A rádio deixa de ser exclusiva no carro

«(...) the dream of turning cars into digital communication hubs didn't die. Now, car makers and technology suppliers are rallying to take another shot. Car makers and inventors have been trying to develop a safe way for drivers to manage their digital clutter and connectivity angst while on the road. Ford Motor Co., for example, hopes to generate some buzz with a system called "Sync," developed in collaboration with Microsoft and rolling out this fall on about a dozen Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. Ford's effort to develop a new kind of onboard entertainment system grew out of the frustration of a small group of Ford engineers with the auto industry's tendency to lag behind personal electronics trends, says Gary Jablonski, manager of infotainment system engineering for Ford in Dearborn, Mich. "Customers want the same stuff in their cars that they see in Best Buy," Mr. Jablonski says. "We are generally a year behind." Their idea: Develop a system, using a variant of Microsoft's Windows CE software, that can link to various digital devices using either Bluetooth wireless technology or a USB port. Then, no matter what kind of device is involved, the system can operate it using a voice-recognition system or the buttons, knobs or touch screens provided for the car's basic audio system. If I had a Sync equipped car, my morning drive might go like this: I would plug the iPod into a USB port in the storage bin under the center armrest, and pair my BlackBerry with the car's audio system using Bluetooth (that is, if my phone has the right kind of Bluetooth.) To get the iPod to play, I could tell the system, "play genre jazz" and the iPod would start playing tunes in that category. (...) The marketing research firm J.D. Power and Associates earlier this month released an outline of its latest survey of consumer interest in new automotive technology, which offers some encouragement and some caution for products such as Sync. The good news is that half of the consumers polled for Power's 2007 emerging technologies study said they'd be interested in paying as much as $100 to get a USB interface in their next car. Asked if they'd pay $150 to get an iPod interface, about 43% of the respondents said yes. (...)»

fonte: «Eyes on the road», WSJ, JOSEPH B. WHITE, 27/08/07