Ray Van Eng (09/15/97)             

Computer has become an integral part of auto-engineering. These days, a modern vehicle simply won't run without the presence of electronic circuitry monitoring the anti-lock brake system, air bags, engine performance, and other safety mechanism.

In many of these instances, semiconductor suppliers such as Motorola Inc., SGS Thomson and Siemens AG have made their way into the automotive industry.

But Intel Corp. from the PC world is pushing for the idea of using computing power to offer unique personalized communication and entertainment services ranging from accessing the Internet, checking e-mail or telephone messages, getting traffic, weather and news reports to using the global positioning system (GPS) to calculate the car's exact location and offering auto navigation capabilities.

There is even plans to install digital video disk (DVD) devices to play digital video movies and games for kids in the back seats.

Since many auto safety experts consider talking on the cellular while driving can be hazardous to your health and those of others, such activities as grabbing news off the Internet, sending and receiving e-mail are to be enabled with voice recognition technology to offer drivers hands-off operations.

There is also a law-enforcement angle to the wired vehicle scenario. If you car is being stolen, the on-board electronics might help police find it or the engine can be shut down completely to prevent the thief from driving it away.

Intel thinks that in three years time, some five million 'connected cars' could be entering in the market. As a result, the world's largest chip maker is teaming up with the French Citroen and the Italian Magnetti Marelli SpA, a unit of Fiat SpA in designing these wired vehicles.