Can't wait until I can use my iPhone for parking meters, parking garages and local transit fares!
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-09-29-unlock-iphone-zipcar_N.htm?csp=34
An iPhone gets Zipcar drivers on their way
SAN FRANCISCO â€" The iPhone can do many things. Now it can even lock and unlock a car and start the engine.
Cambridge, Mass.-based car-sharing service Zipcar this week launched an app that lets you locate and reserve one of its vehicles, unlock it using the iPhone's touch-screen and drive it off the lot.
"The iPhone is a pipeline for almost one-third of our members," says Luke Schneider, Zipcar's chief technology officer. "This is something they have been asking for."
While there are many iPhone apps for autos, most are focused on directions, traffic, roadside assistance and games. Zipcar's app is the first to control the operation of a car, which is why David Cole, chairman of the Ann Arbor, Mich.- based Center for Auto Research, calls it a "breakthrough."
"Once you have this kind of electronic ability in a cellphone, there's no end to the type of technology you could bring to cars," he says.
How it works
Zipcar operates mostly in big urban areas, in 13 major cities and 120 university campuses. Members pay a $50 annual fee plus around $7 an hour to rent a car for a few hours, including gas and insurance.
To reserve a car, Zipcar offers telephone or Web-based tools. Now, a reservation can also begin from the iPhone. The transaction is completed with a map and directions to the nearest Zipcar parking lot.
Once there, Zipcar members find their car by using the iPhone to honk a virtual horn, which in turns triggers the real horn on the reserved Zipcar.
Next: Swipe the membership card over the dash to get access to the car keys, which are left in the car but are powerless without the authorization.
Once the member card has been swiped, Zipcar members can use the virtual iPhone to unlock the car doors and drive away for the duration of their trip.
"When you look at the app, it looks just like a car key," says Jim McDowell, vice president of BMW's Mini division, whose vehicles are used by Zipcar. "To give you the ability to get into a car with one touch on an iPhone is really cool."
Schneider made this work with basic cellular technology.
"The app uses the same wireless network that keeps the Zipcar fleet connected," he says.
A little black box Schneider calls the Zipcar M200 â€" the "brains" of the car â€" sits in all vehicles in a hidden location, controlling the use of the car. It prevents, for instance, the driving of the car â€" even with the keys â€" if a windshield is smashed by thieves.
Sharing a key, via iPhone
There are a lot of upper-end vehicles on the market that offer "keyless" ways to start an engine, using radio signals.
You get assigned a key and a fob for new models of the Mini, for instance. As long as it is in your pocket or purse, you can start the car by pressing the start button.
"If I'm going to the gym with a gym bag in one hand, and briefcase in the other, I really don't want to have to fumble for my keys," McDowell says.
Getting the average family to share a key is easy, he adds. "But in this case, it's thousands of people sharing a key, via the iPhone."
Now that Schneider has shown how to open and start a car with a cellphone, will manufacturers jump aboard?
It could happen in five to 10 years, says Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "I wouldn't be surprised if all the next-generation cars have electronic locks tied to smartphones."
Schneider first demonstrated the iPhone Zipcar app at a June gathering of Apple software developers, expecting it to be available over the summer.
It's taken longer than expected, mainly to test it on many vehicles.
Security was vital.
"We had to make sure the information was as secure as if we accessed it in the traditional way," Schneider says.
Meanwhile, while technology is great â€" it's not always foolproof.
What happens if your iPhone runs out of juice? (Better reach for your old-fashioned Zipcar membership card to start the car.)
Or worse: What if you lose the iPhone midway through the trip?
"Use a friend's cellphone and call us," Schneider says. "We'll take care of it."
(http://www.familycar.com/Classics/images/63avanti.jpg)
QuoteIt could happen in five to 10 years, says Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "I wouldn't be surprised if all the next-generation cars have electronic locks tied to smartphones."
The police state and military implications of this system could be horrific. Imagine trying to get the next car out of Nanking, and the Imperial Japanese Navy has killed your car with electronics... Kent State? Cambodia? Fascist? Communist insurgents? Terrorist?
Just give me a 1963 Studebaker Avanti!OCKLAWAHA
Pretty then and pretty now Ock...........originals are getting expensive from what I understand and rightfully so.............several years ago average price was 60K + ....don't know what it could be now!
There is one parked in the 2200 block of Ernest Street everyday. Studebaker was always way out there on the styling of the cars. Sometimes they were way ahead of every body else, sometimes they were WAY off to the side! What was the one with the extravagant tail fins? Hawk?
I believe so..........they also had a "Golden Hawk" if I remember correctly ......boy that Avanti was way ahead of its time.......there was a Canadian Company that was making those care and not long ago, were not cheap!
(http://image.motortrend.com/f/car-news/avanti-motors-future-plans-in-flux-after-arrest-of-chairman/1057579+w570+cr1+re0+ar1/avanti.jpg)
Studebaker, was/is one of the greatest and long lived story's in the USA. Starting WAY into the 1800's, they mass produced covered wagons, and carriages! When the autos hit the road, so did they. In WWII they designed and build the Wright Cyclone engines that powered our Flying Fortress Bombers. Didn't think anyone else in town even knew what an Avanti was. LOL. They are not building autos anymore, but still VERY MUCH alive, even some "auto dreams" for the next boom.
When Studebaker shut down, the employees of the new Avanti shop and line, asked and got permission to continue production as "Avanti Motors" I think the last body style (always true to the classic shape) came out in 2007. Through the 1960's and maybe into the 70's the company was still working from part of the old factory. As the original men retired or died off, the company was bought and sold several times. Last US production was in Morrow, Georgia. About 4 years ago they announced a brand new factory in Mexico, the photos looked great... then nothing. The Avanti club of America was upset as they said the 2000-2007 Georgia models we're the best ever made. They do have current addresses and E:mail. If you are too young to remember Studebaker, or Avanti this site will get you up to speed:
http://www.theavanti.com/news.htm
Just before leaving for Colombia, my wife and I went for a spin in a new Town Coupe Convertable, at Cocoa Beach, I think I was drooling.
That never really gets old look, is because it was designed by Raymond Loewry, as in coke bottles, streamlined trains, and JFK's Art Deco Air Force One. He said transportation should always look like it is in motion, even when parked, that was his Avanti Concept.
OCKLAWAHA