If you have ever experienced the frustration of trying to email a friend on your iPhone while parked in a dark lay-by, then car makers are about to come to your rescue. A new range of models with internet facilities built into the dashboard will enable drivers to surf the net, send emails, use Skype and call up sites such as Google Maps to get detailed information about their route and destination. If all they want to do is check out prices at the January sales as they drive to the shopping centre, they will be able to do that too.
The technology will be rolled out by two of the biggest brands over the next 18 months. Audi and Ford are preparing to release different versions of the technology, while other manufacturers are set to follow. Some car makers claim the new facility will transform cars from tools used to get from A to B into mobile offices, complete with all the conveniences of the digital age.
John Schneider, Ford's chief engineer in charge of infotainment, says: "We're giving owners a variety of connectivity options and letting them choose what works best for them. Customers will be able to park their car and use the onscreen browser or log on with a laptop in the back seat by using the car as a mobile hotspot."
Ford will launch its first web-enabled car in 2011. The new Focus will feature what boffins at the manufacturer have branded the MyFord Touch, a state-of-the-art in-car computer that brings the internet direct to the dashboards of a mass-produced vehicle for the first time.
The slick-looking centre console will allow users to access the web via a built-in browser, developed in conjunction with Microsoft, and an 8in LCD touchscreen. The browser operates by picking up a signal from either the driver's 3G mobile via Bluetooth, or by a dongle - a mobile modem - being plugged into one of the vehicle's two built-in USB ports.
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Once connected, the dongle effectively creates a wireless hotspot throughout the vehicle. As long as the car is stationary, the driver can use the touchscreen or plug in a keyboard to surf the web and complete everyday tasks such as sending email. When the car is in motion, the in-built browser shuts down for obvious safety reasons, but with the dongle connected, passengers can jump on their laptops to access the wi-fi signal to surf the web - although potentially at much slower speeds than you would expect at home.
Enabling vehicles to be connected to the internet is rapidly becoming the hottest area of research for car makers. It has also caught the attention of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo. His interest in Saab, the struggling Swedish car maker that looks set to be closed down by its owner, General Motors, appears to be driven in part by its suitability as a test-bed for the new technology.
Genii Capital, the investment group that Ecclestone has joined forces with to make a bid for Saab, announced it is interested in Voip (voice over internet protocol), GPS systems, and, possibly, video streaming in cars. It said that by putting the ailing Swedish car maker, with its innovative image, at the cutting edge of these new technologies, the group could make the company's vehicles more attractive to younger, well-heeled, tech-savvy buyers.
It is a market Audi is already targeting. The firm is on course to beat Ford by launching a web-enabled version of the new A8 saloon as early as this summer. The car will go on sale in May, but from June the company says it will be fully connected to the internet via a partnership with Google. The deal will allow drivers to log on to the Google browser, surf the web and, in the future, make Voip phone calls.
Audi will also offer drivers the option of seeing a map of their route overlaid onto the high-resolution and three-dimensional satellite imaging of Google Earth - a first for a production car. "If you're going somewhere that you haven't been to before, using the Google Earth feature gives you the option of viewing more detail about your destination", says David Ingram, an Audi spokesman. "You can find hotels, places of interest, restaurants or museums. It's about additional information being available, should you desire it."
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The A8, priced from £54,760, comes with an 8in monitor controlled via a touchpad. Drivers will be able to write a phone number on the screen with their fingertips and then have it automatically dialled by the car's computer. Equally, by entering an address on the pad, or speaking it out loud, the system will recognise the request and provide a map location and directions to it.
The drive towards web-connected cars is likely to dismay safety campaigners who claim that in-car distractions cause many accidents. In America, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week released figures that showed nearly 6,000 people were killed by distracted drivers across America in 2008.
In the UK, the Department for Transport says that in the same year "in-car distraction" was a contributing factor in 84 fatalities, 429 serious injuries and 4,255 slight injuries. Distractions ranged from using a mobile phone at the wheel to changing radio stations, and campaigners fear that increasing the number of in-car devices will have a corresponding effect on accidents.
Car makers argue that the systems are designed to make driving easier and safer, and there is little chance of them backing away from creating ever more complex cabins. Audi's system comes with a pop-up warning when activated that reads: "Please only use the online services when traffic conditions allow you to do so safely."
Neither will the legal position for UK drivers who use the web while on the move (see panel above) dissuade firms from developing connected cars.
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"Constant connectivity is becoming a routine part of our customers' lives. It's what the iPhone generation expects," says Mark Fields, president of Ford in the Americas. "The expectations of average drivers have outgrown the traditional button or gauge interface used in cars, and now, while you're driving to your grandmother's house, your spouse can be finishing the holiday shopping and the kids can be chatting with friends and updating their Facebook profiles."
Will web-enabled cars fall foul of the law?
Safety campaigners claim that distractions in the cockpit contribute to accidents. The most obvious law aimed at reducing such distractions - the ban on using a mobile phone while driving - is unlikely to apply to the use of the built-in internet features. Although a person will have to press buttons or give voice commands to operate in-car internet, the law relates specifically to handheld devices, not those built into the dashboard.
There is no law preventing you taking your hands off the steering wheel to operate controls. The most likely prosecution would be after an accident, and would refer to your standard of driving. If it could be shown (by a trail of emails, for example) that you were distracted, the charge could be careless or even dangerous driving - serious offences carrying up to 11 points on your licence, fines, possible disqualification or even a jail sentence.
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It is the fact you were driving dangerously or carelessly that is the offence, not the distraction; after all, talking to a passenger is distracting but not illegal. So a police officer who sees you playing with the touchscreen couldn't charge you for that alone.
The law as it stands gives rise to an illogical consequence, however. Since you are deemed to be driving, even if sitting in stationary car with the ignition on, then using a smartphone to send an email or search the web would be illegal. If you were doing the same thing via the built-in web browser, you are breaking no law.
Martin Francis