Hasta La Gadget!

In-car navigation HUDs may be safer than dash systems, but let’s face it, they can’t yet claim to be pretty. Enter Garmin’s modular K2 infotainment system, which has been specially modified to suit the futuristic look of Mercedes’ new 4.7-liter bi-turbo V8 Concept S-Class Coupé. Gone are the flat designs of old, replaced with Garmin’s advanced 3D city models, which include parks, rivers, textured buildings and, of course, navigable roads. We don’t know when or if Garmin’s in-dash system will make it into a production model but Mercedes says its S-Class concept provides a “concrete vision” of its next generation car designs.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

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China has kicked off commercial and public services of its Beidou satellite navigation system across the Asia-Pacific rim in earnest, after finishing trials it started last year. Civilians in the region as far away as Australia are now able to navigate using the satellites to a distance of 30 feet and speeds as low as 0.5 mph — comparable to (WAAS-less) GPS, according to officials. Currently the nation has 16 navigation satellites aloft along with four experimental models, and expects to provide worldwide coverage by 2020 when it’ll have as many as 40 additional units in orbit, according to China Daily. China launched the project in 2000 to avoid reliance on the US GPS system, and joins that service, Russia’s GLONASS and eventually Galileo in the EU at the sat nav soirée. Check the source for the party line.

[Image credit: Xinhua]

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Via: Space War

Source: China Daily