NEW YORK-Motorola Inc. is targeting telematics and personal computers in its product debut this week at the Bluetooth Congress in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Telematics uses wireless and global positioning system technologies to enable location-based, two-way voice and data communications between automotive vehicles and call centers that provide information services.
The company said it expects to announce contracts for its Bluetooth car kits sometime later this year. They comprise an integrated Bluetooth module, which provides cordless handset operation inside and immediately outside the car. Ultimately, Motorola plans to incorporate synchronization with handheld devices, vehicle navigation and multimedia systems.
“The goal is to bring the Internet to the vehicle. Our motto is: `Hands on the wheel. Eyes on the road. Ears on the world,’ ” said Ray Sokola, director of global automotive communications solutions for Motorola’s Telematics Communications Group, Libertyville, Ill.
“The key is to maneuver through the information. Much of our user interface is audio, speech-to-text.”
Actor Tom Cruise had a priority engagement in “Mission Impossible 2” using a Bluetooth-enabled cordless car phone Motorola is calling Velocity for now and expects to begin marketing in early 2001, Sokola said. Velocity interacts seamlessly and instantly with mobile wireless phones.
Later this year, Motorola said it plans to make commercially available a Bluetooth clip-on accessory for some of its mobile-phone models.
A Bluetooth node inside a car enables all kinds of connectivity, making possible, for example, the download and purchase of songs a driver hears on the radio and would like to buy, Sokola said. Music could be transferred automatically to an MP3 player, while information could be downloaded into a laptop computer.
Bluetooth technology would permit a car to pick up from a personal digital assistant the time and location of the driver’s next appointment, then provide traffic reports and directions, said Tony Kobrinetz, vice president and general manager of Personal Area Networks and Mobile Internet Exchange for Motorola’s Personal Networks Group, Downers Grove, Ill.
“Bluetooth’s routing capability provides context awareness of whether you are moving or at a standstill and can give you text-to-speech information when you are moving and text when you are standing still.”
