The company I work for is in the process of creating a very cool new In-Vehicle Computer System and I am interested to hear what people are looking for or would like to see in a true in-vehicle system?

Let me know features, size, functionality, price and anything else you can think of......

This product will be featured at the SEMA show in Las Vegas starting on October 31st - booth #10821

Thanks for your suggestions & ideas.....!

DRP

So I assume that all contributors will be paid a commision or percentage of the company's annual profit as re-imbursement for their ideas?
Or is it stock options?

Personally, I think you should pay for the ideas up front. As, whether or not you profit from the product is not the responsibilty of the idea contributors.

I personally would like to see it be able to telepathically know where im going, drive the car there including steering, breaking, accelerating. All whilst it massages my feet, scratches my bum, makes me a coffee all while i recline and watch my favorite DVD on the 30" LCD screen in time aligned 5.1 surround sound.

Oh and i'd be willing to pay about $2500 AUD for it

^^^and it has to timealign it self....

Ahhh.... a bit of some good humor!!! Love it!!

Good news to all!

The system is already built, so no worries…..on royalties for ideas, just wanted to get a little bit more insight to what you guys might be interested in “Over the Big blue Pond” We did a market study 18 months a go and our 2 Big Brothers (Microsoft™ and Intel™) have been in on this build.

This thing is going to Freak’in Rock…!

- Navigation, AM/FM, WMA/MP3/CD Audio, DVD Video, XM/HD/Sirius Satellite w/ optional module, Other capabilities include: Voice control, Internet ready: Instant messaging, VOIP, News/sports/weather/traffic.
- Instant-on AM/FM radio capability.
- Intel Dual-Cor high performance platform
- Integrated Sirf III GPS chipset
- Microsoft® Newest Operating System
- Legacy controls giving feel and function of traditional automotive radio

Awesome, congratulations.
Sounds like the one Im running, but mine does a little bit more than that.

It needs to have factory steering remote control integration, and factory in-dash integration,
satellite/digital radio isn't big here.

if it takes more than about 20 seconds to bootup, then I'm not interested.

must be fanless, or silent.

digital audio output (optical preferred)

DVD-Audio and SACD playback, PCM and Dolby/DTS 5.1 (7.1?)

size - less than 250x300x55mm (short form-factor 1/2 rack size)

^ as above.

Factory integration with steering controls etc would be great

as would the ability for it to control climate control on cars where the climate contol is poart of the radio unit and the ability to upgrade older vehicles wit no climate control to have climate control

another vote for climate control here! and steering wheel controls,

i would also like to see other vehicle data be able to be displayed for intergration into old cars (things like digital spedo and oil temp, fuel gauge etc, would be nice to be able to view things like that in old cars ) or even new ones

I say a Mac Mini style system but more adapted to Carputer use. Frontrow with the remote is exactly what we need...and screw M$, OS X intergrated with iTunes is far superior.

How is it far superior?

I didnt know iTunes had GPS, OBD-II, AM/FM Radio, XM Radio, Voice Control and Mobile Phone integration.

I guess you completely believe the lies that apple is pushing as "adverts" on TV lately too.

lol i think they both have thier plus and minuses, apple just market better
they dont lie, they just tell thier side of the story

but i agree with the hardware setup of the mac mini very small and easy to work with (once you load windows on to them) hehehe

you cant beat front end programs. also DRP2007 you might want to take a look at this program, its pretty much the leader of front end programing atm, but its exspensive so not many people buy it, hehe i have used it and i love it, (you can downlaod a 15 min open once demo)
StreetDeck:
Touch Screen Control
Navigation & Mapping
Bluetooth Phone Integration
Satellite Radio
Vehicle Diagnostics
Rear-view Camera Support
CD player/MP3 Extraction
MP3 Player
FM Radio
DVD/Video Player
Picture Viewer
WiFi Sync Support

it always has a feature to create new programs that can be implemented into the front end
for example, a digital speedo

Coincidentally, I've been thinking about this a lot in the last couple of weeks...

I drive a 98 Fairmont, so as already mentioned by people it would have to fit into and be compatible with older cars.

Here's what I'm thinking....
- Replace the entire instrument cluster with an LCD screen (and have a HUD as well?)
- LCD screen to have customisable views based on function at the time
- functions to integrate
* vehicle data (fuel usage and levels - current and historical, oil temp, voltage, coolant temp, rpm's, speed, odometer, trip computer, all fluid levels - transmission, oil, coolant, brake etc, plus special equipment e.g. turbo/supercharger stats... the list goes on...)
* vehicle control - probably more so on newer vehicles (suspension height, engine management, gearbox mode etc.)
* climate control
* multimedia (DVD player/MP4 etc, MP3/WMA etc., radio, satellite radio)
* GPS navigation
* bluetooth mobile phone integration
* wireless internet
* rear camera
- control of system is provided by small touchscreen on face of steering wheel (airbags may get in the way though?) which obviously changes based on function (e.g. don't want volume control when displaying vehicle stats)
- MEDIA MUST SOUND AND LOOK GREAT!
- external USB ports and maybe card reader for those little extras
- must be easy to download media onto hard drive (by connecting laptop/external USB hard drive?)
- must be easy to use as you would be using it while driving

Obviously the details would need to be worked out, but I'm pretty sure this could all be done right now with the technology available.

Any other ideas? What about costs?

If anyone wants to put in some sponsorship to get it done on my fairmont I'm happy to oblige

you need to have (legally?) a non-defeatable odometer to show real total km travelled.

I want it to come with the most advanced software based audio processing application, running equally as advanced processing hardware, that is currently available to the human race.

that'd be handy.

muzz, for under a grand I have a p4 3.2ghz top of the range laptop in my car witj 15" HP screen in my dash. Plugging it into the cars OBDII port will give me all that info, with wireless internet for when I need it on the fly.

There are so many more things to achieve by doing an install with a computer laptop yourself. I mean, how many people have 15" screens in their dash? I could have bought a 17" one, but that wouldnt sit in the middle of my festiva dash. If i upgrade my car I will go with 19" LCD and Auto gear box in an old valiant. Ill use a multi display with the vehicle information on a 15" lcd replacing my dash. SOUNDS like alot of money, but its just planning and thinking.

Ok, from a hardware perspective, we can mostly put together what we need//want/can afford.

What Microsoft need to do, is put together (if they can) a decent RTOS, something based on WinCE to remove the waiting period on bootup.

That's what we need, hardware manufacturers to give better WinCE driver support for their products, and MS to develope a OS specifically for incar use, with a decent (selectable) frontend as operating shell. An added bonus would be OBD-II integrated software for all protocols, making use of SAE PIDs.

Will think of more soon

My 2c.

Pc: Im A Pc ...
Mac: Im An Elitest A$$hole

iTunes is good, but it does not have the versatility that can be achieved with other systems