Is a new car the ultimate iPhone accessory?
Today, the telephone, text messages, tunes, and the Internet. Tomorrow, the world! Now there is an automobile that you can control (at least partially) with your iPhone!
Imagine yourself behind the wheel of your car. You don’t have your keys ready, because you don’t need them. You do, however, have your iPhone handy. So instead of turning a key, you plug your iPhone into a receptacle on the dashboard, and wait a second for the phone to connect to the car. After the car and the phone have established a communications link, the iPhone screen displays a large green “Start†button. One gentle push on that touchscreen button brings the car to life, and away you go.
The car is the iChange, the brainchild of the Swiss auto design house Rinspeed, and the phone, of course, is an everyday iPhone. The inclusion of the iPhone in the car is just one of many concepts that the designers are testing in the new vehicle, which will make it’s debut at the Geneva Motor Show, opening in a few days, according to an article by Pcworld. It is a feature that piques one’s curiosity, though.
The Rinspeed iChange has a number of interesting concepts included in its design. It has the ability to change from a one-passenger car to a three-passenger car at the touch of a button, thanks to some cleverly mobile body panels. It is a lithium-battery-powered all electric vehicle that also allows for the needs of the trip: there is one set-up for less weight and short distances (fewer batteries) and one for more weight and longer distances (more batteries). Like many of the newer electric vehicles, it sports some good performance characteristics, such as a zero-to-100 kph time of just over four seconds. These are not your father’s electric cars.
It is difficult not to think past just starting the car with your iPhone. As the iPhone becomes more powerful, it is easy to see it taking over more and more of the automobile’s systems. There is no reason why an iPhone app could not control the navigation system, while another controls the car’s stereo system, and another interfaces the auto to the Internet and your email. The list is almost endless, as would be the geeky fun. iCar, anyone?
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