iPhone, Hughes Telematics and Cars

Looks like everybody wants to get into the phone-car convergence game including Hughes Telematics an OEM technology supplier to Chrysler and Mercedes. By 2010, Hughes Telematics will debut its  next-generation technology, which would allow drivers to install software in their cars, just as iPhones let users download applications to their handsets.

Some of the expected features are:

  • An application that could track your peregrinations and estimate your total carbon emissions.
  • Remotely starting a car
  • Resetting its alarm with an iPhone
  • Unlocking the doors with an iPhone (commands could be sent to the car over the Internet)
  • Cars equipped with blind-spot-detection video cameras could be programmed to take a picture of anyone near the car during a break-in and then e-mail it directly to a cellphone or computer.

Here is an article on this at the New York Times