Mazda's Sassou plays in the key of USB

Mazda announced its concept car, the Sassou, which it will show off at the upcoming Frankfurt auto show. The car uses a USB key for the ignition and portable data storage. For example, you could put music on the key, then transfer it to the car's hard drive. Mazda combined the idea of the keyless ignition, which we've seen in a few cars, and the SD slots found in some Audis. It seems natural to combine the two, making the key serve a dual purpose. Of course, Mazda will have to come up with a way of making it impossible to copy the ignition and unlocking information on the key.

By the way, you might have stumbled over my reference to a car's hard drive. Most cars don't yet have hard drives, a good indicator of the still primitive state of car electronics. But Toshiba pointed out to me in a press release that it supplies 81 percent of car and car gear hard drives. As for the Sassou, I'll be at the Frankfurt auto show in a couple of weeks, where I'll tell you about my up-close inspection of the concept.