Internet and apps for your car

Continental and Deutsche Telekom present a cockpit computer at CeBIT.

AutoLinQ lets people who drive small and standard cars use infotainment services that used to only be available for top-of-the-line cars. The goal of the cooperation is to make the Internet available as part of the standard option for all car types.

A prototype will be on display in a VW Passat CC at the Deutsche Telekom CeBIT booth. Using this technology, you can securely receive, listen to and answer emails via voice recording in your car without having to take your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road. The car's connection to the Deutsche Telekom wireless network also enables some remote control. For example, car drivers can use their cell phone to locate their car or close the sunroof from a distance.

Apps for the street

The solution uses the Android operating system developed by Google and is clearly based on the iPhone principle. This phone's simplicity and numerous mini-programs, or apps, have set the bar that car technology is now trying to live up to as well. AutoLinQ gives drivers and passengers the look and feel they are used to from using these apps on a state-of-the-art smartphone.

Continental developed its own cockpit computer for the apps. They can either be run as permanently installed programs or by using a special browser that accesses data from an Internet platform. T-Systems combines information and communications technology so that users have secure access to the Internet and apps while on the road.