On-board extras cast a wide Net

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Blaupunkt has helped create on-bard Internet radio, giving you access to 16,000 stations around the world.

Michael Banovsky

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

"The car is no place for a phone," my dad would say, after I asked why he never bothered to activate the phone in his company car.

Those days are over, to judge by the large number of devices designed to connect our digital lives with our driving. From Sync, the information and entertainment system found in Ford and Lincoln products, to the increasing number of LCD screens and navigation systems, technology is advancing to the point where automobile drivers can tap into the Internet while on the go.

Destination at a distance

BMW's 2010 7-series luxury sedan, for example, offers a package that adds video controls to the back seats so you can watch two different programs on the two separate screens. BMW also offers a more expensive "Professional" version – with larger 23-cm (9.2-inch) screens and exclusive-to-BMW rear iDrive system.

Through BMW Assist, the package also gives you a way to add a trip destination to your car's satellite navigation system from outside the car. Like Mercedes-Benz's Search&Send, BMW Assist uses Google Maps to transmit address information to your car's personal email.

So if you are at your home or office computer, you or your friends can call up the address of your destination and send it to your car's email address. Your car will automatically add it to the sat-nav system, so when you get behind the wheel you won't have to fumble through the on-screen programming to set it.

Wi-Fi on wheels

In the U.S., Chrysler and Cadillac have gone one better, allowing certain models to become Wi-Fi hot spots. It's simple: just buy the compatible, dealer-installed modem with built-in router, mount it in the trunk, and you'll have seamless access through your laptop to all of the LOL cat videos you can stomach – as long as you have access to your cellphone network. Cadillac says its unit is under consideration for Canada, too.

Those systems range from $400-$500 (U.S.) for the base station, plus about $30 per month for access.

Net radio on the go

Surfing the Web is cool enough, but being able to access audio data "in the cloud" is the real Holy Grail of in-car tech. Aftermarket stereo manufacturer Blaupunkt and Internet radio portal miRoamer have teamed up to produce the New Jersey and Hamburg car stereos.

Using the data connection from a phone paired to the unit via Bluetooth, the stereos allow you to access more than 16,000 Internet radio stations. After picking your favourite stations using the miRoamer service, your car logs in to your account and imports your stations into the stereo. Pricing hasn't been announced, but the units should be on sale in Canada this summer.

Stick it to them

One potentially cheaper way of accessing data on the go is by using USB modems, which have become small enough – and affordable enough – to take into the car.

Rogers has been heavily advertising the Rocket Stick, a tiny high-speed Internet modem that taps into the carrier's 3G cellphone network (the Stick is "free" if you sign up for the network). Neat, but your car won't be able to interface with the unit, you'll have to pass a laptop around to watch YouTube videos, and it's not an integrated solution.

The positives? It's more flexible, less expensive and available now – no matter what car you drive.

Vision of the future

In-car data and Internet connectivity may seem to be about as advanced as a trunk-mounted CD changer right now. Give it time, though, and you'll be making friends on Facebook from the comfort of the Hwy. 401 fast lane.

I mean, just a couple of years ago, who would have thought that Mercedes-Benz would feel the need to develop a monitor for the dashboard of its luxury sedans that would allow the driver to see one thing and the passenger another?

Mercedes's "Splitview" technology is a special filter found on the dashboard-mounted LCD display in its 2010 S Class that allows both the driver and passenger to watch different things on the screen. Splitview masks the display and only lets the proper pixels slip into view, depending on where you are seated.

This means you can cue a navigation screen for the driver and, say, Sex and the City for the passenger. Down the road, that passenger could easily be surfing the Net.

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