If you have thought that having a voice-activated navigation system is cool enough, you are wrong! In fact, you have not seen anything ‘cool’.
Volkswagen and the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are coming together to bring in “a dashboard-mounted robotic device that uses numerous sources of information to help you plan travel routes, dodge traffic jams, find heretofore unrealized entertainment opportunities and avoid running out of fuel.”
What about this? This can be defined as cool, uber cool, right?
Christened as the AIDA (Affective Intelligent Driving Agent), the system will help you drive effectively, But AIDA will not drive for you, instead it will monitor features and systems such as the gas and brake pedals, windshield wipers, seat position and fuel gauge and tyre pressure to ‘study’ how you drive.
This aiding AIDA can also analyse the traffic conditions, weather and the status of the car to make advice that go beyond simple turn-by-turn directions. To illustrate, if you have an appointment at 7 pm, but traffic jam threatens you be late, then AIDA will step in and direct you around the traffic using the quickest possible route. On the way home, it might recommend that you stop for fuel refill based on the fuel gauge. AIDA can also suggest you to grab a bite on the way as it knows you’ve been tired because of the appointment and might be hungry.
For some, AIDA could come across as overbearing, but its developers hope it won’t. According to its creators, AIDA will feel more like passengers than gadgets. Moreover, in early prototypes, AIDA is reminiscent of Wall-E as it appears like a small robotic head with glowing blue eyes sticking out of the car’s dashboard above the center air vents.
And, Volkswagen isn’t the only company working on the idea, Nissan is also working on similar systems.
Next’s what?
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like ‘Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.