Sony Launches Three Linux-based In-car Navigation Devices

An anonymous reader writes "Sony has introduced three Linux-based in-car navigation and entertainment devices in Japan today. The NV-XYZ 33, 55, and 77 feature 3D map navigation technology, media players, hard drives, GPS, and PC connectivity. They are based on MIPS processors and a Linux 2.4-series kernel. They also appear to use a GateKeeper copy protection scheme, which may prevent them from being used with Linux desktops and normal media files." Still, the 3-D representations of actual buildings on the maps is pretty impressive.

3-D World Interface

[Scottm87]

I used to visit Antarti.ca [antarti.ca] a lot, and this is similar to the products they offered. There were always performance problems. The technology in this system looks much more advanced. The question of how to collect all the necessary information is still important, esp. in a physically larger country like the United States. It doesnt seem like it would be economical unless there is a large surcharge on the product to pay for all the necessary work to map a large portion of even the cities in the United States.

Re:"Other media files"???

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but the nice cloud scene makes it worth it. And how are they going to know if there are road cones like depicted? It would be neat if they could find that stuff out (so on a long trip you can look at what a road construction area looks like at a rest stop prior to driving through). RFID the cones? Hell, with the british thinking of RFIDing all the cars, you could get a pretty good map of transportation blocks and such in a city. Neat stuff (and creepy if that comes to pass).

Re:Oh! 3d GPS

[VanWEric]

In boston, there are no street signs. Street names change without warning, and drivers are constantly pushing you around. As a non-native, I am hopelessly lost driving in that city. Anything that would reduce that feeling would be very welcome.

Re:"Other media files"???

[JPriest]

I wonder how they manage to have 3D representations of buildings and map out what laned are left turn only etc.?

It would have to download cities as you enter them because there is no way it has that much HDD space.

I am also pretty sure it only supports larger cities, unless Japanese tour busses are not really for tourists, maybe they are just here to take digital pictures for 3D maps. Think about it.

Re:Oh! 3d GPS

[jackb_guppy]

Next they need to add is heads-up display. By projecting this on the window sheild so you can look thoughit it will really help to tell when to turn.

Then we all can use those really dark window tints!!

Re:Crazy!

[generic-man]

Clearly you forget the Microsoft AutoPC [craigtech.co.uk], which never really caught on. Clarion wanted over $1,000 for a car-stereo-sized PC that you could customize with very expensive software add-ons.

Re:Oh! 3d GPS

[Bushcat]

In Japan, in any given block the buildings tend to be numbered in the order in which the block was originally populated. So if you're standing in front of 3-10-17, all you know about 3-10-16 is that it's within 200 meters or so in any direction. Only major roads have names, minor roads do not. Dead ends are typically not marked as such. Finally, just in case this all seems trivial, there are buildings totally surrounded by others, with no street access. And this is in a "sensible" city. Some were designed with the entire road system deliberately designed to confuse potential enemies.

So basically, you need all the help you can get.

Nifty.

[mr. methane]

The closest I've seen to this is in Nissan/Infinity cars, which has a "looking down from an angle" view of the map, instead of the traditional "view from directly overhead".

Still, one of the big annoyances with these things is updates. If you live in a mature city with rare changes in roadways, it's great, but if you live in an area which is still rapidly developing, there tend to be a lot of roads that pop up seemingly overnight (i.e. I noticed a shopping center on the way home last night which was an empty lot a week ago!)

Re:Oh! 3d GPS

[hawkeyeMI]

Add a full-windshield heads-up display, subtract the rendering and let it match the scenery to a database - voila! ultimate guidance system. It could flash imaginary arrows and highlight things. When you're low on gas it could put a big red box around the nearest gas station in sight, or provide big red arrows to show you where to go, or even tell if you've been ignoring it too long and there are none within the range of the gas you have left :) Looking for someplace to eat, or little Johnny *really* has to go? It can show you where to find a restaurant of the type of your choice or find the nearest rest stop.

I give it another ten years before this kind of equipment (not the article, but what I mentioned) becomes affordable in the US.

Re:"Other media files"???

[mcrbids]

Adobe, based in San Jose, Calif., claims to have distributed more than a half-a-billion copies of its PDF reader to date.

I can imagine that probably 80% of those "distributed copies" of Acrobat are to people who already "have" Acrobat Reader.

We have a product based on PDF reports, and we link to Acroread in order to display these reports. We have *constant* problems with Acrobat acting flakey, getting pissy, and in general being cranky.

When this happens, we uninstall Acrobat Reader, download a fresh copy, and re-install.

It's sick how often we've had to do this... sad that they brag about this!

They did a fine job

[achurch]

with PS2 Linux. Granted it's a different subcompany, but what makes you automatically assume they won't comply with the GPL?

aw crap...

[Anonymous Coward]

how long do you think it will be before the governments get pissed about video playing capabilities... I mean, they got pissed when people were watching porn on the car DVD players (article) [stateline.org]...but that was in the back seat... this thing rides up front. I hope these don't come to the states (legally) because there are going to be SO many accidents!!

Re:"Other media files"???

[afidel]

Well if you had ever been to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania you would know why 3D maps are needed. On a traditional map it might look like two roads are close and parallel when in fact they are seperated by 100m of elevation!

Mapping software

[wowbagger]

I'd just like to see *somebody*, anybody, release a decent trip planning package for Linux.

I used to hold out hope for Delorme [delorme.com], but since they discontinued support for Mac [slashdot.org] and went pure Windows I've given that up. There was a glimmer of a chance for change [slashdot.org], but that was dashed upon the rocks of /. apathy [slashdot.org].

I usually don't do this.

[jb_02_98]

An Anonymous Coward in his ignorancy is better left alone. My system turns on, logs in and starts to play music at 6:30 AM. It is my alarm clock. By the time I am to my computer, it has raised the volume to about 80 percent, which is a good volume to listen to the music. I check my e-mail and walk out. At about 9 my system shuts itself down. I only touched it to read the e-mail. A very system thing without any clicking (unless I get some e-mail, then I might have to reply.) Looks pretty easy to me. It would be cool if they could incorporate something like that into this system. I would like to be able to listen to music, watch movies, find my way around, check traffic conditions, check e-mail, send e-mail, chat, and all that stuff from my car. If I have a wireless net connection to my car (which is almost possible in some areas) I could even voice chat. Talk about consolidating the bills. Maybe this thing will take off and add a few things. You never know. The hardware is a bit steap for me though. The software is priced pretty good though. :-)

I wonder if the devices use a modified PS2 chipset

[CronoCloud]

Because when you put together Sony, Linux, 3d graphics and MIPS CPU, I think Playstation 2.