Bose in-car audio systems were originally introduced in 1983 on the Cadillac Seville and in the ensuing 25 years have made their way into all manner of expensive road-going machinery. Most recently, the purveyors of high-end in-car audio systems have outfitted the Bose Media System in the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. That system, which features a 30-gig hard drive and a simplistic button layout including proximity sensors on the knobs to detect a user's interactions, will soon be available to the rest of us hacks. Bose is currently and actively pursuing partnerships with other automakers to offer the system in more plebian forms of personal transport. One of those automakers could be General Motors, which has had a long history with the company. The new system will also feature all the other features of expensive head units that we've come to expect, including navigation, satellite radio, voice commands and hands-free mobile phone integration.
Scuderi has been hard at work refining its split-cycle engine technology for the last few years, and the company believes that it's close to another milestone. Though still far from production, testing has recently validated an important aspect of the design involving the valvetrain, so vice president Stephen Scuderi believes that he is close to licensing the technology to other manufacturers.
The split-cycle engine is intended to be an improvement on the traditional Otto cycle and acts a bit like the Miller cycle. Instead of using a mechanical supercharger, though, the Scuderi design uses paired cylinders to compress air, which is then used to prevent reversion of the exhaust gases into the intake tract. It is also possible to store some of this compressed air to power the vehicle as part of a hybrid drivetrain. If this seems to make little sense (don't worry, you're not alone), click past the break for a computer rendering of the engine running.
Chrysler just issued a press release detailing all the new technology that will soon be available in many of its 2009 model year vehicles, and the highlight would have to be the UConnect communications system that looks to compete with some aspects of Ford's Microsoft-powered SYNC system. UConnect appears to be a fancy name for Bluetooth phone integration coupled with voice recognition technology. In addition to pairing up your phone and downloading your address book, you can also input navigation destinations, change satellite radio stations and get to your voice mail using the power of speech. While it doesn't seem to offer functionality as broad as what you get with SYNC, UConnect appears to be a solid choice to check off on the options list.
Next up we have in-vehicle wireless internet connectivity, which Chrysler promises will turn your Pentastar-branded car into a mobile hot spot. It will use a combination of WiFi and 4G broadband connectivity to keep your car connected to the internets, and Chrysler says you'll be able to access your email, as well as download music movies right in your car. For the 2008 model year, MOPAR is already offering an aftermarket device that can make your car an internet hot-spot as well, but we're more interested in the integrated system Chrysler's planning for 2009.
Follow the jump for more and Chrysler's official press release.
Apparently, the idea of paying for radio chatter doesn't hold much appeal to customers who actually have to shell out hard earned cash. While many new cars today come equipped with stereos that are capable of receiving either XM or Sirius, fewer people than ever are buying standalone receivers. In December, retail sales of satellite receivers were down 37.5% (36% for Sirius and 41% for XM) compared to 2006.
This might in part be due to the fact that without an external antenna that has line of sight to the satellite, the radio usually doesn't work indoors. There's also the quality of what you hear on the stations. Unless you have a compelling need to hear Howard Stern unfiltered, most of the rest doesn't sound much different than what you can hear on terrestrial radio. At this rate, XM and Sirius better hope their merger is completed soon before they both run out of cash or customers.
Though GM's Rick Wagoner nabbed the honor of giving this year's keynote address at next week's 2008 CES Show in Las Vegas, Ford may grab the headlines with a suite of new in-car entertainment, navigation and communication technologies that it plans to implement across its brands in the near future. First up will be the second version of its popular SYNC interface, details of which are scant. Considering that the SYNC system's capabilities are already robust, we're not sure what else they can add to it and are eager to find out.
Ford will also be showing off its new SIRIUS Travel Link nav system, which gets updated in real time with all sorts of info from the SIRIUS satellites. Drivers can call up instant traffic data, weather, sports scores and movie showings, as well as plot a course to the gas station with cheapest fuel prices.
Finally, Ford will have its new navigation system sourced from Xanavi on display with what we believe is a ginormous 7.5-inch touchscreen and an in-dash hard drive that can store up to 2,400 songs. Hopefully it will also have the capacity to pause and rewind live radio like Cadillac's system in the CTS. We've already seen the Xanavi system's new, larger screen in images of the upcoming 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan, a car that's slated to be fitted with the gamut of Ford's new in-car technologies when it goes on sale this summer.
Keep your eyes on Autoblog early next week for when we start our coverage of the 2008 CES Show from Las Vegas. We'll have more details on what Ford and the rest of the auto industry has to offer in the way of electronics for the coming year.
Since the debut of the original C70, and even before, Volvo's had a hi-fi fetish. That first C70 debuted the idea of in-car surround, running a Pro Logic head unit with available Dynaudio drivers arranged around the cabin. Volvo wants to continue offering its customers a euphonic experience, so they're equipping virtually all 2009 models with HD Radio receivers beginning in late 2008. HD Radio offers expanded programming, like the satellite services, but there's no fee. The selection may vary by geographic location, and variety may be spotty, but that's not as bad as it seems. Rather than blanket the country with the very same show from Atlantic to Pacific, HD offerings vary by locale, just like good old radio. Volvo's effort will give their vehicle fleet the largest base of standard-equipment HD receivers in the world, though the base S40 and V50 will not be available with the head units.
J.D. Power and Associates has polled owners of factory-nav equipped vehicles, and Infiniti's zippy-performing setup gets the nod for top honors from end users. Part of the win might be chalked up to the hard drive that the Infiniti system comes with, making it more responsive than a DVD based navigation system. Infiniti owners also tend to be more tech savvy than owners of other navigation-equipped vehicles, further contributing to the win. The study's results show that even after coming up with a few extra thousand dollars to get the fancy LCD in the dash, most drivers hardly scratch the surface of what the systems can do for them. Apparently, watching a little triangle follow an animated route is all many owners ever use their nav systems for, preferring to be even more helpless and use live operators to talk them in.
Ignorance leads to negative comments about maps that are out of date (easily rectified via updates), while actual technology gets in the way when it comes to wonky voice activation and real time traffic updates that have limited coverage in some areas. Despite the complaints, most owners declined to go back to the dealer for any kind of solution. Some owners apparently purchase navigation systems because they like the fancy cachet, while others actually use the systems. Those that use their nav more than twice a week tended to be more satisfied, pretty much proving that navigation systems are complex and take time to learn how to fully utilize before they're more than an expensive electronic bauble. Having used the Infiniti navigation system, we can say that it is among the best when it comes to ease of use and accuracy, but unfortunately, we're not junketing enough to far flung locales to actually need it.
If your thing is paying to be verbally upbraided by a celebrity, Navtones has you covered. Novelty of novelties, you can now get celebrity voices for your TomTom satnav. I like the way the celebs will bust your chops if you miss a turn, or give you a verbal dope-slap to pay attention, but it might get old fast. If you've got $12.95 burning a hole in your pocket and a fascination with celebrity culture, Mr. T's dulcet instructional stylings can be yours. You can also choose from Burt Reynolds (no quotes from Smokey And The Bandit), Gary Busey, or Dennis Hopper. Amusing, yes, but we feel it's a grave omission to leave out the best nav voice ever, KITT, aka William Daniels (aka George Feeny from Boy Meets World).
Okay folks, we're waiting to see the first hack that has gameplay running on the nav screen, so someone get on it! Cambridge, MA based WAAV has developed a new generation of cellular routers capable of delivering cellular internet at speeds comparable to DSL. Here's the important part, it'll do it in your car. That's better than cruising around neighborhoods with your laptop sniffing around for unsecured wireless networks. Besides, when you're using hijacked wireless, you can't drive around. Public transportation installations are another possibility, especially since the Airbox X2 is designed to serve multiple users. The catch is that you've got to buy the Airbox X2 for $1100 bucks, plus lock in to a minimum two year contract with their cellular data provider before they'll let you have one. That's a lot of scratch just so we can blog while stuck in epic traffic. Of course, getting posts done while languishing on the Mass Pike would convert that time into productivity. Hmm.
Siemens and Microsoft have announced a joint partnership to develop the next generation of in-car entertainment and sat-nav products, which, much like the Ford/Microsoft Sync system, will allow users to connect everything from mobile phones to media players. Recognizing that standalone audio systems are quickly becoming a thing of the past, the new system seeks to integrate every facet of the "digital lifestyle" into one all-encompassing unit. The fruits of their labors should be in production by 2009, assuming all goes well over in Redmond.
It'll cost you about the same as an iPod, but it's so much cooler. Or obnoxious. Mike Kosco dreamed up a way to make his Hummer growl, as well as sing whatever nuggets that could be crammed into 256 megabytes, too. If you're driving around a Hummer with the Incredible Hulk on the hood, you should probably expect verbal abuse. That's just what happened to the San Clemente, California resident at a coffee shop when teenagers gave Kosco a good heckling over his airbrushed mural. Fast forward two years, and the Horntones system made its debut at CES in Las Vegas.
The system consists of a player, and amplifier and a speaker. It costs $250, and it's light years beyond the old musical horns of the late '70s that would play horrid renditions of songs without the gift of polyphony. The player has a control unit that can navigate through your themes and tones and the entire setup looks high quality and well-designed. There's a website where you can custom organize and configure your sounds and songs, and then load the file onto a thumb drive that you then use to transfer the goods to your FX-550 rig. If you've just got to have Rico Suave at the ready, units are available and shipping, and look for Horntones at SEMA.
We've managed to get some sense of a normal schedule back for the podcasts, and here's number 74. Within, we discuss Ford Sync's newly announced price tag, whether it's worth it and what type of "Easter egg" features may be lurking. In other news, JD Power recently announced that Buick had tied Lexus for the top spot in the 2007 dependability ratings. It looks like a 3 year old Buick is a better investment than ever - also filling out the top 5 were Cadillac and Mercury.
Setting aside our pride over the domestic US manufacturers seeing actual results, we turn our attention to a beleaguered Brit - Jaguar. The XF was snagged without camo, and the rear view the shots afforded was encouraging, and answered some questions. It also raised a few more, and our most nagging question is what's underneath. Moving on, and staying foreign, we touch on VW's tasteful product placement in the Bourne Ultimatum, and the rumors surrounding a Toyota/Fuji lash-up for a revival of an AE-86 style car. Coming home again, if in brand alone, we wrap up with the Chevy Aveo 5 and its extra-full plate of hideous. The 'cast will only take up 40 minutes of your time, so come back next week for seconds!
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I've always chosen an iPod over ordering either of the two satellite radio providers, XM and Sirius, for one simple reason: I can listen to only what I want. With satellite radio, you pay a monthly fee, around $13/month, and get a bunch of channels, most of which I've found I'll pass right by on the dial. The thought of paying for dozens of channels I don't like just never thrilled me.
Thanks to the upcoming merger between XM and Sirius, however, my biggest complaint with satellite radio might soon be gone. According to the companies, two new a la carte plans will be offered about a year after the merger goes through. The first will cost $6.95/month (very reasonable) and allow a subscriber to pick 50 channels from either XM or Sirius. Unfortunately, with this plan you can't mix and match Howard Stern on Sirius with Oprah on XM. Step up to the $14.95 a la carte plan, however, and you'll be able to choose 100 channels on either service. These are great options and in our estimation deliver a better product to the subscriber than either satellite radio provider ever did on its own.
There will be more plans revealed ahead of the merger's conclusion, and the companies say that those who own either XM or Sirius branded players right now will be able to receive some stations from the other service, but not all. No list of which stations are excluded from each service's hardware was given at this time, however. Receivers sold after the merger, we're sure, will be able to tune in the gamut of stations offered by both providers.
Vauxhall's latest safety idea turns the highways and byways into a life-sized feedback loop by allowing vehicles to communicate with each other. We're not talking about the type of communication we humans do in our cars – behavior like pointing out the state bird – think more like WiFi. There are some real safety gains to be had with the system, inventively named Vehicle-to-Vehicle. Using GPS-based technology, along with some type of wireless communication facility, V2V can warn you of potential danger by alerting you to the presence of cars in your blind spots or around a bend, and it can also use data such as speed, direction, and acceleration to determine whether or not you're gonna smack that Scimitar in front of you. Driver alerts can be visual, auditory, or via a Magic Fingers® seat cushion. If you ignore your playfully jiggly seat cushion, the car can even apply its own brakes. This sounds kind of like the funk-tastic Carhood, but with real development dollars behind it.
There's already been a silent technology explosion in automobiles over the last ten years. Command and control has become largely a computerized affair. With high and low speed data buses throughout the automobile, your car is basically a network. It used to be that you'd press the power window switch and current would flow to a motor, or it would trigger a relay. It was simple to execute in the design and manufacturing stages, and troubleshooting was a matter of time spent with a test light and a meter. Modern cars use protocols like CAN, or Controller Area Network, to facilitate the liberal smattering of increased functionality we all desire in our vehicles. Press that same window switch now, and a message is sent to the central processor that you desire a change in the window status. The central processor then alerts the window motor to energize in the proper direction, and then it's off to the races for the glass. Sounds overly complex at first blush, doesn't it?
The old way had some drawbacks that the new systems hopefully alleviate. Firstly, there were lots of potential failure points with analog control systems. Also, components had to be wired to each other for functionality, and that required lots of wire. Wire is expensive (checked the price of copper lately?), and it adds weight and takes up space. Networking protocols allow automakers to integrate functions as never before – check out the way the MazdaSpeed 3 dials down its power output depending on steering angle – while using less wire and having a system that's more reliable. These changes have gone on virtually unknown to most motorists, but the cool stuff is just around the bend.
Chrysler just issued a press release detailing all the new technology that will soon be available in many of its 2009 model year vehicles, and the highlight would have to be the UConnect communications system that looks to compete with some aspects of Ford's Microsoft-powered SYNC system. UConnect appears to be a fancy name for Bluetooth phone integration coupled with voice recognition technology. In addition to pairing up your phone and downloading your address book, you can also input navigation destinations, change satellite radio stations and get to your voice mail using the power of speech. While it doesn't seem to offer functionality as broad as what you get with SYNC, UConnect appears to be a solid choice to check off on the options list. 
We've managed to get some sense of a normal schedule back for the podcasts, and here's number 74. Within, we discuss Ford Sync's newly announced 
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_thumbnail.jpg "Lamborghini Reventon unboxed in Las Vegas")
