CES - Car tech

No stranger to the Consumer Electronics show, Ford CEO Alan Mulally returns for a keynote at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 7, in Las Vegas, marking his third straight appearance. Less expected was the announcement that Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler will deliver a keynote at CES on Thursday, January 6, also at 11 a.m.

In past appearances, Mulally announced Ford Sync's expansion into a telematics service, the new MyFord Touch interface, and smartphone app integration. Ford has not specified the content of the 2011 keynote, although the company seems committed to introducing new tech features on a … Read more

There are plenty of things for parents of teens to worry about, but almost nothing is as scary as when your kid ventures out behind the wheel of a car or rides in a car with another teen driver.

Each year more than 6,000 teens are involved in fatal accidents. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for teens.

Still, most parents allow their teens to drive. You can't sit in the backseat every time your kid takes the wheel, but thanks to the Tiwi, a $299 device that mounts to the windshield of your kid'… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The connected car is a big theme at CES, but most companies rely on a user's mobile phone for an in-car data connection. However, this is not so with Alcatel-Lucent, which demonstrated a heavily modified Toyota Prius with its own LTE data connection. This broadband connection enables many in-care functions, including vehicle-to-vehicle communication, a Wi-Fi hot spot, and various Internet applications including our old friend Pandora.

LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is a term for a 4G wireless network being implemented by Alcatel-Lucent for Verizon. Although data speeds vary greatly depending on conditions, according to Alcatel-Lucent, LTE's … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Anchoring a corner of British high-end audio company Bower & Wilkin's booth at CES sat a 2010 Jaguar XJ, a probably unexpected adornment for a company traditionally focused on home audio. The new XJ showed off Bower & Wilkin's latest effort in the area of luxury automotive audio.

This 1,200-watt system is comprised of 20 speakers getting audio through 15 channels--an impressive array. It uses just about every digital-signal-processing trick in the book, including Audyssey MultEQ XT, designed to equalize the audio experience for all seating positions, Dolby's Pro Logic IIx, and DTS Neo:6, … Read more

Escort, a name typically associated with high-end radar detectors, showcased a pair of security solutions for car at CES 2010. The Entourage PS and CIS are GPS tracking devices that allow users to keep tabs on their wheels from anywhere in the world via the Internet.

The Entourage PS is a portable device that can be tossed in the glove compartment or in the trunk for simple, no-install tracking. The PS charges at home or via your car's 12-volt power outlet and can continuously broadcast its location for up to 10 days thanks to an internal battery. The PS … Read more

LAS VEGAS--It may not be a household name, but Inrix offers services that will save you time and money while reducing pollution. Inrix provides traffic information and smart routing to more than 100 companies offering navigation services. At CES 2010, Inrix announced a partnership with Ford in the new MyFord Touch system, more extensive road coverage, and the Inrix Traffic Pro app for the iPhone.

MyFord traffic

Ford made a lot of news with its MyFord Touch interface, which features a new Telenav navigation system. Ford is replacing traffic data from Sirius in its navigation systems with Inrix's data, … Read more

The EconoDriver and SafeDriver by Lemur are wireless vehicle monitors that record driving performance to a key fob display to help drivers be more efficient and safe.

The key fob displays are battery powered and can be mounted on the dashboard for continuous monitoring of reports. Both units ship with a sensor that plugs into your vehicle's OBD-II port to wirelessly transmit information from your vehicle's sensors to the key fob.

The SafeDriver displays the maximum speed, distance traveled, and sudden braking incidents to help parents keep tabs on new drivers. The device locks with a PIN to … Read more

LAS VEGAS--At CES, Kia announced its new Microsoft-powered UVO technology, which will be included in the 2011 Sorrento. But the company has much more tech on deck, as it showed in its display area.

Kia showed a steering wheel-mounted thumbwheel controller for accessing vehicle infotainment. With haptic feedback, the controller delivers a different feel depending on user settings, from smoothly turning to detents to a spring stop.

Digital TV would be displayed in rear seat monitors.

A new telematics service uses a paired Bluetooth phone to get local search information or automatically call 911 in the event of a crash. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--A 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander anchored one corner of Gracenote's booth at CES, serving to demonstrate the car's new Fuse media gateway. Similar to Ford's Sync, Fuse lets users hook up an MP3 player or USB drive and ask the car to play music by saying an artist or album name. Unlike Sync, which is based on Microsoft's automotive platform, Fuse comes from Johnson Controls, giving automakers another option when offering this type of voice command capability.

Gracenote's part in this system is its phonetic database of artists and albums, which makes the voice recognition … Read more