Mercedes-Benz nudges in-car GPS navigation forward with the introduction of its new "Search and Send" feature for cars equipped with a factory nav and the company's Tele Aid telematics system. The feature allows users to pre-plan trips at home by entering destinations into Yahoo or Google Maps and clicking the "Send to Car" button. Behind the wheel, the user simply presses Tele Aid's "i" button and waits for the destination info to download to the nav system. The feature, although hardly press-stopping, does begin to explore the potential synergy between GPS navigation devices and subscription-based in-car telematics systems like Tele Aid. To wit: OnStar recently introduced its very clever "Turn-by-Turn Navigation" feature, which involves actual verbal discourse with a human being who sets up and engages your route guidance. And in Germany, BMW just launched its Google-powered "ConnectedDrive" system, which allows users to perform localized Google searches for names, addresses, etc., directly from their automobile's iDrive interface, and then instruct the DVD-based GPS navigation system to create appropriate route guidance. What these features represent are the first attempts to employ telematics systems' car-to-base-to-car communications capabilities to transform in-car navigation systems from mere computerized maps into dynamic, interactive guidance assistants.
As clever (and even somewhat useful) as the "Search and Send," "ConnectedDrive," and "Turn-by-Turn" features are, it's the GPS navigation setup introduced in concept form last year by Volkswagen that has the biggest wow-factor. That system, created in collaboration with (surprise) Google and the graphics-chip manufacturer nVidia, allows users to tap into the three-dimensional magic of Google Earth, right from the driver's seat—that is to say, a GPS system that portrays photographic-quality aerial, satellite, and computer-generated representations of the roadways, buildings, and various geographic markers along the prescribed point-to-point route. Now that's what we call progress.
No word from Volkswagen regarding an arrival date for the Google/nVidia system, but BMW's Google-powered "ConnectedDrive" feature is available now in Deutschland, and the OnStar "Turn-by-Turn Navigation" and Mercedes "Search and Send" are ready and waiting here in America. And take a peek here for more on the VW/Google/nVidia concept.
Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.
