Peabody

Press Release

First car in the world to offer full integrated internet access. I won't lie and say that I'm not proud of Mercedes for being there. COMAND puts another nail in iDrive's coffin.

tanktube67

joshg1001

I didnt read the article, but did it say anything about this being available in the US? Something tells me this is over seas only, as bmw and audi have been working on the same tech

noka

Possibly. I think Becker products are typically for Europe, not US.

hitokiri89

If it does hit the state I hope there will be a software/hardware update for us who already have Command .

patrickkc

north america will never get goodies like these..

nyca

Not sure what this really is - your cell phone (assuming you have a data plan and a modern type iphone/blackberry/droid) is already "on the internet". The best thing I read here is this idea that the car's system can mirror the display on your device, but standards for that are still a while in coming. Not sure if this "terminal mode" is going to be the standard - Apple and Blackberry are the keys to the US market, not Nokia. Portable GPS devices need to work this way also, there is no reason I need a car based GPS - all I need is the ability of the car to pair with and display/share the same screen as my portable GPS, same with my phone.

The car's system (of the future) itself needs to do nothing on its own, except pair with the devices I already have and display their screens and bridge voice commands to the equivalent touch functions the devices can do, so I can keep my hands on the wheel. Also, extend the speech controls to being able to read back text messages and emails. All the functionality belongs in my devices, not fixed in the car's system, the car's system simply needs to extend the screen and user interfaces of the devices.

noka

This is articulated very well. The first car manufacturer to implement this concept for phone and navigation would probably benefit from the powerful effect this could have on marketing and sales. I would gladly pay the price of the current Nav option if it would pair with any device I choose to use and mirror its screen and capabilities.

Peabody

Nokia actually has the world's largest market share for cell phones, so if they make a standard (and apparently they've been working with all the European auto manufacturers on this) then it will stick pretty well. Apple and Blackberry combined are worth less than 3% of the global market share compared to Nokia's 38%

noka

Which is why this probably won't come to the US, at least not for a long while.

jctevere

I found a video demonstrating the use of it in a VW CC. And the video appears to be U.S. based, but I don't really know for sure. Anyway, you can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38gH8...layer_embedded

At the end of the video it shows all the car manufacturers and other companies that will support this standard.

And here is another french video explaining a little bit more about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYB7YrXpuj0

Apparently it just transposes the screen on the smartphone and you open an app on the smartphone. Or the car manufacturer can display a different user interface if they wish. It seems raw and unrefined at best. Perhaps they should hand it over to apple to finish up...

Peabody

It's still in Manufacturer development, it's certainly going to be far from polished at this point as that's the last phase of software development. Besides, Apple couldn't finish it off because Jobs can't lock it so only Apple cars can use it.

nyca

"cell phone" is too broad a term, because it includes the bazillions of voice only (with simple text) devices. For a device like that, current bluetooth offers enough integration. Its the smartphone market you have to look at, Nokia is just getting rolling there with their Symbian offerings. You really only need a premium integration level with a device that can do alot more things then a basic cell phone can do, that's why I say that for the US market, Apple/Blackberry/Droid set the mark. Your typical US Mercedes buyer is likely to have one of those three devices.

nyca

The demo is pretty raw, and it doesn't show use of voice control. That's the key to any good system here - touching the vehicle on screen display as if you were touching your smartphone is OK, but we want total hands free operation - voice commands to exercise what would be touches on the device screen.