Get connected in your car

ONBOARD ACCESSORIES

While stationary, you can browse the web, watch television and other streaming content or respond to e-mails simply by plugging in a keyboard.

Being on the move won't stop you from accessing the web's functionality either. You can tune into net radio stations and even listen to tweets read out loud by the car's onboard computer.

In Europe, Audi releases an A8 later in the year which lets you put your SIM card into the Sat Nav or join your phone to your car via Bluetooth. Once done, you will be able to access Google Earth on the car's eight-inch screen.

WEB TOTALITY

In a move towards creeping informational totality, Audi is also planning to facilitate drivers being able to pull info from Wikipedia as they pull into their destination. This 3-D travel guide will present you with a host of information on nearby attractions, restaurants and more, all available via your touch screen on the dashboard.

Admittedly, some of the applications within web-based motoring sound more like conceptual art projects than practical driving aids.

ANDROID DREAMS

In a move designed to turn your car into an android, a recent Ford Project (American Journey 2.0) featured two net-connected Fiestas and a long drive across America. Using apps designed by students the car technically became a blogger, creating a multi-dimensional account of its own trip.

This included pictures by three cameras mounted in the car, added online every four seconds. The car's mood could also be automatically posted by the vehicle. If stationary with its windscreen wipers on the car was in a sad mood.

ONBOARD ACCESSORIES

Another app allowed viewers to call drivers on Skype. Drivers are also now able to set up routes online and track one another via a screen. In a sure sign, drivers can invent challenges such as who can use the least fuel along a specific route.

The obvious criticism of all this new technology will come from road safety campaigners keen to help you retain your focus behind the wheel; manufacturers insist that their long-term aim is to build voice-controlled or simple one-button activations.

A REPRESENTATION OF THE REAL WORLD

Car makers such as GM are going one step further, researching the practicality of augmented reality windscreen displays connected to GPS and a mobile modem. Your eyes will probably always be focused on the road ahead as Sat Nav directions are projected on to your windscreen. These will lay a virtual and at the same time real world representation of graphically appropriate points of interest and associated information over the fabric of the tangible.

Web-enabled cars look set to offer you a fresh and innovative way to experience driving, and make your motoring life easier in the process.