HUGHES Telematics has its own ideas for connecting car customers. These range from products at the production intent status to some that are strictly at the cool concept stage. With a push-to-talk button, a driver can initiate conversational voice search instead of the context established, tree-based searches in current voice command systems. Using Sirius XM satellite radio, the vehicle accesses a range of audio-video content through an architecture designed to meet the Next Generation Telematics Protocol (NGTP) standard developed by the telematics' industry to improve the technology interface capability.
According to Tom Taylor, vice president of engineering development, HUGHES Telematics, the company wants to be an aggregator of vehicle content. They can demonstrate how greater connectivity can be obtained in a vehicle environment. At CES, HUGHES Telematics demonstrated how widgets, software components designed specifically for the vehicle, could provide connectivity and enhance the driving experience. With 10-MHz bandwidth, HUGHES Telematics' vehicle demo received four channels simultaneously showing the capability of a high bandwidth communication channel.
A Virtual Accessories' feature in HUGHES Telematics' Telematics Control Unit (TCU) allows the on-demand activation of services already integrated into the TCU such as navigation, satellite radio and Bluetooth.
Other Unique Capabilities