'Black Box' Could Integrate Almost Everything in Your Car

Is it too much to ask for a single integrated computer system in your car that can give you directions, order movie tickets, check sports scores, warn you about traffic light cameras, alert you to maintenance needs, control your music, and help lower your vehicle's emissions, among many, many other things?

Not anymore. We’ve written before about computer systems that will make cars safer [links], but automakers also want to use computers to improve in-car systems. A company called Hughes Telematics has designed an "all-in-one" control system it calls a "black box" that takes all the separate systems in a vehicle and coordinates them through one computer that includes GPS, a cellular modem and a solid-state hard drive.

Did we mention the system can also monitor teenage drivers, engage security systems if your car is stolen, schedule its own appointments for maintenance and unlock the doors if the rightful owner locks him or herself out?

Oh, and it also has voice recognition, but not robot-speak voice recognition like "find movie ‘Ironman.’" It has something called VoiceBox Technologies, so you can say, "How 'bout ‘Ironman’?" And the system will know what you're talking about.

So when will we see this system? It will appear in select Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz vehicles sometime next year, but live traffic services and two-way satellite communications won't be included until 2011. Hughes hasn’t attached a price tag yet, but we're guessing it's not going to be cheap.

Making Cars Smarter, Greener, Safer… and Better Listeners (Wheels)

Comments

Lets see the actual product before calling it the all in one device!

I am really looking forward to a car that dies when my hard drive does. Particularly since mounting a hard drive in a car is just asking for trouble to begin with.

I bet they'll use that low-bug software from that big micro specialist up in Washington State, too -- that will really help reliability (insofar as reliability is defined by the software crashing with 10**4 higher frequency than the hardware)!

It is always good to get some great gadgets for the car specially if it will aid in driving. Not distract the driver more. I have seen many teens involved in accidents because of using gadgets like cellphone, laptops and watching movies while driving. It is really not safe. If this gadget will be available, then it will great for parents who won't really need to worry much. Though I think it will only avoid accidents on a very little points.