GPS Now Here for iPods

We’ve routinely covered the numerous navigation options for the Apple iPhone and its competing smartphones, but if you own an iPod Touch or a first-generation iPhone, which didn’t come with GPS, there’s now a solution for you.
 
PosiMotion is selling a portable GPS router for $99; it can enable up to 200 devices with accurate GPS locations. The company also sells a navigation app in the iTunes store for $39 to make the whole thing work.

Why on earth would you spend as much money on this device and its software as you would on a decent unit from Garmin or TomTom? We’re not sure. Perhaps you don’t like the clutter of having yet another handheld — although the GPS router looks to be more clutter — or you’d rather utilize your iPhone’s or Touch’s other features like network gaming. Otherwise, we’re guessing that most folks who want an Apple product for navigation have already moved on to an iPhone 3G or 3GS.

www.posimotion.com

iPhone-Controlled Car Goes Low Budget

We’ve previously reported on sophisticated systems that allow drivers to control vehicles through iPhone applications, but the team at Waterloo Labs decided to take the B-movie, low-budget route for their high-tech remote-controlled car.

Their vehicle certainly is not getting a good crash-test rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and it doesn’t help matters that the mechanics choose to perch on the car’s roof and hood while driving.

Check out the video after the jump to see how the guys at Waterloo did it using a first-generation iPhone (and yes, that is a wrench depressing the gas pedal).

Dangerously Driving a Car With an iPhone (TAUW.com)

Garmin to Add Customizable Gauges to GPS

Garmin says it will add customizable diagnostic gauges to their Nuvi GPS devices. The new system, EcoRoutes ESP, will connect to your car’s onboard diagnostics port (OBD-II) to deliver previously inaccessible information about the car’s performance and likely more accurate driving data such as arrival times.

Available sometime next year, the EcoRoutes ESP module will send information to the GPS unit through Bluetooth. You’ll be able to choose which information you want displayed on the screen, including things like fuel economy, throttle position, intake manifold pressure, intake air temperature, coolant temperature and emissions.

The iPhone has similar programs available, but the Garmin module looks preferable because of its bigger screen, which makes room for more gauges covering more information. As Gizmodo points out, though, Google Navigation is also on the way and will make the competition in this realm fierce.

Garmin Communicates With Your Car Via ESP (CNET via Gizmodo)

No Google Navigation for $99 Droid Phone

Today, Verizon released a new, affordable smartphone running Google’s Android operating system. The HTC Droid ERIS is just $99 after rebates, and it looks and works a lot like the Motorola Droid phone, which was released last week.

However, the more expensive Motorola is running a slightly newer version of Android, which can use Google’s new Navigation Maps Beta application that we detailed last week; the new $99 HTC Droid ERIS can’t run it. HTC says it will upgrade to the new system eventually via a software update.

We’ll keep you posted on when the upgrade will be available because a $99 phone running a sophisticated  — and free — navigation application is enticing.

Ford Asks Students to Bring Social Media to Sync

When it comes to figuring out what’s next for in-car technology, Ford is turning to an outside group: University of Michigan students.

The project, American Journey 2.0, will give students unlimited access to a developmental operating system where they can test Ford programs. This will allow the automaker to figure out how to add social media experiences to its popular Sync communications and entertainment system.

Does this mean Facebook will pop up on your windshield at the push of a button? Not quite. Ford wants to see how young people will use a car’s technology to communicate and share information with the outside world. What form this will take remains to be seen (OK, Facebook Windshield is still a possibility).

VW and MIT Introduce In-Car Robot

Does that headline have too many acronyms? Trust us, it’s worth the initial confusion.

Volkswagen has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to introduce AIDA, the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent.

AIDA is a robotic device mounted onto the dashboard that uses a number of different information sources to help you plan travel routes, skip traffic jams, discover entertainment locations you’ve never previously heard of and even help you avoid running out of gas. It also happens to look like something out of a sci-fi movie.

AIDA is more than just a GPS on steroids, though. It also “learns” how you drive by monitoring features and systems like the gas pedal, brake pedal, windshield wipers, seat position, fuel gauge and tire pressure. It knows the city you live in, your home and work locations, and it learns your driving priorities.

For instance, you could be trying to make a 7 p.m. movie but a traffic jam threatens your on-time arrival. AIDA would then step in and direct you around the traffic using the quickest possible route. On the way home, it might recommend that you stop for gas based on how far away you live. Or it might suggest a restaurant to grab a bite at because it knows you’ve been in a movie for two hours and might be hungry.

AIDA sounds a little too much like HAL of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but as long as AIDA doesn’t refuse to “open the pod bay door,” so to speak, this system could be very cool.

AIDA: It’s More Than an Opera (Up to Speed)

Chrysler Adds Live TV in Vehicles

Starting in December, Chrysler will offer the option of live mobile TV in its vehicles—a first for a U.S. automaker. The service will include 20 channels, with offerings like CBS Mobile, CNBC, Comedy Central, FOX News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon.

It will be available as a $629 factory-installed option, plus installation. This comes with a one-year free subscription as well.

The signals will flow through FLO TV’s dedicated multicast network, and will be available only in 100 markets and along some interstate driving corridors. In other words, if you live in rural areas or are traveling outside of the 100 markets listed a lot, the service probably won’t be worth the money.

The service can also be added to certain 2008-2010 vehicles that have already been purchased, but you’ll have to have the specific Mopar headrest or seat-top DVD entertainment systems installed first.

Previously, Chrysler used Sirius Satellite for in-car video viewing but they used only three specific channels created just for them, not existing networks’ live feeds.

Drive a Car with an iPhone App

Joining the list of technological innovations deemed frightening should they fall into the hands of the general public, a few German techies devised an iPhone app that remotely drives an autonomous van called the Spirit of Berlin, according to Engadget.

The iDriver controls acceleration and braking with a couple of buttons, while steering is done by swaying the iPhone back and forth like you’re playing a video game.

The van uses a combination of Wi-Fi, laser 3-D sensors, cameras, GPS and a drive-by-wire system to pull this off. Appirion, which specializes in mobile phone software, created the app.

If you thought texting while driving was scary, imagine a teenager controlling his or her car remotely. Check out the video, and feel free to comment on the bizarre music choices, especially the decades-old Mario Bros. music at the end.

iPhone App Can Drive a Car (Detroit Free Press)

Google Tries to Dominate Handheld Navigation

Google Maps, Google Earth satellite images and Google Street View — all in one navigation system? That’s right. Google has just announced its upcoming Google Maps Navigation beta, which will be available on Android phones like Verizon’s upcoming Motorola Droid.

A few of the most intriguing features include voice search, alternate routing to avoid traffic, points of interest along route search and access to the up-to-date points of interest database. The most amazing feature that we have yet to see on any navigation platform is Google Street View images overlaid on the route; with it, you see a real photo from your exact vantage point and a directional arrow telling you where to go. The app will require an active internet connection at all times, which allows it to download only the maps and information you’re requesting at the time as well as provide up-to-date information regarding traffic and points of interest.

After the Motorola Droid rolls out Nov. 6 for $199.99 (with a two-year contract), Google Maps Navigation beta should extend to other devices using the Google Android operating system. There’s no word on whether this will be available for iPhones.

While this is great news for smartphone users, it’s terrible news for the navigation industry. Check out the video below and let us know if you think this could be the death of dedicated portable navigation devices.

3-D GPS Maps to Help at Difficult Intersections

Have you ever come to a highway intersection and found it difficult to tell which real-world road you want to take — even with GPS?

Navteq, a digital map and traffic data provider, plans to help drivers navigate the most difficult intersections by rendering them in 3-D. The image appears as animation but mimics what the driver sees through the windshield, including roads signs, overhead passes and other real-world objects.

For 2,000 of the U.S.’s most confusing intersections and 8,000 worldwide, Navteq’s software will switch from a flat map to 3-D and highlight the correct lane. It will provide the visual cues that are most useful to people in the midst of an uncertain split-second decision, according to the company.

Navteq calls these 3-D renderings “Motorway Junction Objects.” The company has not announced when the service will become available on GPS units.

GPS System Offers 3-D, Without the Glasses (Wheels)