The world at your Fiat

There are stories in the papers every day about the number of deaths on the road. It has become a kind of national obsession – and an understandable one, given that so many lives are being lost. In the context, anything that enables drivers to maintain concentration has to be a good thing. Which is why the in-car, hands-free market has become so important. However, to date, it has largely ignored the one thing that practically all of you reading this will consider vital: music.
For some time now, mobile phones have been able to plug into various devices, so that you can talk without having to hold a set to your ear. However, any attempt to transfer your record collection to the car has so far involved doing literally that. Result: the glove-box, side-pockets and back seat become littered with broken cases and scratched CDs. Not an ideal scenario, to put it mildly.
Now, however, there’s a breakthrough to report. Fiat and Microsoft have formed a partnership, and designed a system which is destined to take in-car communications and entertainment a quantum leap forward.
Based on Bluetooth technology, Blue & Me, as the system is called, offers the world’s first voice-activated, totally hands-free integrated auto system. The first examples of the new technology have been installed in the latest range of Fiat Grande Puntos – and boy are they impressive.
In terms of music, the system works via a USB port, placed in the glove compartment. Into this, you plug one of a range of compatible MP3 players, or ‘storage devices’, and the music contained within is then accessed, either through a series of keywords or via the steering wheel controls.
The display is at a handy eye level on the dashboard, meaning that, for Grande Punto drivers, the days of ducking down and fiddling with buttons and dials on a radio-come-CD player are gone forever.
The voice-activated mobile phone part of the package works on a similar premise. Any Bluetooth-enabled phone – there are over a hundred models at present – is compatible. To make a call, all you need to do is call out the name or number you wish to contact. There is no need for cumbersome preliminary voice training or repeated shouting of the word ‘home’. Believe me – I’ve tried it!
With microphones and speakers built-in around the car, the reception is perfect, avoiding the pitfalls such systems encountered in the past. There is no need to take your hands off the wheel at any point in the proceedings. Incoming calls can similarly be accepted or rejected at the touch of a button, while Blue & Me will automatically turn the audio system down while you talk. The next step will be for Blue & Me to display text messages. Don’t worry: it’s coming.
The benefits of all this are clear. No-one should need reminding of our appalling safety record on the roads. In the campaign to change this, not enough attention has been paid to the sheer volume of distractions that vie for a driver’s attention. We all know that, if we don’t have a hands-free set, we should ignore the phone (or better still just switch it off) – yet you regularly come across people chatting on their phones as they drive. We also know that we should resist the temptation to root around through the CDs when babble on the radio becomes too much – but who hasn’t done the rummaging?
Having realised that this is a problem that needs to be addressed, Microsoft and Fiat have come up with an elegant solution. The Blue & Me technology will, of course, only be available in brand new cars, initially the Grande Punto, Alfa Romeo 159 and Brera, and will cost €295. It is designed to be always up-to-date, up-gradeable and flexible, offering a platform that can be adapted to most mobile phones, digital media players and other devices.
Even given the extraordinary rate of development in the technology sector, it is a massive progression. The future, it seems, really is at your fingertips.
Top 10 Songs to put on your car's MP3
1. Drive My Car – The Beatles
2. Autobahn – Kraftwerk
3. Drive – The Cars
4. Fast Cars – U2
5. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – Lucinda Willims
6. Highway to Hell – AC/DC
7. I Drove All Night – Roy Orbison
8. Pink Cadillac – Bruce Springsteen
9. Drivin’ on 9 – The Breeders
10. No Particular Place To Go – Chuck Berry