Google Earth Volkswagen Car Navigation Systems

Volkswagen of America, Inc. and Google recently presented the future of vehicle navigation at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and it's closer to virtual reality than ever before. Volkswagen, Google, and graphics chipmaker, nVidia, are working on an in-car navigation map system and display that is three-dimensional and promises to be more real looking than anything that's available today.

Using the new system, both driver and passenger will be able to instinctively recognize where they are in relation to the surrounding topography, especially in urban areas that are depicted with depth and accurate size relationships between buildings and roads.

Volkswagen, working through its Electronic Research Laboratory (ERL), in Palo Alto, California, is also working on other advancements together with Google and nVidia, including automatic personalized content updates for its vehicle navigation systems.

Highlights of Volkswagen's prototype vehicle include a vehicle-centric touchscreen interface to Google Earth with state-of-the-art graphics, accurate 3D maps, and real-time traffic updates and routing. This open system harnesses the power of the web to maintain a dynamic database of current information on restaurants, dealerships, gas stations and other points of interest that can be overlaid directly onto the user's 3D map. With the increasing accuracy of GPS, dead-reckoning and laser-radar imaging, as well as ever-improving car-to-infrastructure communication, this prototype is expected make it into production in the near future.

High-quality 3D and satellite-based representations of the world are becoming an exciting feature in online search engines and navigation. These photo-realistic, high-resolution 3D images are not only more engaging for the user, but they are also more efficient and accurate at conveying information than traditional 2D mapping representations.