Put a PC in your Car (Video)

A few years ago I would have laughed at the idea of putting any PC into the car for a few reasons. One its a distraction if you try to use it while driving you may get into an accident. Two, technologies change too quickly, so if you buy a system from a car manufacture it will quickly be left behind. Three, there are no standards for hooking up all this equipment or upgrading it, plus everything needs to be retrofitted or customized.

CNET has a video from a car PC manufacture at the Maker Faire that has the first system that I have seen that seems to be going down the right path. In order for this technology to be successful, it has to have the following things:

• It needs to be useful features that people really want (i.e.: navigation, internet access, playing music and video, etc.).
• It needs to be affordable, otherwise no one will install one of these devices in their car because they can't justify the cost of it.
• It needs to be easy to use, otherwise if its too complex it will miss a major market segment that doesn't want overly complex technologies in their vehicles.
• It needs to be upgradeable and expandable, nobody wants to buy proprietary equipment or something that they can't enhance later.
• Its needs to have a flexible design to retrofit into cars that weren't designed to have a system like this.