"...The 1394 Trade Association and IDB Forum announced today the introduction of a draft specification for the use of IEEE 1394, or FireWire, in future automobiles. Not only may cars and trucks become dependent on FireWire for delivering built-in audio and video content, but it's even possible that at some point in the future, you might be able to jack your Mac into your car, mini-van or SUV for myriad purposes ranging from entertainment to navigation.

Group's goal is to provide a system for delivering multimedia content in new automobiles. In addition to enabling auto makers to embed new audio and video capabilities into vehicles, says Bassler, such systems will be able to interface with other consumer devices (portable CD players, laptop computers, PDAs, DVD players, and Sony's PlayStation II) as well.

The 1394 Joint Automotive Working Group was formed earlier this year to figure out how to apply FireWire into cars. To that end, they've developed a new subset of the FireWire standard dubbed IDB-1394. Now that they've laid out the architectural groundwork, the group's next effort is to figure out power modes and other technical issues that need resolution before auto makers can deploy the technology.

So, when will cars with FireWire be ready to drive off the showroom floor? The two groups responsible for this push aren't saying, but they indicate that folks will get their first taste of such vehicles in less than a month. Demonstration automobiles equipped with FireWire should be ready for the annual Convergence 2000 auto electronics show in Detroit, which happens in October..." NULL