At January’s Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler offered a forecast around the automaker’s uconnect telematics system. The prototype: a touch-screen display that gives intuitive access to a fully connected hub, seamlessly merging a driver’s life inside and outside the car.
We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer: At the New York Auto Show, Chrysler unveiled upgrades to uconnect that will make the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee a very wired ride. Now, you’re probably thinking: Will there even be a Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2011, much less a series of uconnect upgrades? Nothing is certain, but this technology deserves to survive bankruptcy. Chrysler is taking in-car connectivity the furthest it’s been yet.
The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, depicted here, will feature the in-dash uconnect Guardian roadside assistance package.
The updates are comprehensive, touching on six different areas — safety, music, video, phone, navigation and the Web. Where most automakers tend to view each such service as its own discreet product, Chrysler spotlights the basic connection that enables it all — an approach the company describes as “holistic.” “We see the entire vehicle as one connected device that enables customers to connect to what matters most to them,” says Marios Zenios, Chrysler’s Vice President of Connectivity and Infotainment. So even as the navigation system is produced by Garmin, satellite radio comes from Sirius and the web connectivity is courtesy of Mopar (a parts dealer), the uconnect t sub-brand assumes the lead role.
Some of these updates — however important — are relatively standard-issue. Safety features like emergency calling, automatic crash notification, and roadside assistance are not the stuff of automotive revolution, nor is GPS navigation or satellite radio. But within this package are some definite forward steps: uconnect Tunes, for example. Here, the Grand Cherokee’s Bluetooth wireless connection allows you to stream music to the car’s stereo directly from your cell phone.
For traditional mp3 players, the car’s USB port offers the standard connection, but Chrysler has added a new feature, allowing you to search the contents of your player through voice commands. Uconnect’s wireless connection also enhances the capabilities of cell phones in the car, downloading up to 1,000 contacts straight from your phone. For those who want an even bigger connection to the world outside, uconnect’s web service, available from Mopar, brings all the goodness of the high-speed web straight to the Grand Cherokee. The idea is to turn the car itself into a roving hot spot, with access to all the information and entertainment the online world delivers.
American carmakers appear to be focusing on in-car technologies as a fast-track to winning over consumers again. What’s interesting here (as in Ford’s latest conceptual thinking) is how the next phase focuses less on proprietary hardware and software and more on creating a platform for drivers to keep using their own devices. All the advances of in-car technologies have led us to a point where we no longer need in-car technologies, just the connection to make it all work. Let’s hope Chrysler keeps this vision as part of their changing strategy.
Image credit:
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with uconnect image appears courtesy of Chrysler, LLC
In the future wi-fi internet will likely be cheap and easy to access in most places. When this infrastructure exists, in-car technologies will be highly viable. Right now it is still early.