Vehicle Internet Appliance (VIA)

Summary form only given. We present the design and implementation of an open and cost-effective vehicle information appliance (VIA) to enable the access to all car status information (e.g., engine temperature, engine condition, brakes, etc), as well as communicating with car passengers (e.g., multimedia video conferencing). The main objective of the vehicle Internet appliance is to effectively utilize the Internet technology and services to make each car accessible by both car manufacturers and consumers by just browsing the vehicle Web site in a similar way to browsing any other Web site on the Internet. In this project, a cost-effective and novel interface architecture that enables the existing car networks such as the can (controller area network) and the most (media oriented systems transport) to be integrated with Internet services through general packet radio service (gprs) is designed, constructed and tested. Furthermore, the VIA opens up a possibility for an integrated communication environment for car status information, Internet, cellular phone and entertainment rather than being provided using isolated technologies (e.g., cellular voice service, gps, Internet services, field test data acquisition, etc). The application of VIA is explained in three major categories: manufacturing, entertainment, and safety and protection.