AOpen and Mitsubishi unveil Windows XP-powered CAR PC

While most folks (and automakers) would be completely satisfied with a svelte in-car navigation system with Bluetooth and MP3 playback, Mitsubishi is looking to shove a full-featured, Windows XP-powered computer in your dash. The company's CAR PC, which was co-developed by AOpen, looks like your average NAV option at first glance, but behind the plastic lies a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M370, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD / CD drive, Windows XP Home, and a SiRF Star III GPS receiver. Additionally, it sports a 7-inch 800 x 480 resolution LCD, voice activation functionality, and the ability to hit up your email and hold a Skype conversation thanks to 3G connectivity. No details were mentioned concerning price or hard availability dates, but it should start hitting Taiwanese cars soon, with China and America to get the goods in the future.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

[roman.kim @ Jan 11th 2007 5:04PM]

win xp?

It would be weird when you tell someone your car caught a virus.

[h @ Jan 11th 2007 5:07PM]

You have to hope that you don't get the Blue Screen Of Death while on the freeway.

[roman.kim @ Jan 11th 2007 5:08PM]

win xp?

It would be sorta awkward when you tell someone your car caught a virus...

[Jonathan Keim @ Jan 11th 2007 5:10PM]

Yeah, that would be odd.
Anyway, I was going to comment on the fast memory. Why would they put DDR2 in with a cheezy 1.5 celeron

[matto @ Jan 11th 2007 5:13PM]

(Insert "crash" double entendre here.)

[Nabil @ Jan 11th 2007 5:23PM]

The big question remains:

Will it play Duke Nukem 3D?

And will you be able to play and drive at the same time?

[Matt @ Jan 11th 2007 5:30PM]

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/1336/11107carpcwb7.jpg

What happens when it does that? ^^^

[Rick Lyon @ Jan 11th 2007 6:53PM]

...what about doing that while you're driving 80mph down I-95?

I always fear a windows based computer controlling my car. Is this just a built in laptop with no tie into the car's electronics? Or is it like the brains of the car?

Do you get Messenger Alert windows asking you to upgrade to XP Pro every week? What about asking you to download updates? Let's not forget viruses. Car thieves could easily hack in and unlock your car doors...

[JeffNLA @ Jan 11th 2007 5:34PM]

I'd take that system over the iDrive in my 2006 650i BMW anyday!

[glacia @ Jan 11th 2007 5:41PM]

I really like the idea of true integration. I bash the car industry a lot for being 10-15 years behind the tech curve - and they are - but whether or not you hate MS and all peanut gallery comments aside this is inarguably the right direction. And if they make it user upgradeable it would be even better.

Now whether AOpen is the right hardware is the question. I don't have any reason to think they don't make good hardware but I also don't know that they do either.

[Jeff Foster @ Jan 11th 2007 5:47PM]

It seems to me that cramming a "fully functional XP" machine into a car is hardly a step forward... it's just a step sideways.

real progress would be a new user interface that actually makes sense being in a car. This "cram XP into everything we can" thing is quite the opposite of "progress"

That's why the iPhone will succeed, and any lame XP-phone MS pumps out will fail.

[Arbee26 @ Jan 13th 2007 10:01PM]

@Jeff Foster, I'd like to see your response if it was apple doing the integration of a CarPC. I bet you have a poster of Steve on your bedroom door too.

CarPCs have been around before this but it was all custom made stuff. I think the 'catch a virus, BSOD, crash your car' argument is absolute dribble. Since when did a carpc control the brakes, throttle or engine management system.

[John Doe @ Jan 11th 2007 6:10PM]

No.

[Alex @ Jan 11th 2007 6:22PM]

Umm...Microsoft doesn't cram Windows XP into phones. Microsoft has something called Windows Mobile that powers many smartphones and Pocket PC phones on the market. Apple is the one that's trying to claim they have crammed OS X into the iPhone, which we know is not true. They are doing exactly what Microsoft has done with Windows Mobile, by designing a version of their OS specifically for a mobile application.

[applesucksLeo @ Jan 11th 2007 7:48PM]

Actually the MSFT "SYNCH" system is already in European cars and will be in Ford for a one year exclusive soon...then in millions of other cars of other brands too , such as BMW.It has a good track record so far.

[College Guy @ Jan 11th 2007 8:49PM]

I really don't want Microsoft Windows in my car. Car makers will probably at the least offer a choice rather than have people like me forgo a new car because its dash is powered by MS. I want my car to get good mileage and not need repairs, I couldn't care less if it has email. Cars are for driving.

[glacia @ Jan 11th 2007 11:50PM]

"real progress would be a new user interface that actually makes sense being in a car."
From the picture it does have a unique interface. The one shown is in Japanese but it isn't just an XP interface.

"I always fear a windows based computer controlling my car."
It isn't controlling the car

"Car thieves could easily hack in and unlock your car doors"
It doesn't control the doors.

What it does have is a GPS & nav system, 40Gigs of storage for audio and 3G for Skype and voice recognition. And it isn't dangling off of some cord or plugged into some ugly as sin kluged in connector on the dash. It's integrated which is where this stuff should be.

[Dave @ Jan 12th 2007 12:10AM]

Another article with no research, way to go guys!! I've had XP running in my car since it came out. Check out www.mp3car.com where this system looks like old news, as usual.. Hell, the idiots on pimp my ride even managed to get one done two years ago in one of their horrible creations.

[Jypson @ Jan 12th 2007 12:33AM]

I've been using XP in my car w/ a touchscreen for quite a while now. The only thing I wish it had was a quality front end so I can use the touch screen easier instead of relying on a touch pad.

[Aaron @ Jan 12th 2007 6:38AM]

I'm a PC user and I plan to buy Vista and all that, so I've got nothing against Windows, but it seems to me that a smaller, simpler OS, like a version of Linux made specifically for this, would make more sense. I don't see the reason for it running XP. Although, if it works out, it'd be cool if we started seeing more cars with built-in PC functionality. I think that is the future.

[Gordy @ Jan 12th 2007 10:02AM]

The jokes just write themselves...don't they?

[glacia @ Jan 12th 2007 11:31AM]

"I've had XP running in my car since it came out." There are a hundred ways to kluge it in aftermarket but I don't think there are (m)any car manufacturers offering it factory installed & integrated like this.

"it seems to me that a smaller, simpler OS, like a version of Linux made specifically for this" If you look closely the picture looks like a custom version of Origami OS. And not a full blown XP.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/10/first-shots-impressions-of-origami-experience/

"The jokes just write themselves...don't they?" Jokes don'r write jokes idiots do.

[glacia @ Jan 12th 2007 11:53AM]

Actually it didn't take a whole lot of looking elsewhere to find out the OS is probably a version of Windows called Microsoft Windows Automotive or Windows Mobile for Automotive. And since it's an open platform Mitsubishi probably wrote some of the software itself.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsautomotive/wa5/default.mspx

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2007 2:50AM]

You seemed to severely missed the point. I didn't mention any so-called "dribble" such as the dreaded BSOD or virii... only that (and sorry to be redundant, but you're sorta asking for it) cramming a full XP machine into a car is hardly innovative. you seem to agree by saying it's nothing new.

And to explain WHY, i'm drawing a parallel to the iPhone, in that it's based on OS X, but not MAC OS X, it's not just another crappy thing with a bloated and ineffective OS crammed into it, it's an entirely new interface that MAKES SENSE.

People were, for a while, cramming Mac Minis into their cars (a mac mini is exactly a double din) and - you'll never guess - i thought it was stupid. A DESKTOP operating system has no place in a car, because that's stupid, as i had originally said.

Creating some kind of NEW interaction that actually MAKES SENSE being in a chunk of metal you're barreling down the road at 80mph in, whether MS (unlikely) or anyone else makes it, is irrelevant. THIS is meerly a side-step that solves nothing and serves no purpose. (that, and MS has a long history of cramming full, bloated Operating Systems into devices that do not need them, creating more problems without solving anything.)

cheers

[Arbee26 @ Jan 14th 2007 5:27AM]

@Jeff, sorry, the 'dribble' comment wasn't meant for you - it's was directed at some of the other commentors. The other point I want to make is that it isn't MS that's cramming WinXP into cars, it's Aopen and Mitsu in this case. They could've decided Linux, Windows Mobile or OSX was the way to go but they didn't so I can't see the need to have a go at MS on this one. I agree that a desktop OS may not be the best option for a car but it does offer the most options with third party software being so abundant. The only thing that has always concerned me about any desktop OS in a car is the bootup and shutdown times... by the time it's loaded, you may be at your destination. Having said that, I'd still like the idea of a carPC perhaps running a stripped down version of XP on a big SSD. Big it on!

[Maverick @ Jan 15th 2007 8:50AM]

Guys. shut the F up. Being anti Microsoft is no measure of you guys being smart.