While they'd previously only made vague hints about such plans, Chrysler today detailed their plans to offer Wi-Fi as an option in all of the company's 2009 models (assuming they don't go bankrupt). According to Chrysler, the system will be an extension of their existing UConnect service and operate under the brand "UConnect Web". The 3G Wi-Fi router will cost $449 plus a $50 installation fee, with a monthly cost of $29, with a one time activation fee of $25.
For those who don't want a factory-installed option, yet must browse YouTube while being chased by Johnny law, mobile 3G Wi-Fi routers are getting smaller and less expensive. There's also a growing number of software solutions (including Windows Mobile 6) that will turn your smart phone into a hotspot.Just don't get the rest of us killed while you're updating your Facebook profile on the Interstate.
In California we're just now finally getting dumbass carpool lane stripe crossing soccermoms in Suburbans who nearly run me down 'cause they have the phone in their fuckin' ear to go hands free. And even then stupid cagers can't walk and chew gum...weaving, doing 50 while traffic is doing 70, etc. Give them Wi-Fi...hell, we're doomed.
Wi-Fi to get live traffic updates in Navi, great...for anything else like email or other distractions...no way. As soon as the car shifts from park, the feature should disconnect.
That's a typical L.A. area driver for you. I've never seen as many reckless drivers as I have here in SoCal. You've got: a) Distracted driver (kids, cellphones, eating, makeup, reading, you name it) - LOTS of these, esp. cellphones
b) Power drivers - many driving large suvs, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc... with the "I'm more important than you attitude", driving up the shoulders. My old boss was one of these... passed others between parked cars. Many end up crashing during rain.
c) Tourist - in the center lane, cutting across 2 lanes of traffic at the last second so they don't have to turn around and come back, or pulling a u-turn where they shouldn't.
d) Death wish - many 'kids' in small cars (accords, civis, Mazda 3, etc) 'tuned' driving through lights, cutting lanes and typically going at least +15 over the limit. Also drive excessively fast in the rain.
I dont want to one-up you but they are just as dangerous here in NJ or the Northeast for that matter. NY, NJ and PA have to rank right up there. I agree the cell phone have to be the worst because most people using them while driving arent that good of drivers to begin with anyway. Nothing pisses me off more is when some tool on a cell phone that launches out in front of me with no turn signal. You could usually see it coming, they telegraph it by not being able to maintain their lane. BTW- I'm a biker too, so stay safe out there.
carry a cell jammer in your saddle bags! when on the freeway make sure its turned on. at 75mph nobody really needs their phone anyway, its what pulling off into the reat area or the parking lot just off the ramp are for.
well that and more cops looking for people not using a headset/bluetooth rather then sitting in the shade with the radar gun clamped in the window(yes i have seen the smokeys do this).
Why can't Chisler....err Chryler, just make a decent vehicle ?
Back in the 80's it was the Reliant K. Everything they made in those years either was the same chassis, or just looked exactly like it. They were junk on wheels. In the 90's it was the "cab forward" thing with the Sebring, LHS, etc. all exactly alike. Flying turds were of higher quality. Now we have the "magnum"....oooohhh. There's 90 different models of it, they all look exactly alike, and are a steaming POS.
Amen. My last three accidents were all caused by someone either talking on a cell phone or in one case playing with the Nav system while they are supposed to be driving.
I am disappointed that car companies keep adding more and more stuff to these automobiles that do nothing but distract the driver. You would think at least they would know better.
I think its disappointing that people are too stupid to realize when and when not to play with the things while driving.. or when to pull off the road.
Don't blame guns for killing people.. blame the person that pulls the trigger.
I am disappointed that car companies keep adding more and more stuff to these automobiles that do nothing but distract the driver. You would think at least they would know better.
Seems perfectly logical to me. The car gets totaled, but air bags protect the driver, and you get to sell another car.
This is a great idea, but why can't someone just use a laptop with a cell internet card and rebroadcast the wifi with the laptop for alot less than $500.
To pay so much to be tethered to your car for wifi is not worth it.
Even worse....what will they be doing while they are looking at porn on their dash?
I thought it was illegal to watch stuff on an lcd screen...ya know movies and the like while driving...you'd think that would apply to using your wifi'd dash lcd to surf the web....a duhhhhhh.
Who's the provider? What's the bandwidth? Any caps?
Having Wi-Fi in the car would definitely help with those long road trips, which is about the only time I set foot in my car these days (there's no way I'm setting foot in a plane unless I can't help it what with all the surcharges and baggage limits and no customer service and tiny seats and the TSA).
They are suffering from a severe over production (high inventory)that the previous owners permitted shortly before the sale was complete. DCX ran the plants all out to pump up the numbers even though everyone knew they were over producing. Even Ford management complained bitterly that this was a reversion to the old tactics of the 60's & 70's of overproducing to help get unit costs down, but causes fire sales of which everyone much match. Go check out some car rental lots at the airports. Crammed full of Chrysler overstock.
Car WiFi is not new as some car stereo vendors were looking at making a HD based music system which updated by 802.11a in ones garage off a computer on the same WLAN. Park your car, start an upload and tomorrow morning your car has the latest and greatest tunes.
Chrysler can NOT go bankrupt! they're part of a HUGE investment company. They were bought about two or three years ago and taken private.
But then again Chrysler wouldnt be in the state they were in if they didnt have to deal with the damn unions. And yes i seen what they have done. I live in one of the states that they have a plant in. The area now has gone down hill. They take the jobs and move them to other states so they 1 don't have a union or two to another country- Mexico.
I don't see the need for a Union anymore when we have labor laws.
In-vehicle wifi has absolutely nothing to do with the driver browsing the web while they drive. It is simply a benefit for the passengers inside the vehicle.
A wireless broadband connected vehicle is nothing new, my CarPC currently has wifi and a 3G sprint card installed in it (I got it for free with my cell phone plan). You can buy a damn CarPC equivlent to mine for less than $400 now. Do I read my email while I drive? NO, the artificial intelligence software(AIVMS) installed in my CarPC reads my email to me. It does the same for weather and traffic reports, and it's controlled by voice commands using a bluetooth headset. It also has a CarPC controlled HD Radio system in it that can record any song played to mp3 automatically as I drive around. It shares its 3G internet connection and can stream any song or video on its 500 GB hard drive on-demand to an authorized wifi capable device such as a laptop, pocket pc, smart phone, etc..
The automotive industry is just playing catch-up to technology that the CarPC crowd has been using for years now, and they stand to profit enormously from it as the public is nearly blind to the less expensive technology that already exists.
Well if that's really the case, then you just plug one of these into your cigarette lighter socket and for less than $200 and you have the same thing that Chrysler is charging you $500 for.
The point I was making is that it has nothing to do with driver distraction since Chysler never implies that it was intended to to be used by the driver in the first place. There is also a safe way to conduct internet activity by the driver of the vehicle which I pointed out. So why is it that the majority of the replies to this thread offer nothing more than a bunch of whining about driver distraction?