillivray, vice president of events and communications at the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which represents companies specializing in after-market products.

The after-market trend is specific to North America and started after World War II when returning GIs started tinkering with their cars, MacGillivray said. Today, the auto after-market is worth $37 billion.

Dave Dunphy, co-owner of Arrow Systems, a technology company in Ingersoll, Ontario, says computers are the next step in the after-market technology trend and, eventually, will be an option on new cars.

"Everybody wants to take their living room with them," he said. "Even in offices these days, people have nice streaming music."

Dunphy should know. His 3-year-old company has developed a computer for the after-market. The 8-inch screen installs on the dash and runs Windows XP. The wireless keyboard fits inside the glove box.

Many of the functions, including the Windows Outlook messaging program, won't operate while the car is moving, but the GPS and music functions will. He expects to roll out a voice-activated option this year.

"This isn't Windows lite. This is a full-blown computer," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes @tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT