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Google and Volkswagen Plan Navigation System

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the getting-lost-in-3d dept.

SnprBoB86 writes "Google and Volkswagon are beginning a joint effort with nVidia to build a Google Earth in-car navigation system. The system is planned to feature a three-dimensional display so passengers can recognize where they are in relation to the surrounding topography."

26 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. It's a shame... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's a shame that volkswagen develops the neat gadgets when they can't seem to get the electrical system in any of their new cars even halfway decent.

    1. Re:It's a shame... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's a feature not a Bug!

  2. Old News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Wow, talk about old news. This was in Googles keynote.

  3. Nice, but... by thecoolestcow · · Score: 1

    why would you need a 3D view? Not trying to be flamebait; I'm just wondering the purpose. Is this supposed to replace current GPS navigation? What are the advantages?

    1. Re:Nice, but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You could see that the street you want is the one between the pair of tall buildings that you're about to miss, and not the one between the pair of short buildings up ahead that you thought was your intersection. If you are in city traffic you don't have much time to look at the navigation screen and anything that makes glancing at it more useful makes the whole system more useful.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Nice, but... by FredThompson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A 3D view might be helpful to locate landmarks since the world isn't flat and roads aren't bright colors...

      For example, visualizing where you are from a flat map is different than knowing you're 15 blocks East of the football stadium. Fiddling with the buttons and looking at a little display takes your eyes off the road. The less time you do that, the safer you are.

      GPS things are nice but they're like comptuerized rally helpers. Their scale of reference doesn't cover all the human ways of visualizing space.

  4. Why do I need to see the tops of buildings? by libra-dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That'd be great if VW made a flying car.

  5. and microsoft? champion of stability? by way2trivial · · Score: 5, Informative

    partnering with FIAT!

    chortle....

    http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=microsoft +fiat

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:and microsoft? champion of stability? by megla · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not only that, but:
      Partnering with Fiat? I wouldn't trust such a system to get me to the end of the drive. Having owned two Fiats before (no I don't know why I got the second one either), I can safely say the only thing likely to be less reliable than the Microsoft kit will be the actual electronics in the car.
      Seriously, I think they make them out of silly string or something. The last one I owned cost me more in repairs than it did to buy (about $1300 of repairs).

    2. Re:and microsoft? champion of stability? by sootman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Holy crap! Not only are you not kidding, but they're calling the new system...

      wait for it...

      Blue&Me!

      http://www.technewsworld.com/story/48683.html

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    3. Re:and microsoft? champion of stability? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      If Microsoft thinks Linux folks are hard on them; Microsoft will be in for a shock when dealing with auto enthusiasts. Auto Enthusiasts will not be so forgiving as Linux people.

      "The Bullshit Ends, When the Green Light's On" - Auto Racing Slogan

    4. Re:and microsoft? champion of stability? by gfim · · Score: 1

      Commas, capital letters, and apostrophes in the wrong places are fucking annoying - Grammar Nazi's slogan

      --
      Graham
  6. Too bad it shows my son's school by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    two miles to the west of where it really is, where the cement mixing plant is located.

    I can see it now, people driving their car, holding their cell phone in the left hand up to their ear, taking a movie of the drive while talking, while the right hand navigates the Google Earth zoom on the GPS-sync out of date Google Earth pics and ... SCREECH BANG CRASH ... time to get another user.

    I'm not really joking - I saw someone driving a Ford truck on the two-lane (one each way) arterial near my house in Fremont on Saturday, and he took both hands off the wheel while accelerating into a blind five-way intersection, elbows nowhere near the wheel, trusting that even though he has to curve to the right, noone will do something unexpected as he tailgated the car in front.

    Time for a new Darwin Awards category:

    Driving under the influence of electronic gadgets.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Too bad it shows my son's school by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      No to worry. If my trusty new Pioneer AVIC-D1 is any indication, you basically have to sign away the rights to your first born child EVERY TIME YOU START YOUR CAR in order to use the navigation features for a drive. And what if you're driving somewhere and want to map in a pitstop to another location. You have to stop, pull over, put the PARKING BRAKE on, and then you are permitted to use the device. Who cares that you have someone else riding with you that could program the device while you safely drive.

      Thank you [lawyers + morons] for making it a total pain in the ass to safely use devices like this.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  7. Re:Look it's a bird it's a plane it's a Google VW! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    That'd be great if VW made a flying car.

    Well, they do make one designed for biodiesel. Maybe if you ran a still, you might get your VW to fly - or at least it might feel like it's flying.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  8. not new by Edmund+Blackadder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Infiniti navigation systems already feature 3-d displays.

    But it would be nice if you had a nav system connected to the internet so that it gets updated data. Also Google's local search would be great if put into car's navigation system, but once again it must be connected to the internet.

    The problem with navigation systems is that they come on a CD (or DVD) and do not get any updates. And while streets do not change that often, businesses change all the time so a navigation system is usually worthless when trying to locate a business.

  9. Oh great.... by hurfy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now you gave away next weeks story:

    Google and Adobe to paint streets to match maps colors...

  10. AHA! by nemik · · Score: 5, Funny

    So that's why the BMW.de site got shut down!

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  11. Great. Topographic feature cues... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...and here I am in flat old Kansas....

  12. Re:can it navigate to BMW HQ? by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 1

    You don't find it odd that on the same day Google announces a partnership with VW, they blacklist BMW? Hmm, perhaps BMW didn't give Google as much money as VW, or BMW didn't want to do business with Google.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
  13. This is navigation for women by Palal · · Score: 1

    As mentioned in this post women navigate by landmarks, while men prefer to read maps. So, this, in turn, is navigation for women. However, women stereotypically are more afraid of gadgets. I guess the salespeople in the showroom have their work cut out for them. What I would like to see is a centralized system doing trip planning and distributing traffic flows evenly to spread out congestion.

    --
    -Palal
    1. Re:This is navigation for women by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 1

      Ahhhh, just like DiNozzo said on NCIS: the VW is a chick car.
      -russ

      --
      Don't piss off The Angry Economist
  14. And I thought... by amirl · · Score: 1

    They were going to do that with BMW

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    You can't get there from here.
  15. great by wwmedia · · Score: 1

    is any one else bugged by our BIG BROTHER GOOGLE?

    i mean they read my emails, know what i search for, what i buy, store my chats, know my bank account (due to monthly adsense money transfers)

    now they want to know where i drive!

    i can see it now on my personalised google homepage theres going to be a box for "previous drives" with a list of where i driven (similar to current previous searches)

    or even better, adverts poping up on the navigator telling me that i would love a burger from the macdonalds 50meters ahead

    great just great

    1. Re:great by simong · · Score: 1

      It all only does that because you let them. Other mail services and search engines are available. And my GPS unit of choice already tells me about the next TravelLodge or petrol station and is going to be more dynamic in future. Unless I get bored with it and sell it to someone who's lost or something.

  16. Next garage by MiliusXP · · Score: 1

    It will help you to find quicker the nearest VW garage when your need it. It's so hard to find a VW specialist when you need it.