Continue reading New Firmware Adds Dual Commands To Metra OEM Interface

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services in-vehicle app for account management (PHOTO: Mercedes-Benz)

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI — Mercedes-Benz Financial Services (MBFS) has announced it is adding an in-vehicle app for account management to its suite of mobile tools for its customers in the United States.

The new app, called My MBFS, will automatically be added to the cloud-based infotainment system on model year 2013 and newer Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with the COMAND Navigation and a subscription to mbrace2 with…

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Visteon Cockpit Concept Learns the Driver’s HABIT (PHOTO: Visteon)

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, MI – Would you like your vehicle to suggest a different route to or from work when there are unexpected delays on your regular course? What if your vehicle’s cockpit temperature adjusted automatically based on your preferences and the outside temperature?

Visteon Corporation has developed a unique cockpit concept that offers these solutions and others by incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver an enhanced driving…

Continue reading Visteon Cockpit Concept Learns A Driver’s Preferences To Deliver A More Meaningful Driving Experience

“The conversations and questions raised at the conference will no doubt be the ones sparking new ideas and concepts in the days ahead, further advancing this quickly evolving sector of the automotive and technology industries,” said conference chair and a leading automotive tech expert Doug Newcomb.

LOS ANGELES – No trend in the auto industry is more topical than advanced technology platforms. To underscore that fact, the LA Auto Show confirmed that two dozen automotive tech experts from companies such as Aha Radio, Auto Alliance, BMW, Delphi, Ford, Gracenote, Hughes Telematics, INRIX, J.D. Power & Associates, Kia, Livio, Pandora, QNX, Sprint Velocity, Strategy Analytics and others, have signed on to participate in the 2013 Connected Car Expo (CCE).

The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and J.D. Power & Associates, as part of its Western Automotive Conference, have also joined forces with CCE. Together they will address the increasingly important role the dealer plays when training, selling and servicing technology with the end…

Continue reading Top Automotive Tech Influencers Headline LA Auto Show’s Connected Car Expo

CMT Screen Enabled with mTAG. (PHOTO: Blue Bite)

NEW YORK – Creative Mobile Technologies and Blue Bite have announced a first of its kind media-mobile technology partnership in the U.S. taxi space. Blue Bite’s proprietary mTAG platform will be available in 5,000 taxicabs with CMT media screens in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Anaheim by September 1, 2013.

Here’s how it works: Taxi passengers will see video or static messages on Blue Bite enhanced CMT taxi media screens and be prompted to either “tap” or “snap” the mTAG affixed to the frame of the screen. Riders will be able to “tap” their NFC-enabled smartphone to instantly download rich…

Continue reading Taxi Riders Can Interact With a Variety of Rich Mobile Experiences at Taxi Media Screens

Hyundai Vehicles Now Include Three Years of Complimentary Assurance Connected Care Service (PHOTO: Hyundai Motor America)

COSTA MESA, CA – All new Blue Link-equipped Hyundai vehicles will come standard with three years of complimentary Assurance Connected Care service, Hyundai announced at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. Assurance Connected Care is powered by the automaker’s Blue Link telematics platform, which now has enrolled over 400,000 subscribers. Assurance Connected Care makes Hyundai the only non-premium automaker to offer a…

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Continue reading The Fishman Still Has it…Ford F250 iPad Install

Ford said it brought a Ford Transit Custom to Cannes Film Festival over the weekend to showcase the best in mobile cinema. Its name? Cannes In a Van.

The official Ford press release said the Transit Custom full-size van has been outfitted as a mobile movie house and will screen independent films. Cannes 2013 was its debut. It has a 55-inch plasma screen in the cargo area that will showcase films to…

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The new StickyCup windshield mount detector accessory from ESCORT. (Photo: ESCORT Inc.)

WEST CHESTER, OH – ESCORT, Inc. has announced the release of its new windshield mount detector accessory fittingly named “StickyCup.” The new StickyCup is a full-featured bracket mount that includes a semi-sticky gel ring on the cup surface that improves cohesion and detector support on the windshield.

StickyCup works with ESCORT’s category leading products including the…

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The head unit in the 2014 Subaru Forester XT is simple, which I like, and does a pretty solid job of rocking out while maintaining decent sound quality for a stock system after tweaking the EQ settings a bit. (Lyndon Johnson photo)

Define “no shame:” Rolling down every window and opening the enormous sunroof in our 2014 Subaru Forester XT and blasting the ’70s best of KISS at full volume on the first warm, sunny day I’d seen in a while. Gene and the boys pulled the trigger on the Love Gun, and the Scoob’s head unit put up a pretty solid fight.

Coming out of the Nissan Titan PRO-4X, with its awesomesauce Rockford Fosgate system that let you feel every bass drum thump like you were in the jam room with your favorite band, I knew there was no way a more pedestrian setup would equal that sheer sound power. And to be honest, the Subaru Forester’s unbranded head unit didn’t come close to the punch of the Fozz when cranked up. But beyond the immediate “getting used to it/coming back down to earth” period, the Subaru’s completely flat starting point wasn’t doing it any favors.

That’s not to complain about the fact that the Forester– which came to us with only 300-odd miles on the odometer– arrived with all the EQ settings zeroed out. To the contrary, that’s how I…

Continue reading Fun In a Forester: 2014 Subaru Forester Head Unit Pretty Solid