The Communiport currently uses a higher speed Hitachi SH-3 processor, but I was told, by the people at the booth, that an SH-4 version is imminent. This is a good thing, since Visteon and Clarion are both using 166Mhz Pentium class processors. Also, while Delphi has announced no plans to make the Communiport an aftermarket product, some casual eavesdropping around the booth revealed that there's something in the works.

Conclusion
So there you have the three new Auto PC products. None of these products are available for purchase yet, but are all slated to be delivered in the last half of 2000. Unfortunately, for those of us who have existing Auto PCs, there's no upgrade path. Also, these new units will be far more expensive than the original Auto PCs from what I hear. The large screen alone adds a massive amount to the cost of the units, since the screens must be able to handle the temperature extremes of the vehicle and be visible in direct sunlight.

WirelessRoad and beyond
There's some good news for current Auto PC owners, though. The good people at Vetronix, the folks who make the Auto PC CarPort product that interfaces the Auto PC to your vehicles electrical system, announced a new product for the Auto PC called WirelessRoad. WirelessRoad brings full two-way email and clipped Web content to your Auto PC using the same wireless network as the Palm VII and the Visteon ICES from Mobitex. The email allows you to receive and send full length messages.

Some creative use of speech recognition system in the Auto PC allows you to reply with voice to email messages. You can select Web content with voice, too, and the Auto PC reads it back to you. The unit plugs into the Auto PC's universal serial bus. It also provides a much more robust wireless connection for vehicles equipped with the Vetronix CarPort module. The CarPort supports remote unlocking of your doors if you have a wireless module such as the CUE network or the Vetronix WirelessRoad. While CUE has better nationwide coverage than the Mobitex network, the Mobitex network is two-way and has much better building penetration in my experience.

That sums up the key Auto PC developments at CES. Much more could be written, but I don't have the space for it here. Watch for press releases from Clarion, Delphi, and Visteon. This Auto PC's HOT, and the fire is just getting started!

Mark Moeller is a 14 year veteran of Microsoft. After shipping the first version of the Auto PC, he left Microsoft to found AutoPCWare, a company focused on helping manufacturers and software vendors build Auto PCs or products for the Auto PC. Mark was the design architect of the first version of the Auto PC and has a number of patents pending or awarded on the Auto PC. You can visit his Web site at http://www.autopcware.com, or email him at markmo@autopcware.com.