CES - Car tech

Editor's note: This live event has concluded. For a brief rundown of what was announced, including new electric versions of the Ford Focus and an improved version of the MyFord Touch console, check out our summary post here. You can also replay our live blog in the Cover It Live module below.

LAS VEGAS--Ford CEO Alan Mulally will be delivering a keynote address here Friday morning at 11 a.m. Along with talking about past Ford cabin tech innovations such as Sync and MyFord Touch, we expect him to introduce the Ford Focus electric car.

Ford has maintained a … Read more

LAS VEGAS--A techie and his smartphone are seldom separated, but even the most phone-obsessed of us have had moments where we've left for work or walked out of a bar without our precious phone.

On hand at CES 2011 is a neat little car tech gadget called the Bringrr, which wirelessly checks that your mobile phone is in the car when you embark on a trip. The Bringrr sits in your vehicle's 12-volt charger and pairs with your phone via Bluetooth. When it senses the car starting, it pings your phone wirelessly. If the phone is present, nothing … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Remember when TomTom launched a $120 GPS car kit for iPhone last year and everyone screamed "too expensive!" Well, Pioneer just announced a similar kit of similar functionality at a similar price point at this year's CES. We're wondering if history is doomed to repeat itself.

Pioneer's car kit holds your iPhone or iPod Touch in place while you drive with a swiveling cradle with a 30-pin dock connector. The unit features a GPS receiver that enhances the positioning and accuracy of the iPhone and adds positioning to the iPod Touch. There's also … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Pioneer updated its AVIC X and Z series in-dash receivers with the capability to interface with the Aha Radio mobile app for iPhone. Taking advantage of the iPhone's 3G connection, Aha aggregates the user's social network feeds, RSS feeds, and podcasts into an audio stream that can be listened to while driving.

Users can connect their Apple iPhone running the Aha app to the newly released AVIC-X930BT or AVIC-Z130BT using the USB connection. After a short pairing process, users are able to take control of the app using the AVIC's touch screen. Granted, there's not … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf both have associated smartphone apps to help their tech-savvy owners cope with range issues, and now Ford announces a similar app, called MyFord Mobile, for its upcoming electric Focus. The app offers features ranging from remote door unlock to trip planning to a system of achievements that can be posted to social networking sites.

To help electric Focus owners save money, MyFord Mobile uses a system from Microsoft to determine the best charging times. Instead of the owner scheduling a charge from midnight to 6 a.m., for example, this feature asks the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Audiovox knows that rear-seat DVD player sales are slumping, and its previous endeavors with the FLO TV digital video service ended in failure, so the electronics manufacturer is looking to reinvent headrest-based mobile entertainment in a very interesting way. It's debuting a prototype Android-powered rear-seat entertainment system.

The system combines a rear-seat DVD player and an Android tablet into one mobile hub. Users can connect the system to the Internet to stream YouTube videos, update their Facebook pages, and access other online content from the backseat. The prototype features a full Android 2.1 Eclair experience--there's even … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Audi chairman Rupert Stadler delivered a keynote address at CES on Thursday morning, marking the company's first major presence at the consumer electronics event. But although he had plenty of flashy things to show, there were no new concrete announcements.

Actor James Cromwell took the stage first to talk about his role in the movie "I, Robot" and whether the autonomous cars portrayed were pure science fiction or something we could expect to see in our lifetimes.

After Cromwell's short speech, CEA head Robert Shapiro and Rupert Stadler drove onto the stage in the Audi e-tron Spyder, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Automotive supplier Continental brought a car to CES sporting a new head unit with an Android operating system. Continental used the Volkswagen CC to demonstrate some of the possible apps that drivers would find useful. Continental calls the system AutoLinq.

During a demonstration, a Continental representative showed a teen driver app with a number of features parents would appreciate. The car's navigation system contains speed limit data, so the teen driver app initially flashes a yellow warning screen if the current road's speed limit is exceeded. If the car continues to speed, the app flashes a red … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Capturing 3D video requires two lenses; that's how the human head does it and how 3D cameras do it. GoPro, maker of the HD Hero series of outdoor action cameras, has added the capability to capture 3D video to its bag of tricks by simply slapping a pair of its 2D cameras together.

OK, so it's not as simple as I'm making it sound, but at its core, the 3D Hero case is the high-tech equivalent of duct taping a pair of cameras together and hitting play at the same time. However, there's a bit more to it.

The case maintains GoPro's waterproof, shock-resistant design, but also includes the 3D Hero link cable. This connection joins the two HD Hero cameras by their BUS connections and allows one camera to take full control of the second, automatically syncing video capture and settings with the touch of a button.… Read more