How do you make a Smart car even smarter? You guessed it: Create an app for that.
Smart has developed an iPhone app that acts as a infotainment system for the Fortwo.Smart’s new Smart Drive App for the Lilliputian Smart Fortwo is more ingenious than most. Developed by Mercedes-Benz software engineers, the coming application for the iPhone not only adds features like navigation to the car, but also does something the iPhone usually can’t do on its own: multitask.
Demonstrated at the New York auto show, the software is part of a package that will include a cradle than needs to be installed by dealers. The application divides the iPhone screen into larger, legible quadrants, rather than using tiny icons that might tend to distract the driver (or distract the driver even more). The four on-screen buttons cover media, phone, map and assist functions.
The phone button takes drivers to the usual hands-free calling functions, while the quadrant entitled maps takes drivers to a full, turn-by-turn navigation program based on Navteq’s maps. Like built-in nav systems, it will mute a call in favor of spoken instructions, and it’s here where the multitasking function comes in handy. Unlike other nav-only applications for the iPhone, you don’t have to choose between chatting on the phone or following the nav system. It can run both simultaneously because the developers built both functions into a single application. In other words, the iPhone doesn’t know it’s multitasking.
Also tapping into the iPhone’s abilities, the Smart app can play music from the phone or tune in countless Internet radio stations from around the world using the vTuner service (sorry, no Pandora yet). Again, because it can trick the iPhone into multitasking, the program will automatically mute the music for instructions from the navigation part of the program.
Lastly, the car assistance section includes Google 411 for free searches of local points of interest via voice instructions, and it will find and call a local dealer should your Fortwo break down. Best, however, is the automatic car finder feature. Like the coming iTag software for Android phones, the Smart software automatically marks your car’s location when you remove the iPhone from the car’s cradle. So if you forget where you parked the car (or just can’t find it in a sea of S.U.V.’s) the phone will lead you back to your wheels. No more marking the spot before you leave.
The company says the software will be available by June for $9.99, but a price for the cradle and professional installation hasn’t been set yet.
Smart has developed an iPhone app that acts as a infotainment system for the Fortwo.Smart’s new Smart Drive App for the Lilliputian Smart Fortwo is more ingenious than most. Developed by Mercedes-Benz software engineers, the coming application for the iPhone not only adds features like navigation to the car, but also does something the iPhone usually can’t do on its own: multitask.
Demonstrated at the New York auto show, the software is part of a package that will include a cradle than needs to be installed by dealers. The application divides the iPhone screen into larger, legible quadrants, rather than using tiny icons that might tend to distract the driver (or distract the driver even more). The four on-screen buttons cover media, phone, map and assist functions.
The phone button takes drivers to the usual hands-free calling functions, while the quadrant entitled maps takes drivers to a full, turn-by-turn navigation program based on Navteq’s maps. Like built-in nav systems, it will mute a call in favor of spoken instructions, and it’s here where the multitasking function comes in handy. Unlike other nav-only applications for the iPhone, you don’t have to choose between chatting on the phone or following the nav system. It can run both simultaneously because the developers built both functions into a single application. In other words, the iPhone doesn’t know it’s multitasking.
Also tapping into the iPhone’s abilities, the Smart app can play music from the phone or tune in countless Internet radio stations from around the world using the vTuner service (sorry, no Pandora yet). Again, because it can trick the iPhone into multitasking, the program will automatically mute the music for instructions from the navigation part of the program.
Lastly, the car assistance section includes Google 411 for free searches of local points of interest via voice instructions, and it will find and call a local dealer should your Fortwo break down. Best, however, is the automatic car finder feature. Like the coming iTag software for Android phones, the Smart software automatically marks your car’s location when you remove the iPhone from the car’s cradle. So if you forget where you parked the car (or just can’t find it in a sea of S.U.V.’s) the phone will lead you back to your wheels. No more marking the spot before you leave.
The company says the software will be available by June for $9.99, but a price for the cradle and professional installation hasn’t been set yet.
Source: NY Times, Wheels Blog
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