e2001 Your Digital Future - Bangkok Post Special Supplement

MOTORING

The display of gauges on this Ford concept car can be configured by voice. -- Tony Waltham

On the highway to a new future for cars

JINI will bring the pieces together

Tony Waltham

The car of the future will not be made obsolete when a neat new accessory or a fundamentally new in-car service is introduced, as this Ford 24*7 Concept Car on display at Sun Microsystems JavaOne conference in San Francisco earlier this year showed.

Demonstrating device discovery within the vehicle and service discovery outside, a Palm Pilot PDA was brought into the vehicle and its address book and contact list beamed up to the car using Jini connection technology.

Then a Bluetooth-enabled phone was "discovered" by the car and, using a speech interface, the car allowed the driver to place a telephone call to someone whose number was in the PDA's address book.

The car also contained the latest in voice-activated technologies, with prototypes of Visteon Automotive Systems' hands-free, voice-driven facility to access email, mobile phone technology, real-time route assistance, weather reports and stock information.

Visteon's high-definition instrument panel also offered a voice-configurable display of gauges _ speedometer, oil, fuel, GPS/map, Internet, email, mobile phone, compact disc, and clock _ as well as the facility for additional features such as GPS and videophone technology.

"Ford wanted to figure out a way to future-proof their cars," said Larry Mitchell, of Sun Professional Services. The biggest problem they had, he said was that it takes several years to develop a car. Then they wanted to be able to extend it functionally _ to be able to add after-market devices and services, but without having to write any new code.

He said that Jini connection technology was proving to be an important area of exploration where the idea was to have an architecture where one could add devices and services in a completely spontaneous way, Mitchell explained

"When a new device or a new service comes in, a Jini technology-enabled service browser can effectively say to it _ `Do you have a voice interface? Do you have a graphical interface? Do you have an icon?' And the browser will then simply add that service."

It doesn't necessarily even know what it has added. But the client interface knows how to communicate with the back end service.

In partnership with Sirius, Ford will also be the first automobile company to offer 100 channels of satellite-delivered radio programming. The uninterrupted CD-quality programming will be offered coast-to-coast beginning in early 2001. Increased bandwidth will eventually enable on-board Web surfing and downloads of music.