SMALL business luxury chauffeur firms and successful business owners will both benefit from improved navigation facilities in the all-new Audi A8.
Audi’s new luxury car will feature optional Google information services which will be channelled via the internet. The state-of-the-art online services will provide up-to-date information via an optional integrated GPRS/EDGE modem.
Drivers will be able to search online with Google for points-of-interest, the search engine accepting such free text search queries as ‘delicatessen’ or ‘shoe boutique’. The results are then displayed on the onboard map or used as destinations for route calculation.
Audi A8 drivers can also plan their navigation destinations in Google Maps or the Audi web portal either at home or in the office and retrieve these on demand in the car.
In mid 2010 a new UMTS modem will be available which will enable faster data transfer as well as simultaneous voice and data connections. It means Audi will be the world’s first car maker to integrate Google Earth.
Google Earth can be displayed on the Audi A8’s 8-inch LCD display allowing high resolution three-dimensional satellite and aerial imagery. The Google Earth imagery and 3D terrain model can also be used for navigation displays too.
The system was first shown as a prototype with Google in January 2006 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA. Audi says the new online services are the result of close collaboration between Audi and Google development teams worldwide.
New luxury Audi A8 model will feature Google Earth
