. Volkswagen and Google Team Up to Explore Future
Vehicle Navigation Systems
Virtual Reality: Prototype
with Google Earth creates realistic 3D, satellite-based map
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -
Volkswagen of America, Inc. and Google recently presented the future of
vehicle navigation at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
in Las Vegas, and it's closer to virtual reality than ever before.
Volkswagen, Google, and
graphics chipmaker, nVidia, are working on an in- car navigation map
system and display that is 3-dimensional and more real looking than
anything that's available today.
Driver and Passenger will be
able to instinctively recognize where they are in relation to the
surrounding topography, especially in urban areas that are depicted with
depth and accurate size relationships between buildings and roads.
Volkswagen, working through
its Electronic Research Laboratory (ERL), in Palo Alto, Calif., together
with Google and nVidia, is also working on other advancements, including
automatic personalized content updates for its vehicle navigation systems.
Highlights of
Volkswagen's prototype vehicle include a vehicle-centric touchscreen
interface to Google Earth with state-of-the-art graphics, accurate 3D maps
and real-time traffic updates and routing. This open system harnesses the
power of the web to maintain a dynamic database of current information on
restaurants, dealerships, gas stations and other points of interest that
can be overlaid directly onto the user's 3D map. With the increasing
accuracy of GPS, dead-reckoning and laser-radar imaging, as well as
ever-improving car-to- infrastructure communication, this prototype will
be available on showroom floors in the near future.
High-quality 3D and
satellite-based representations of the world are becoming an exciting
feature in on-line search engines and navigation. These photo-realistic,
high-resolution 3D images are not only more engaging for the user, but
they are also more efficient and accurate at conveying information than
traditional 2D mapping representations.