The impossibly cute (and possibly malicious) Peapod mini-car just got slightly cooler. Apparently, the included iPhone docking station does more than play tunes and monitor EV usage—it turns your phone into a key too.
Jalopnik spotted the new Peapod–Chrysler’s GEM electric car for neighbourhoods–in the wild. Even while it feels like a glorified golf cart for “gated communities”, it looks great down to the iPod/iPhone dock in the middle of the dashboard. The design makes us smile for obvious reasons–although it’s also a little bit scary because it reminds me of the evil Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters.
One of our readers recently subscribed to Chrysler’s Autonet service, essentially a Wi-Fi router for your car that connects to the internet through 3G. And after some use, he’s found that it works (he wrote us using the service), but it’s still working out some important kinks, like maintaining its EVDO connection and protecting its precious 1GB download cap:
Chrysler is poised to be the first car manufacturer to offer built-in Internet access in its vehicles. The service, called Uconnect Web, uses existing wireless data network for Internet access it then shares with devices in the car via Wi-Fi, essentially turning your car into one big hot spot. The core device, which costs US$499 to install, can take advantage of WiMAX or EV-DO networks where available through a service called Autonet. The service will sell for US$29 a month. We like the idea for some things, like getting traffic and weather updates on the fly, but is the world ready for motorists that are even more distracted while driving? [Twice via CG]
Chrysler hasn’t exactly hidden their intentions on bringing Wi-Fi to their automobiles, but today they’ve come forth with all the fun details. If you’re interested in the UConnect service, the wireless broadband router will cost US$449 plus another US$50 for installation. Then, if you’d actually like to browse the web on the device, that’ll be another US$29 per month. While it certainly seems like the next logical step in shutting up your children in the backseat, who out there is willing to shell out another big pile of money on internet access just for the car? Until we have at least five more (legitimate) children, we’ll be sticking to our overpriced handset plan that goes with us everywhere, thanks. [freep via Jalopnik]
Chrysler believes that they can be the first auto manufacturer to provide in-car internet access—and they plan on achieving that feat by the end of this year. Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s product development chief noted: “we want to make the radio itself a WiFi port.” In order for the service to work, it would have to utilise a broadband connection from mobile phone towers.
