Soon, cars with wireless Internet connection

Washington, June 23 : American automobile manufacturer Chrysler has plans to equip its cars with a system that will enable people to surf the Internet while driving.

The UConnect Web system is what the company says can bring wireless Internet access to cars' dashboards.

Frank Klegon, the company's vice-president, says that they wants to gain a reputation for high-tech cars.

"In today's market, Chrysler's mission is to bring innovation to market more quickly," Wired News quoted Klegon as saying.

Officials at the company have revealed that UConnect Web uses cellular and WiFi technology to provide "instant access" to the internet.

According to them, anyone in the car will be able to check e-mail, download music, play games and even upload photos from an SD card directly to Flickr.

They claim that all wireless devices and " major gaming systems" will work with UConnect.

The company says that the new system will be competitive with laptop wireless cards, and that customers will not be tied to long contracts.

It, however, is still unclear as to which models will be equipped with UConnect, and how much it will cost.

It also remains to be seen whether consumers want such a system, as there is no evidence suggesting that car buyers want to surf the web behind the wheel.

"There could be some opportunity there, but we constantly see that internet access in the car is pretty much at the end of the priorities for consumers. The car is not being seen as an internet-browsing platform," says Thilo Koslowki, an IT analyst with the tech research firm Gartner.

Pointing out that automakers are "leapfrogging consumer demand", Koslowski stresses the importance of making cars compatible with iPhones, BlackBerrys and other devices.

"I don't think the industry is looking at it from that perspective. Right now most of the emphasis is on replicating what you do at home on your desktop or laptop," he says.

Some of the experts behind the project believe that enabling cars to communicate wirelessly with each other may help increase safety, relieve congestion, and manage traffic.

Such a system may also allow cars to track everything around them, and respond accordingly to avoid collisions.

Cars with wireless communication systems may also help provide real-time traffic information so that drivers could avoid backups, as well as create a national system for paying tolls electronically.

ANI