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Chrysler is turning cars and trucks into wireless hot spots.

The company announced Thursday a new feature that will let people purchase a "Uconnect" in-car wireless system as part of a dealer upgrade in 20 various 2009 Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep models.

The system offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity within the car to allow people to sync their cell phone address books with the car's 30GB hard drive or control their Apple iPods using the radio and steering wheel controls. And it provides navigation and real-time traffic features that can be controlled by voice recognition or a touch screen.

Using a cell phone network, the Wi-Fi hot spot can also be connected to the Internet, allowing passengers using laptops to surf the Web. My guess is that other Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as the iPhone and iPod Touch will also be able to use the in-car Wi-Fi to connect to the Net.

Chrysler didn't mention which cell phone network will be used to provide the Internet access. And it didn't list prices for the service, which will likely charge a monthly fee, according to an Associated Press article.

But pricing could be comparable to what is charged for the OnStar navigation and emergency roadside service. That costs between $17 and $70 per month. Or it could be priced similarly to satellite radio, which costs just under $13 per month.

Using Wi-Fi as the Internet access technology inside the car is a good idea, since almost every consumer electronic device these days has a Wi-Fi chip embedded. Wi-Fi is also shipped as a standard feature in most, if not, all laptops today. By contrast, the market for pre-installed 3G wireless in laptops has been relatively small.

I saw a similar in-car wireless system work with WiMax as part of an Intel/Motorola sponsored demonstration at CTIA in Las Vegas earlier this year. The purpose of the demo was to show how well WiMax works, but it used Wi-Fi inside the car to connect laptops and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the Net using WiMax.

I have to admit, turning the car into a hot spot was pretty cool. I was able to access Web sites and listen to the Web rebroadcast of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." It was also easy to access Google Maps on the Web for navigation. And in this particular demo they showed how video could be streamed to watch movies on demand. Of course, Chrysler's system uses the 3G cell network instead of a high-speed WiMax network, so streaming audio and video won't likely work well. But it's still a very cool feature.

That said, I think price will be a major factor in whether the new feature and service are a success. As gas surpasses $4 a gallon in much of the country and the economy hits the skids, car sales are already in a slump. And if current trends continue, consumers will likely be more interested in getting better gas mileage than a potentially pricey in-car Wi-Fi system with Internet service that charges a monthly fee.

With gas over $4 per gallon, on average, across the country, there is now a carpet bagger economy on the Toyota Prius.

Many dealers will still sell a new one at MSRP, but you are likely to wait 10 to 12 weeks before seeing a car. Yes, if you act quickly you can buy a used Prius, but this is where the real price gouging occurs. Case in point, a basic 2007 Prius with no options and 29,000 miles will cost you around $27,000. If you bought a brand-new car identical to this in 2007, it would have cost around $24,000, and Kelly Blue Book, the authority on used car prices, says that this car is worth just under $23k today.

Obviously, there is a new supply-and-demand curve in the market. Nothing illegal mind you; this is capitalism at work, but it just doesn't seem right. Gas may go up to $6 per gallon, or oil may go down to $80 per barrel; no one really knows, and there are bulls and bears forecasting both extremes. Since rationality has given way to speculation and panic, my advice to would-be Prius buyers is:

1. Do the math. A nicely equipped 2007 Honda Civic EX with equal mileage carries a suggested retail price of about $18,300. Assuming 30 miles per gallon for the Civic, and 45 miles per gallon for the Prius, it could take around 13 years to recoup the extra money for the Prius at $5 per gallon (assuming 12,000 miles per year of driving). Now I know that there are a lot of assumptions in this formula, but suffice it to say that when you do the math, the Civic seems like a better deal overall--not to mention that the EX has a Sunroof to boot.

2. Wait. Delaying a Prius purchase could have two benefits. First off, buyers get to see whether the price of gas goes up or down. If it does go down as some predict, the Prius premium is likely to disappear faster than a Lakers fan after the NBA finals. The other advantage to waiting is that the highbrow Prius will finally get some competition moving forward. Honda is rumored to have a 2009 hybrid Fit and brand-new five-passenger hybrid--with better gas mileage than today's Prius--waiting in the wings. Rumor also has it that VW, Hyundai, Ford, and others aren't far behind with high-mileage alternatives of their own. Finally, in 2009 or 2010 Toyota will introduce its own next-generation Prius that may offer plug-in capabilities and better gas mileage as well.

Supply and demand are constant market conditions, but shortages come and go. Is a used Prius really worth a $3,000 to $4,000 premium? The answer to this question can be summed in two sagacious words: caveat emptor!

Your next car might know you better than most of your friends or family do.

Stanford conducts a wide array of automotive research. A team representing the university has competed in DARPA's Urban Grand Challenge, an event that showcases breakthroughs in self-driving cars. Stanford's robot, Junior, was the first to cross the finish line in the competition last November.

(Credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com)

If current research pans out, the car of the future could figure out not only where you drive, what sort of music you listen to, news preferences, what you like to eat, or whom you are calling--but it might also know how your mood affects your driving. And eventually, it could turn into the ultimate backseat driver, taking full control if it's not satisfied with the way you're manning the steering wheel.

It might sound like something from the distant future, but researchers at Stanford University are working on all manner of technological improvements to the automobile. They're hoping features like camera detection of face movements, voice analysis, and sensors in the steering wheel will result in cars that can accurately detect a driver's mood and make appropriate adjustments if it's affecting their driving.

Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford and director of its Communication between Humans and Interactive Media (CHIMe) Lab, believes autonomous driving will not be limited by the technology itself, but rather how much responsibility people are willing to outsource to their cars. We have already seen them give up some control. Antilock brakes and stabilization systems, for instance, are already standard features, and the next step could manage everything from imposing speed controls for lead-footed drivers to using sensors trained on road surfaces to guide the car by itself.

The lab is also looking at ways in which cars can improve someone's driving by giving them audible feedback. Some drivers are already having conversations with their cars every day, interacting with navigation or voice-operated music systems, for instance. But that's still a relatively new technology.

"Talking directly to your car is not all that common...but increasingly, the car is inviting you to talk. What is going to happen next is cars talking to you. There is a great interest in how cars can teach you to be a better driver," Nass said in an interview with CNET News.com at the university campus.

Researchers are busy exploring how drivers behave in simulated situations, and they've found that feedback from the dashboard isn't always welcome. In trials, a synthetic car voice might tell people, "You're not driving very well and you need to pay more attention." That message actually tended to worsen people's driving habits as they got angry, and with more sincere warnings like, "You really need to be more careful," driving deteriorated even more until the voice insisted that the driver pull over--the driver getting so furious that the trial ended with an accident, (fortunately, just a virtual one).

The tone of the car's voice is important. Studies show that happy people drive best when they get advice from a happy sounding voice (listen to MP3), while the performance of drivers who are upset improves by 40 percent if the voice is more subdued flat (listen to MP3).

For drowsy drivers, some intellectual challenges can work out well. Stanford tested people by playing them Swedish language learning tapes and found that the ones who repeated the sentences stayed more alert.

"A small amount of talkback makes people stay more awake," said Nass, who thinks it could be beneficial for a car to engage its driver in a little conversation. There are cultural differences between countries that also need to be addressed. Some years ago, the German car maker BMW had a product recall of its 5-series because German male drivers could not stand the female voice in the navigation system. In driving simulations in Japan, people got upset if the mood recognition system used in simulations told them they were sad, while that was not a problem for people doing the same tests in the U.S.

Another goal is to develop cars that help elderly people, since graying populations all over the world continue to drive, but might be aided by warning systems for red lights, stop signs, or pedestrians. Stanford has teamed up with the American Association for Retired People for this development project.

Inexperienced young drivers have a whole other set of problems, as it takes 10 years to become a good driver, Nass said.

"One possibility is to let the car take over; like when entering a highway, the car can hit the gas for you," Nass said.

Two issues likely arise down the road are advertisements (would you want your car to deliver commercial messages?) and personal integrity (do you want insurance companies to monitor your driving behavior?).

"What the car industry is going to do (with all these technology advances) is a great question," Nass said.

Car manufacturers all over the world are following the experiments with great interest. After all, Silicon Valley has, in a very short time, become the R&D center for many car-tech companies as cars get new interface technology and become computing devices. "Everybody's opening up facilities here. This is the place now for car research," Nass said.

Last year, Volkswagen gave $5.7 million as a gift to Stanford's new CarLab, an effort to pool all car-related research into one place. The CarLab will be formally opened in September. One important focus will be the transition from non-autonomous cars to a vehicle that can operate itself.

"How willing will people be to let the car take over for you? That is one of the main missions with CarLab," Nass said.

Click here to see our photos.

Volkswagen showed off its fourth generation fuel cell research vehicle in San Francisco, making its North American debut. This vehicle, built into Volkswagen's new Tiguan crossover model, uses hydrogen to create electricity, providing power for the car's electric drive motor. It also has a lithium ion battery pack for extra electricity storage, and gets the gasoline equivalent of 42-to-62 miles per gallon. A Volkswagen spokesman predicted a consumer version in 7 years to 10 years, when a hydrogen refueling infrastructure is built up.

Click here for photos of the Volkswagen HyMotion fuel cell vehicle.

The NLOS-C howitzer can fire six rounds per minute and has a fully automated armament system, meaning it requires just a two-man crew.

(Credit: BAE Systems)

For components of the Army's $160 billion Future Combat Systems program, two key rites of passage are field trials at a military base in the West and a field trip back East to Capitol Hill.

Next week, the Army will bring prototype 1 of the Non Line of Sight Cannon, or NLOS-C, to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., just in front of the Capitol, for its public debut. The NLOS-C is one of eight different manned vehicles in the still evolving FCS plan. All of them will share a common (if not identical) chassis.

The FCS vehicles are notable in part because they're designed to use a hybrid diesel-electric engine system. An electric motor drives the tracks that propel the vehicle, as well as run all internal systems, drawing power from batteries charged by the diesel engine.

The NLOS-C junket to D.C. on June 11 follows a May demonstration on Capitol Hill of some other FCS components, including unattended ground sensors, that are part of what the Army refers to as "Spin Out 1." Given that the FCS road map spans the better part of two decades, with full operational capacity for the whole shebang planned for the far-off 2017, the Army has begun work to get discrete elements out to the field faster.

Lawmakers in Washington regularly get treated to displays of big-budget projects in development as project backers seek to justify a continuing flow of federal funds. The vastness--and vast expense--of Future Combat Systems has made that program particularly susceptible to criticism and to the threat of cutbacks.

In late May, Gen. George Casey (right) and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., check out an NLOS-C prototype being assembled by BAE Systems in Minnesota.

(Credit: BAE Systems, via U.S. Army)

"Sustaining support for the program over these next two critical years, I think, is probably our greatest challenge," Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, told Defense News in a story published Monday. "That is why it is important that the real capability is coming out now. It allows us to show that what we have been working on for the last decade is starting to bear fruit."

The Army plans to deliver the first of the NLOS-C prototypes to the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona by December, with four more arriving there by early 2009 and then three more (for a total of eight) later in the year. Work at Yuma will include mobility, safety, reliability, and gun-firing tests. The main gun on the system is a 155-mm howitzer that can fire six rounds per minute.

The NLOS-C requires a two-man crew, down from the four soldiers needed for similar existing howitzers, in part because of its fully automated armament system.

The testing of the NLOS-C, which is being assembled by defense contractor BAE Systems, is set to run through 2010 ahead of a critical design review that year and a 2011 date for prototypes of the other FCS manned vehicles to be delivered. The Army expects the NLOS-C to be ready for fielding to combat units in 2014.

Casey told Defense News that it is premature to say whether the FCS manned vehicles could be fielded early, describing the hybrid electric engine technology as "borderline revolutionary." He continued:

The engine is on the side of the vehicle, on the left rear of the vehicle. It is about three-quarters the size of Bradley (armored vehicle) engine. All it does is generate electrical power. One, you don't need as much fuel. Two, it is very quiet. We watched it drive by today and 100 yards away you could not hear it, which is significant. We're still working on storage capacity of this; as a technology, it needs to come up a little bit more, but I think there is huge potential with the hybrid electric drive.

Fielding for the Spin Out 1 components, meanwhile, is set for 2011. Those components include the seismic/acoustic unattended ground sensors; the Non Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS), which holds six to eight rockets; and the "B kit" of the networked and software-based Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio (JTRS GMR). The B kits will be used on existing Humvees, M1 Abrams tanks, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

This summer, the Spin Out 1 items will be in the hands of about 1,000 soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, for testing.

Wanna buy a cute, cuddly Shih-tzu? How about a 1993 Chevy truck? A three-bedroom, two-bath house in Maryland?

Think Wal-Mart.

Wait a second before you decide the big-box retailer has gone gonzo with the concept of selling everything under the sun. It's actually testing the waters with a beta of free online classified ads.

The site, launched last week and powered by Oodle.com, carries more than 40 million listings because it taps into Oodle.com's already-existing postings. Start-up Oodle.com aggregates listings from more than 80,000 local and national sites.

Wal-Mart's free service allows sellers and buyers to post and search for items in seven categories and in major U.S. cities.

The effort is a direct challenge to Craigslist, which offers free ads with the exceptions of job postings in some cities and brokered apartment listings in New York City. However, the two services aren't identical.

Advertisers can pay Oodle.com for higher placement on search results or via an auction-based system.

A report in The Wall Street Journal notes that Wal-Mart has piloted programs in the past before ultimately deciding against keeping them for the long haul. Movie downloads was one of them.

For a bit of entertainment, check out the list of items that can't be sold via Wal-Mart's classifieds.

The deal was accepted by the EU without conditions after a six-month antitrust probe. The deal is worth $4.5 billion and is expected to be finalized in June, according to a statement from TomTom. Both companies are based in the Netherlands.

For TomTom and Tele Atlas, this was "the best possible outcome allowing the new combination to go ahead with the full execution of its strategy," the companies said in a joint announcement.

The decision came a week ahead of a May 21 deadline, suggesting that even bigger deal under scrutiny by the EU will go through. Nokia, the Finnish mobile handset manufacturer, wants to buy the world's largest company in digital mapping technology, Chicago-based Navteq for $8.1 billion. The deadline for that review is August 8.

Both deals were accepted by the U.S. antitrust regulators last year without further investigation and the fact that the EU took a closer look surprised many industry experts. But as the potential for location-based services is growing, the commission wanted to make sure that these two deals--creating a virtual duopoly in digital mapping--would not hinder competition.

"I am now satisfied that the innovation and competition we have seen in satellite-navigation devices until now will continue after this merger," Neelie Kroes, EU Commissioner for Competition in Brussels, said in a statement Wednesday.

Navteq and Tele Atlas produce digital maps and software for navigation systems in cars and portable navigation devices such as Garmin or mobile phones. They also provide the data for Internet maps on sites like Google Maps.

Nokia argues concerns of the regulators that its acquisition will restrict the access for others to digital maps as unfounded.

"Why would Nokia pay the amount of money we are paying for having a very good base of customers and then try to aggrieve those customers?", Michael Halbherr, vice president of Context Based Services at Nokia said in an interview earlier this week with CNET News.com.

Nokia executives believe the Navteq-deal is related to the decision on Tele Atlas. Both companies have refused to accept demands from the regulators that they should guarantee that digital maps will be available for everyone. "I think that the Tele Atlas deal is not being reviewed in isolation. The European Commission has had enough time with both deals to basically form a complete thinking about the industry," said Michael Halbherr.

For Nokia, location based services is very much a promise of the future. The company expects to ship 35 million GPS-enabled phones this year.

From a European industry point of view, these deals consolidate world dominance of location based services in the home base. Navteq is the world's largest maker of maps used for car navigation, while Tele Atlas is No. 2.

In the U.S. the development is seen as positive. At ESRI, a company that sells software for geographic information systems, founder and Chief Executive Jack Dangermond welcomes more concerted efforts.

"The world needs utility companies that create and manage geospatial data," he said. "And these are companies that have fought their way to the top and they're very good: they serve their data and sell their data to our users in the private domain."

One company that has teamed up with ESRI is Google Maps, which now use digital maps from both Navteq and Tele Atlas. John Hanke, head of Google Maps and Google Earth, said that there is a vast amount of geodata locked up in different government agencies that should be made publicly available.

"I don't think it will happen anywhere in the near future. It's hard to share that data, to export it, but they should open up their servers as its public information," Hanke said during a break at the Where 2.0 conference in Burlingame, Calif.

Dangermond agrees. There will be no shortage of data despite concentration in a few hands.

"There are others, like Openstreetmap, emerging startups that I think also will participate in a smaller scale and then also individual agencies like cities. They all create and maintain their own data. It will remain an open and competitive environment I think."

He said he doesn't see a duopoly problem.

"There will be open competition and both of them are sincerely interested in the geo market. By having two competitors they're fighting against each other and keeping the prices low. If there was only one, then I might have a different opinion, but I think with two it's a healthy market. And it doesn't prohibit other people from getting in."

"They are doing the world a great service by taking on the responsibility of building these infrastructure layers."

He also said he feels the companies should be compensated.

"Well, free, they have to pay for all their investments. I suppose they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year just to create and maintain these infrastructures. So this kind of investment needs to be capitalized and get returns. But they both are good citizens in the GIS world at this point."

Hyundai brings its cars upscale, starting with the Genesis sedan.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Microsoft and the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group announced today an agreement to put Microsoft's Automotive Platform, the technology behind the Ford Sync system, into Hyundai and Kia cars by 2010. Ford Sync lets users integrate MP3 players and cell phones with their cars, allowing for hands-free calling and voice-command music selection. There are no details yet about what features will be offered, but we can expect similar functionality to Ford Sync, along with anything else Microsoft can come up with in time for the assembly line. Hyundai Kia has been pushing hard over the last few years to go upscale, with the upcoming Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan being hotly anticipated. At this year's New York auto show, Kia showed off its first use of a GPS system, in the Borrego.

We spoke with Martin Thall, head of general manager of Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit, about the deal. He emphasized that the current announcement only covers the strategic partnership, and doesn't detail which models might carry the new system, or even how Hyundai Kia will brand it. Mr. Thall stated that Microsoft is interested in developing a strong speech experience with its automotive platform, and looks to a future where the platform becomes the head unit in vehicles. He also suggested that automakers are looking for low-cost navigation, and said one solution might be using dashboard left/right indicator lights for route guidance, rather than an expensive LCD.

Another part of the Microsoft/Hyundai Kia agreement includes an automotive innovation center in Korea that includes the Korean government as a partner. This center would work on Korean government initiatives concerning the environment and safety, and give Korean technology companies a leg up into the automotive market.

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors has filed suit against a competitor, claiming the company stole trade secrets and copied design ideas.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court in California. Tesla hired Henrik Fisker, CEO of car design firm Fisker Coachbuild, last year to design the body of its all-electric WhiteStar sedan. In the suit, Tesla alleges that Fisker and Fisker Coachbuild Chief Operating Officer Bernhard Koehler accepted the contract "to gain access to confidential design information and trade secrets, then announced a competing vehicle," according to a New York Times article.

Last year, Tesla said it plans to come out with WhiteStar, an all-electric passenger sedan, in late 2009 or 2010. At the time, it said the price would range from $50,000 to $70,000.

The company, based in San Carlos, Calif., said in February that it plans to produce two types of its WhiteStar sedan--one being completely battery-powered, the other being a so-called range-extended vehicle, or REV, wherein a small gas motor recharges the battery as the car is driven.

Fisker, who last fall started Fisker Automotive--a green-leaning sports car company--recently announced an REV named Karma.

Tesla said it decided to scrap Fisker's design for the WhiteStar and began working on a new design when it found out he was going to be a competitor, according to the Times article.

"I think it's ironic that Fisker chose to name his car the Karma, when what he's done is very bad karma," said Adam C. Belsky, a lawyer at Gross, Belsky & Alonso who represents Tesla, told the Times.

The Times attempted to reach Fisker Automotive, but was unsuccessful. Someone who picked up the phone at the San Francisco law firm that is representing Fisker Coachbuild said it is "the firm's policy not to comment on litigation," according to the newspaper.

Last month, Tesla began commercial production of its all-electric Tesla Roadster, which costs $98,000. The company has dealerships in Los Angeles and Northern California. Production of the roadster had been delayed because of problems with the car's transmission, among other components. The company also had a change in top management last year.