Further evidence that the billions of tax dollars for bailing out the automakers has been wasted: General Motors’ Cadillac line is offering a wireless router with Internet data service as an option for the nameplate’s CTS Sport model, turning the car into a Wi-Fi hotspot for passengers. At a time when autosales have cratered, and speculation is rife that GM will declare bankruptcy, Cadillac has cleverly figured out a way to make its luxury vehicles even more expensive. The router is from Autonet Mobile, which currently offers its service via the Avis rental fleet and enables Chrysler’s in-vehicle Uconnect Web. Autonet use the same basic model as AirCell does for its jetliner hotspots: the on-board router uses a cellular data link to connect to the Internet, and then a Wi-Fi radio to connect with a notebook PC, iPod Touch or any other Wi-Fi-enabled device in the car itself. The Autonet router runs over 2.5G and 3G cellular networks. The Cadillac version of the service will make use of a router that can be undocked from the car, and plugged into another properly equipped GM vehicle. That’s because, according to Autonet CEO Sterling Pratz, quoted in AutoWeek, “about 40% of our customers have asked for the abiliyt to move it from the weekly car to their weekend car.” A “weekend car?” Who knew? The “target users” according to Autonet: rear-seat passengers. Instead of watching “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” on a built-in DVD player, the kids in the back seat of the weekend car now can use their weekend notebook PC to watch You-Tube or check out their Facebook account. And front seat passengers can stream music from Internet music sites like Pandora to mp3 players. Autonet adds an exclamation point to that capability. Personally I find another “advance” in in-vehicle entertainment underwhelming. To be somewhat fair, Autonet’s Website points out other applications: productivity ones. “Contractors can make their jobsites a hotspot, mobile professionals can file sales reports, or change real estate listings while on the road.” Which, given the plunged in sales of just about everything everywhere, including real estate, is enough to make you either laugh or cry. Pricing is confusing (there’s no press release on the Autonet site to clarify): Autoweek reports you can buy the router from a dealer for $499, with monthly service plans starting at $29; MotorAuthority.com says the box will cost $595, with service plans starting at $39. It’s also unclear whether the price tag includes dealer installation charges (my guess is “no”). That seems to mean convincing people to throw in $500-700 more at purchase, plus agree to pay out at least $30 every month for yet another online service, in addition to their home broadband, cell phone service (voice, data, texting, not to mention their weekend cellphones), Skype, and TiVO, not to mention our existing car-based services like OnStar and GPS navigation. And Autonet’s monthly service is actually tiered according to how much data you use. The company offers two plans, of up to either 1 or 5 Gigabytes ($29 and $59 per month respectively). Autonet estimates the smaller amount will let you send over 350,000 emails, lookup over 6,000 Web pages, share over 2,000 photos, or 240 songs. It does add the disclaimer “actual usage volumes and sizes of data appliations vary widely.” In the current economy, even factoring in that Cadillac buyers are considerably more flush than say Kia buyers, the new wireless broadband option seems unlikely to slow the plunge in Cadillac sales: February unit sales were down 52% from those of a year ago. The other issue is that simply having wireless access is not very compelling by itself. Most vehicle-based wireless networks, even when they exploit cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, are hamstrung by treating wireless as an overlay that simply gives network access to an existing array of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth-equipped devices. Think of the ongoing Great Cell Phone Safety While Driving Debate: stuff like this will just amp it up with three or four or five other wireless devices beeping and peeping and pinging and singing in the car. That’s why so many vertical niche applications can get traction: they focus on being highly integrated, highly specialize, and often treating the car or truck as one machine in a machine-to-machine network. Aeris, for example, links tank monitors or other sensors via cellular to servers for monitoring and reporting, in almost real-time. Dash Navigation introduced a vehicle navigation device, Dash Express, with built-in Wi-Fi for faster downloads when parked in a Wi-Fi hotspot or hotzone, and integrated Web features for smoother, more intuitive operation. Though gimmicky and insufferably faddish, the “iPhone-controlled” concept car, dubbed iChange, gives some sense of what a digitally integrated car might be. There’s plenty of technology being added to cars. And research work, like the work on a vehicle Wi-Fi protocol (“ViFi”) by Microsoft, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and University of Washington, promises to recast wireless and mobility in terms that makes sense for vehicles. What I want to see is more being done practically to integrate applications with a driver’s or passenger’s information requirements. Those include treating the car as a system of systems that need monitoring and alerting and maintenance; links with safety, security, and service systems; and tying into purchase, promotion, and other systems for things like gas and oil, fleet management, and travel expenses. One example of the kind of systems cars could be connecting to are the new generation of computerized, networked fuel pumps, such as those from Dresser Wayne. Drivers today start transactions with a contactless device on a keychain, but there’s no reason why it can’t be done automatically via Wi-Fi and the Web, opening up additional opportunities for businesses and consumers.
On the eve of CES: Nightmare on Elm Street, mobility-wise
CES: Pumping information as important as pumping gas for Dresser Wayne
