Vision - January/February 2009 - (Page 38) 2011 model-year vehicles, which will be at dealerships in 2010. At least in part due to the availability of HD Radio, “I think satellite radio is very 2003,” declares Jonathan B. Spira, chief analyst at Basex Inc., a New York-based research firm specializing in new and emerging technologies. He notes that some broadcasters have been creative in their use of additional HD channels, pointing to New York’s WCBS-FM 101.1 “greatest hits” station, which is broadcasting the city’s WCBS-AM—an all-news station normally found in the AM band - on its HD3 channel. Similarly, Phil Magney, vice president of the automotive research practice at iSuppli Corp. in Minnetonka, Minn., says all over-theair radio will be HD Radio in the future. Moreover, he says satellite radio has proliferated in cars because its installation in vehicles has been subsidized by the providers XM and Sirius, and he adds that a significant percentage of vehicle owners don’t continue with paid subscriptions after their free trial periods end. Jeff Jury, COO of iBiquity Digital Corp., the Columbia, Md., company that pioneered the HD Radio technology, offers another example of a radio station broadcasting a different format on an “This is a future that most [automakers] recognize is coming. By 2015, I think it will be more common to buy a vehicle that is connected than one that is not.” Erik Goldman, president, Hughes Telematics Inc. additional HD channel: New York’s WKTU-FM 103.5, a “contemporary hits” station, is delivering country music on its HD2 channel. Yet, maybe even more compelling are some coming features of HD Radio tailored specifically to automobiles. Broadcaster Clear Channel is working with Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Direct to offer fuel price, traffic, weather, movie and location-based information, such as listings of local store discounts and availability of parking garage spaces, all tied to both HD Radio and GPS in cars, Jury says. And he adds, GPS maps supplier Navteq is developing the Navteq Dynamic Data Network to offer similar types of content via HD Radio. These are expected to debut this year. HD Radio is also a “great data pipe,” Jury asserts. iBiquity has experimented with the ability to deliver video through the HD Radio system, and for the past two years has been studying with automakers the possibility of adding a return channel to HD radios, to enable two-way communications with the devices, Jury adds. One of those automakers working with Ibiquity is BMW. According to Francis Dance, telematics business development manager at BMW of North America in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., BMW likes the “distributed network” of HD Radio stations across the country that makes it easier to provide local information, compared to the nationwide footprint of satellite radio. Dance says HD radios with these information capabilities should be available in the next couple of years. But he adds that satellite radio receivers with more data capacity also should debut next year, in 2011 model-year cars. Some such data services are already available with satellite radio. Sirius, for example, already offers local fuel prices through its Travel Link service, which is offered in Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. Another HD Radio function, named “iTunes tagging,” is already in tabletop HD radios equipped with built-in iPod docking stations and will be introduced in factory-installed car systems beginning this year. With iTunes tagging, pressing a special “tag” button on the radio results in storing the song’s name and related information broadcast by the radio station. Later, this information can be transferred to an iPod connected to the HD Radio, and the next time the iPod is synced with its iTunes software, the user is prompted to buy the music. The iTunes tagging function also is already in after-market car HD radios. “Right now it is a feature unique to HD Radio,” Jury says, and “it ties HD Radio to one of the most ubiquitous consumer products that are out there today, which is the iPod.” And there will be even more integration of HD Radio with “infotainment” and “telematics” systems such as Ford’s Sync going forward, Jury promises. On the other hand, Magney notes, consumers are not asking for HD Radio en masse and automakers don’t appear to be rushing to put the feature into their vehicles. “There is competition for the vehicle”—among products and technologies such as HD Radio, satellite radio, iPod, Bluetooth for streaming audio and flash memory, for example—“and we’re not at the point where you can put it all in,” he says, largely due to cost. While Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone use and iPod integration now are elemental, satellite radio has proliferated partly because the service providers are subsidizing the installation of the hardware in vehicles, and HD Radio also has been stymied by the added cost to automakers of the special tuners it needs, Magney adds. The Internet and All It Enables One of the newest in-vehicle CE innovations is built-in communications connectivity for Internet access and related services. In Europe, since September BMW has been offering full access to the Internet via an embedded GPRS/EDGE (2G cell phone) communications module in the 7 Series, 3 Series and 1 Series cars and the high-resolution (1280x480) LCD screen that comes with the company’s “iDrive” system. Backseat Web surfing is possible with the optional rear-seat entertainment system’s headrestmounted LCDs and separate iDrive controller. But in the U.S., “We’ve always been a little more cautious about launching these services, because of the driver distraction issue,” says Dance. At the same time BMW launched a more limited version of Internet access: Google local searches tied the vehicle’s GPS navigation system and built-in GSM (cell phone) communications module. A part of the BMW Assist “convenience plan” that costs $15 per month, this capability is available now in the 1 Series and 3 Series, and will be offered with the 7 Series and Z4 starting this spring, and with the rest of the BMW lineup—except the X3—later in 2009. It works as a simple keyword search, using the same on-screen keyboard interface that operates the navigation system. And by searching the Google Maps website on any Internet-connected www.ce.org 38 January/February 2009 http://www.ce.org
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