The Garmin K2 infotainment platform could bring their glass cockpit tech to your car
Ah, new years. It can only mean one thing – the Consumer Electronics Show deluging us with shiny shiny. Here’s a roundup of items that didn’t get their own post, but are GPS/location related:
Garmin
- Pictured above is a graphic of Garmin’s K2 infotainment platform, which was inspired by their glass cockpit aviation tech and which they are hawking to car manufacturers
- The Garmin fleet™ 590 will be available only through Garmin fleet management partners; here is the news release
TomTom
- TomTom Unveils TomTom HD Traffic, Version 6.0 (EDIT: Fixed link)
- TomTom HD Traffic comes to Telenav
Going mobile
- INRIX app now tells you best time to leave and if traffic is better or worse than normal
- Temporary location-sharing app Glympse comes to Ford SYNC
- ParkMe and INRIX team up to make finding parking easier
GPS tracking
- A GPS tracking watch for your kids
GPS drones
- Parrot AR Drone gets GPS, new battery, and video software
- DJI launches GPS-enabled PHANTOM consumer quadcopter
All the rest
- Leikr’s GPS sportswatch: how a group of ex-Nokia triathletes are innovating on the wrist
- iON launches POV camera with Wi-Fi, GPS, and a gyroscope
- Non-GPS tracking:Trakdot Luggage hands-on: find your lost bags
About Rich Owings
The Garmin thing looks nice, but appears to only be for car manufacturers to build into new cars. No one really seems to care about existing cars and we do keep them for longer so this is a big market as whatever cars came with new will be rapidly outdated even a few years later.
Parrot is one company that has tried to address the installed base – eg the Asteroid http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/asteroid-range – but reviews for the products are somewhat negative complaining about poor software.