Top Tech: Connect, Inform,
Entertain and Protect
By Tim Healey
Freelance Automotive Journalist
Connectivity is key to the latest
automotive technology. In-car wi-
fi, introduced several years ago, is
expanding across the board. So, too
is in-car streaming entertainment and
text-messaging.
Which means you can hop in your
car, stream your favorite radio station
via Pandora, and have your infotainment system read you
your text messages, all while your passenger uses
Wi-Fi to surf the internet on their phone and your rear-
seat passengers stream a TV show.
And if you have an Android or Apple phone, you
might find yourself behind the wheel of a vehicle that’s
equipped with Apple CarPlay, Android
Auto or both. These smartphone-
mirroring systems project a display
similar to your phone’s home screen
onto the vehicle’s center-stack display
screen, and they allow you to use certain
apps. You can use Apple or Google
Maps, for example, or have your text
messages read to you or play music
from your phone or via Pandora. Apple
CarPlay even comes with the MLB
AtBat app.
As if that’s not enough tech, there are also plenty of
proprietary systems available across the board. Ford’s
Sync, Toyota’s Entune, Fiat Chrysler’s UConnect, Kia’s
UVO and Hyundai’s Blue Link, to name just a few. Each
of these offers unique features – for example, Blue Link
can be used to assist in stolen vehicle recovery or used
for a point of interest search via voice recognition. It can
even pair with an Apple Watch, allowing an Apple Watch
wearer to remote start their car via his or her wristwatch.
Blue Link isn’t the only system with tricks up its
sleeve. Sync, which is now called Sync 3, offers voice
control of supported smartphone apps and can be used to
track your vehicle’s location. Kia’s UVO offers roadside
assistance and UConnect offers access to Yelp as well
as rear-seat entertainment while
Toyota’s Entune allows drivers
to make movie reservations. Just
about every automaker offers a
proprietary system along these
lines, meaning today’s vehicles
are not just cars – they’re mobile
information and entertainment
stations.
Today’s new-car tech isn’t just
about entertainment, information
and convenience. Safety matters,
CHICAGO AUTO SHOW 2017
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More Than100 , 000 Veh i c l es Jus t A Cl i ck Away…Dr i veCh i cago. com
