Car PC Hacks

Preface

The time for in-car computing has arrived. There are strong signs in every direction that personal computing technology will soon take over the car. It started with satellite radio, bringing streaming digital audio to the car. Then the iPod captured the digital audio player market and suddenly became a defacto standard car audio component. MP3 players, in-car navigation systems, and touchscreens are now standard in many vehicles—and it won’t stop there.

So why do people go through all the trouble of installing computers in their cars?

Choice is one reason. Today, you are locked into the navigation system that came with your car, if it even came with one—and the costs of upgrading to a new one are immense. Why shouldn’t you be able to say, “I like the navigation system in the Infiniti, I think I’ll get that for my Civic”? With an in-car computer, you can choose the implementation that you like the best.

Features are another reason. Once we get used to features (e.g., digital media such as digital video recorders and iPods) in one part of our lives, we want to be able to use them everywhere—including in our cars. Cutting-edge features that would otherwise require expensive hardware upgrades can often be acquired via a simple software download if you have a car PC.

Integration is vitally important as well. When you’ve got half a dozen different kinds of digital media sitting in the passenger seat of your car (mobile phone, camera, PDA, iPod, portable USB memory stick, CDs), you’d ...