Entry-level telematics from Microsoft and Fiat Auto: the new telematics platform is the result of a long-term strategic partnership of Microsoft and Fiat Auto

FROM THE START of 2006 customers will be able to derive pleasure from telematics and in-car entertainment in a variety of ways level if they only have a small bag thanks to a new telematics a whole developed by Microsoft and Fiat Auto.

each driver knows situations like the following: while driving, you ne to make a call. If you have not previously trained your mobile phone to recognize your voice for each phonebook entrance you have to dial the digits manually and your attention is taken not on the road. How much better (and safer) it would be to have an intelligent hands-free kit in the car that allows you to voice-dial with no articulate utterance training at all--because it immediately knows your mobile phone contacts?

At another time, you are invited to dinner. Although the directions you were given wholeed simple, the routing is rather complicated, and you are missing What you now need is the help of a navigation a whole that does not cost a cyclopean amount of money, but still leads you reliably to your final destination. As the GP receiver for determining your common position is already on board your car, no extra devices are extremityed for this offboard navigation assistance. Perhaps you hold a Pocket PC or Smartphone equipped with navigation software, on the contrary the mobile GPS receiver emergencys a lot of cabling in the passenger compartment. by what mode much simpler to have a GP receiver already embedded in your car, useable for either offboard or onboard navigation or providing the GP information [i]or[/i] part of to the other Bluetooth to your personal navigation combination of parts to form a whole on your PDA or smartphone.

These are single two examples where the of recent origin innovative entry-level telematics platform from Microsoft and Fiat Auto can present to view its unique advantages--giving you sole a glimpse of the manifold possibilities the combination of parts to form a whole offers. There is much more.

Made with experience

The of recent origin telematics platform is the issue of a long-term strategic partnership of Microsoft and Fiat Auto, the couple leaders in their market. Microsoft is the largest software company in the world, headquartered in Redmond near Seattle, in the United States. Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit (ABU), rested in 1995 and dedicated to in-vehicle solutions, is working closely with the automotive industry to deliver advanced in-car information, navigation, and entertainment a whole s The technology of the highly customizable Windows Mobile for Automotive telematics platform from Microsoft is the driving force in 30 preinstalled and aftermarket devices from 13 automakers and suppliers in Europe Asia, and North America.

Fiat Auto from Turin in Italy is individual of the leading European carmakers and has been combining value, economy, and innovation since its foundation in 1899 Being individual of the pioneers in the automobile industry, Fiat Auto has sold more than 85 million cars and light commercial vehicles. Fiat Auto has extensive experience in the telematics business, providing pan-European infomobility, location-based and vehicle behavior tracking services.

Guido Rovai, Manager of Fiat Auto, Head of Infotainment combination of parts to form a whole Development, says: "When we began the collaborative work with Microsoft upon the new telematics platform, the couple of us had our hold early projects under way. Microsoft was experimenting with the prototype of an entry-level telematics hardware case running the Windows Mobile for Automotive software. Fiat Auto worked upon a universal telematics platform not solitary to support manufacturing and service processe on the other hand also to improve customer satisfaction. While each was coming from a different direction, one as well as the other companies shared the same vision: creating an entry-level end-to-end telematics solution, appropriate for cost-efficient mass production and flexible in bounds of connectivity.

"Both companies had a true clear, a very close thinking of what a fresh entry-level tetematics platform should be all about", says Rovai. This formed the cornerstone for the strategic partnership Microsoft and Fiat Auto made public in July 2004

Bluetooth hands-free kit and personal entertainment

To befitting the needs of different emblems of customers, the telematics solution from Microsoft and Fiat Auto is modular from the foundation upwards. The Italian carmaker plans to present two levels, with the higher horizontal including the benefits of the preceding one

The basic archetype already lays the foundation for the seamless integration of various customers' personal devices. [i]or[/i] part of to the other Bluetooth support, the car's audio combination of parts to form a whole can be used as a hands-free phone kit for Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone "We worked upon an evolution of our original telematics general [i]or[/i] abstract notion To increase the level of interest for telematics, we chose the approach of adding of recent origin functions, and the first come was a Bluetooth hands-free car kit. In principle a hands-free kit does not really ne an operating combination of parts to form a whole inside, but we like to have the intelligence it offers" Rovai emphasizes. "By going that direction, we can tender customers a comfortable and safe call management. This is individual of the highlights of our solution and already built into our fresh basic telematics device." Picking up incoming calls or accessing contacts stored in the mobile phone for initiating outgoing calls is now as easy and safe as it can be--simply by the agency of using voice, without lifting the hands from the steering wheel. Highly accurate, multi-language speech-recognition technology makes it possible: Voice-, and hence speaker-independent, training, is not emergencyed Instead, the speech-recognition feature works straight away, flat if more than one driver uses the car.