Wi Fi in your car?
 

Chrysler Vehicles to Offer Wi-Fi
By KEVIN KINGSBURY
June 26, 2008 9:15 a.m.

Mopar, Chrysler LLC's original parts manufacturer and distributor, announced that it will launch a wireless Internet system for Chrysler vehicles in the U.S., a first for the industry as auto makers try to distinguish themselves in a bruising sales market.

"Unconnect web" will be available starting in August as a dealer-installed accessory and will serve as a mobile hot spot with a 100-foot range. All passengers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices will be able to separately access the service, which will be available wherever cellular service is.

In recent years vehicles have become equipped with DVD players and GPS navigation systems.

Ford Motor Co.'s Focus has been a hot seller for that company. The small car is equipped with the sync communications product, which is made by Microsoft Corp. and allows consumers hands-free access to music and cellphone calls. In March, Ford said it would boost Focus production by about 30% this year in response to surging demand.

Unconnect web's suggested price for the router is $449, with the monthly access fee being $29. The service is provided by Autonet Mobile, founded in 2005 and provider of the Avis Connect service, a Wi-Fi connection that plugs into a vehicle's cigarette lighter or wall outlet.

Write to Kevin Kingsbury at kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com

Poor Mesh networks, this should be the final nail in that technologies coffin....

Oh great! Now instead of "Shut-up and drive" it will be "Log off and drive."

"a first for the industry as auto makers try to distinguish themselves in a bruising sales market."

How bout simply offering a product the consumer wants to buy to boost sales? Its always amazed me how the American car industry just can't figure it out.

Patrick

I think that ALL cars are just getting better and better. The target keeps moving, so as the Big Three improve, they stay in the same place so to speak.

Not defending them but many of the American cars are MUCH better than they were.

Good for us consumers, bad for the competitors.