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Your Car May Soon Start Serving You Ads (siliconbeat.com)

An anonymous reader quotes SiliconBeat: Santa Clara auto-tech firm Telenav has just announced an "in-car advertising platform" for cars that connect to the internet. Telenav wants to sell the system to major auto manufacturers. And although it's probably the last thing many consumers want, vehicle owners will pay more for connected-car services if they decline the ads. "This approach helps car makers offset costs related to connected services, such as wireless data, content, software and cloud services," a spokeswoman for Telenav said Jan. 5. "In return for accepting ads in vehicles, drivers benefit from access to connected services without subscription fees, as well as new driving experiences that come from the highly-targeted and relevant offers delivered based on information coming from the vehicle."

Auto makers including Toyota, Lexus, Ford, GM and Cadillac already use the company's connected-car products, the spokeswoman said. Telenav CEO H.P. Jin in a press release called the ad platform "an exciting new opportunity" for vehicle manufacturers to "monetize connectivity to cover service costs and even drive healthy profits while enriching the consumer experience with safely delivered, engaging and relevant offers"...

To prevent driver distraction, "ads only appear when the vehicle is stopped, such as at car startup, traffic lights and upon arrival," Telenav said... Of course, driver distraction won't be an issue in self-driving cars, and this technology suggests the captive audiences in those vehicles will likely be subjected to an ad barrage in robotic ride-sharing vehicles and automated cars whose owners decline to pay more to avoid in-car advertising.

5 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Sigh by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Guess I'm sticking with my '77 olds. But I already get served ads in that too, the radio still works...

  2. If this works as well as ads in web pages by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    You'll pretty much have to stop your car in the middle of the street, turn it off and then start it up again to get the badly programmed ad to go away.

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    1. Re:If this works as well as ads in web pages by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why not have Inline Infotainment? I found out InfoTourettes patented scripting system will add tailored product DIET COKE! placements that don't MARLBORO LIGHTS! LO FAT VEGETARIAN SALAD! disrupt the flow of the article TAMPONS! WONDERBRA! and adapt your site's likely audience PONIES! so as not to annoy them or seem intrusive PERSONAL TRAINERS! MANOLO BLAHNIKS!

      You probably haven't even noticed, but I'm using it now. And now InfoTourettes Car edition is available DON'T DRIVE THERE! DRIVE HERE INSTEAD! for all your in car Infotainment needs.

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  3. Ha! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is not a problem I'm likely to have!

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  4. Obligatory Futurama by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Funny

    Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?

    Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

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