The Connected Vehicle is far from commonplace and is still in the planning/testing/pilot stage – actually
the RFP letting for each in most cases.  Yet it must be concerning to see how fickle the public is when it
comes to technology.  And in a similar fashion, how technologies change so rapidly.
In a movie I saw recently from a few years ago (but not that many), one teenager said to another, “You
don’t have a Palm Pilot?  Everybody has a Palm Pilot!”  Each year you could swap out the latest cell phone
fad or the latest social network.
Not that long ago, Myspace was big, yet mostly with the younger generation.  Facebook came along and,
though originaly for students only, has been endeared by all ages.  I have FB Friends aged 17 to 77.
Twitter has its niche and Linkedin does as well.  These two I have begun to embrace more and more.
Google+ threatens to  leave all of the above in the dust – especially since so many already have Gmail,
Google reader, etc… – but it may only be a threat.  Even if it does, there may yet be another fad in a
year or two.
Before I bore you any more with recent history, how does this apply to VII, I mean IntelliDrive, I mean the
Connected Vehicle?  Even the technology is in its third name and second focus – the latter adding
environmental concerns when the IntelliDrive name was in vogue.
Getting to the point…will the public become bored with the Connected vehicle?  Will the public have an
insatible appetite for more and more technology and will the technology providers deliver.
For example, how long will the driver be accepting to warnign messages at intersections, road signs
appearing on the console screen, even haptic vibrations in the drivers seat?  These are but a few examples.
Will drivers begin to tune out or opt out.  The hope is that the connected vehicle technology will become
as integrated with the driving experience as headlights, turn signals and rear-view mirrors.
I’d love to hear your comments at joegillis AT gilltrans.net (spelled out to avoid spam).