Google and Volkswagen Plan Navigation System 39
SnprBoB86 writes "Google and Volkswagon are beginning a joint effort with nVidia to build a Google Earth in-car navigation system. The system is planned to feature a three-dimensional display so passengers can recognize where they are in relation to the surrounding topography."
Why do I need to see the tops of buildings? (Score:3, Insightful)
Too bad it shows my son's school (Score:4, Insightful)
I can see it now, people driving their car, holding their cell phone in the left hand up to their ear, taking a movie of the drive while talking, while the right hand navigates the Google Earth zoom on the GPS-sync out of date Google Earth pics and
I'm not really joking - I saw someone driving a Ford truck on the two-lane (one each way) arterial near my house in Fremont on Saturday, and he took both hands off the wheel while accelerating into a blind five-way intersection, elbows nowhere near the wheel, trusting that even though he has to curve to the right, noone will do something unexpected as he tailgated the car in front.
Time for a new Darwin Awards category:
Driving under the influence of electronic gadgets.
Re:Nice, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
For example, visualizing where you are from a flat map is different than knowing you're 15 blocks East of the football stadium. Fiddling with the buttons and looking at a little display takes your eyes off the road. The less time you do that, the safer you are.
GPS things are nice but they're like comptuerized rally helpers. Their scale of reference doesn't cover all the human ways of visualizing space.
Re:and microsoft? champion of stability? (Score:2, Insightful)
Partnering with Fiat? I wouldn't trust such a system to get me to the end of the drive. Having owned two Fiats before (no I don't know why I got the second one either), I can safely say the only thing likely to be less reliable than the Microsoft kit will be the actual electronics in the car.
Seriously, I think they make them out of silly string or something. The last one I owned cost me more in repairs than it did to buy (about $1300 of repairs).
not new (Score:5, Insightful)
But it would be nice if you had a nav system connected to the internet so that it gets updated data. Also Google's local search would be great if put into car's navigation system, but once again it must be connected to the internet.
The problem with navigation systems is that they come on a CD (or DVD) and do not get any updates. And while streets do not change that often, businesses change all the time so a navigation system is usually worthless when trying to locate a business.