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Google and Volkswagen Plan Navigation System

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."

8 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

  2. and microsoft? champion of stability? by way2trivial · · Score: 5, Informative
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    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  3. 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ear, taking a movie of the drive while talking, while the right hand navigates the Google Earth zoom on the GPS-sync out of date Google Earth pics and ...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! --
  4. 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.

  5. 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.

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

    Now you gave away next weeks story:

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

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

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

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

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