Collaboration again shows search leader expanding beyond computer realm
Volkswagen AG of Germany’s American unit, recently disclosed that it is working on a prototype vehicle which features Google Inc.’s satellite mapping software to give drivers a bird’s eye view of the road ahead.
The two companies are working with the graphics chipmaker nVidia Corp. to build an in-car navigation map system and a three-dimensional display so that driver and passengers 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.
The car manufacturer showed off the prototype car at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
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 touch-screen interface to Google Earth with state-of-the-art graphics, accurate 3D maps and real-time traffic updates and routing.
Google introduced Google Earth last June as a free satellite imagery-based mapping product based on technology from Keyhole, a company Google bought in October 2004.
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.
Google Earth has attracted controversy since then from governments ranging from South Korea to India for offering a potential national security risk as it enables anyone to zoom in on aerial images of landmarks such as airports.
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.
A spokesman for the automaker said there were no definite plans to use the technology inside cars. But the collaboration between the automaker and Google shows the progress the Web search leader is making expanding beyond the computer realm.