Intel wants to be inside everything, including your garage.
The chip maker is building a modular, Pentium-based PC that will bring navigation, multimedia, and communication technologies to automobiles as early as 1998.
Intel is serious enough about the prospects that it is hosting a developer conference in early 1997 to discuss hardware and software applications for what it has dubbed the "Connected Car PC."
"You have cellular phones and navigation systems as separate applications, and the power of the Pentium allows you to integrate these functions in one machine," said Gonzalo Bustillos, Intel market development manager.
Car computers currently track engine maintenance, show you maps, and remind you to buckle up. But advances in wireless communications have brought sophisticated navigation technology into play. Now, satellites can triangulate your journey to a destination, warn you of detours, and provide up-to-date traffic reports.
The nascent market for in-car navigational systems is mushrooming. A study by Forward Concepts pegged the growth of the navigational receiver market at 89 percent per year. The study projected that the market will rise from US$1.8 billion in 1995 to $9.6 billion by 2000.
And Intel is salivating. "That's only one application. If you put multiple applications, the market could easily double or perhaps go beyond that," Bustillos said.
Bustillos sees the car as just another platform for a Pentium PC that will give consumers an opportunity to stretch their software investment. The new, multimedia-capable MMX chip due out early next year will likely be the catalyst for high-powered entertainment systems for your car.
Children and other passengers will while away the hours along the interstate playing games on CD-ROM, watching a movie, or reading and sending email.
The cost of these PCs will be about the same as the machine that sits on a user's desk, said Bustillos. Some high-powered multimedia systems, such as those that will allow passengers to play Myst or Quake, may start at $1,000, while others with more specific applications, such as navigation, may cost $900 or less.
But will consumers buy? Some obstacles stand in the way of the in-car PC, including laws in various states that prohibit the use of video screens in cars, particularly if they're in the line of sight of the driver.
Nancy Sherman, marketing communications manager for car stereo maker Clarion, said certain systems are allowed, particularly if they're mounted on the back seats of cars. For example, Clarion makes a passenger TV which allows passengers in the back seat to watch TV and play Nintendo games.
Intel is banking on the notion that consumers will see the value of their integration. "By putting all these technologies together for the car, they can be priced better [than individual applications]," said Bustillos.
