In-car Internet access and built-in Wi-Fi aren't entirely new. Since 2008, Chrysler's Mopar parts division has offered a dealer?installed Wi-Fi modem from Autonet Mobile that can tap into 3G networks and create an in-car hotspot. But Internet modems and Wi-Fi hotspots are evolving from bolt-on accessories to factory?integrated options?Audi offers Connect on both the Allroad and the A7, and Dodge offers a similar system on the new 2013 Ram pickup. Mark Dahncke, a spokesman for Audi of America, sees his company's system as both a technological differentiator and a natural step toward the connected car of the future, one that will be "able to benefit from even further efficiency, safety, and infotainment offerings."
Internet access in cars is a tricky proposition. Some of the functionality that it enables has undeniable appeal (real-time traffic data, enhanced maps, streaming music). The car-as-Wi-Fi-hotspot idea is more dubious. Is this just the next logical step in rear-seat entertainment or an invitation to even more driver distraction? Even if you put aside the potential safety concerns, the question arises: Is this even necessary? After the free trial period expires, the $30-a-month bill seems awfully redundant given the fee you're likely already paying for a data plan on your smartphone. And the service seems pretty redundant too. Basic Android and Apple iOS devices can already access the same 3G networks that are offered by T-Mobile or, in Chrysler's case, Sprint?in fact, they can also access the much faster 4G networks of Verizon Wireless and AT&T. And most modern smartphones can spawn a Wi-Fi hotspot without the need for any extra equipment in the car.
Many automakers seem content to hand off any Internet connection to a driver's phone. Ford's Sync system connects with Android, BlackBerry, and Apple iOS devices to run apps and can turn the phone's data connection into a Wi-Fi hotspot. BMW's ConnectedDrive system does the same thing with a user's own LTE SIM card. Praveen Chandrasekar, telematics and infotainment analyst for Frost & Sullivan, thinks Audi and Dodge are catering to premium and business customers who might be willing to pay an extra monthly charge for the convenience of built-in connectivity. "These systems are trying to target the upper market," he says. "The carmakers know very well that this kind of solution will not appeal to everybody."
For those customers who do see some utility in a rolling Wi-Fi network and don't mind paying $30 a month for the use of it, built-in systems may still prove problematic in the long term, since automotive and tech life cycles are notoriously out of sync. Each year brings faster connections and new capabilities that can swiftly outmode in-car equipment. Just ask owners of OnStar-equipped vehicles built before 2004?those cars and trucks accessed an analog cellular network that was shut down in January 2008. It's not at all inconceivable that today's 3G networks, or the current Wi-Fi protocol, will be outmoded or even out of service a few years from now?making the technology in the current Allroad a mobile anachronism.
WHY-FI?
In-car Wi-Fi may one day save your life. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently conducting a yearlong field trial in Ann Arbor, Mich., to determine whether an offshoot of the 802.11 protocol known as Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) could serve as the glue that connects cars to help reduce accidents.
Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, DSRC isn't useful for throwing Internet connections around; instead, it serves as a datalink that lets one vehicle automatically warn another when congestion is ahead or if a collision is imminent at a blind intersection. DSRC has a longer range than the traditional Wi-Fi (about 1000 feet, compared with 300 for Wi-Fi). If the tests prove successful, DSRC may one day be mandated by the federal government.
This raises inevitable questions about who would pay for the technology. "The reality is that adoption of DSRC technology is at least 10 years away and will require investments that federal and local governments may be unwilling to make, while the resistance of carmakers will also be strong," Roger Lanctot, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, says.
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