AT&T is joining the connected car market, with the unveiling of its Connected Car program during its keynote here at CES 2o13. According to AT&T Mobility CEO, Ralph de la Vega, analysts expect more than 20 million connected cars will take to the road in the next three years, and AT&T wants to be at the forefront of this emerging market.
To prove its intentions, de la Vega showed off a video providing attendees with a glimpse at the kind of technologies they can expect to see in their vision of the future connected car. The video started out a gentleman getting into his vehicle, unlocking the door via biometric sensors.
Once inside, the vehicle comes to life and immediately recognizes the driver, providing him with recent emails and other information. The voice software has a friendly, conversational tone to it, something that's completely different from the current robotic sounding voice software being implemented in today's connected cars.
AT&T says it wants users' cars to be assistants that connect them to their personal cloud. It features voice-activated email dictation, real-time traffic monitoring with alternate route guidance and smartphone connectivity. can also find you a place to pull over safely.
In addition to the navigation and app-friendly systems being implemented in current vehicles, AT&T also wants to allow backseat passengers to access entertainment offerings. The video showed users accessing AT&T's Uverse from the backseat via two large displays, wallowing them to watch TV shows and take video calls.
If AT&T can get all of the systems promised in its video into future connected cars, hitting the road could get a lot more interesting.
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