Advertisements coming to a car near you

These days drivers can do practically anything they want from their vehicles. You can find a nearby gas station with the lowest gas-prices, surf the internet which in turn allows you to access everything else you would do from your computer.

However, all that technology costs you quite a few dollars in first getting the option installed in your car and then having to pay monthly subscriptions on top of that. But that can all change very soon.

“Nobody wants another bill,” said Hakan Kostepen, group manager for product planning and strategy at Panasonic, during the Telematics Detroit 2008 conference last week that included the world’s largest gathering of automotive technology and the mobile industry.

So what are they getting at? Basically, the obstacle of getting new car buyers to cash out a couple hundred in option and monthly subscription payments on top of that can be lowered by allowing advertisers to sponsor the technology and the services offered with it.

That could mean that drivers can play movies in their minivans courtesy of Netflix or schedule an oil-change courtesy of Pennzoil. We could possibly see navigation systems that could have advertising listings tied into the maps.

We know many of you are probably jumping out of your seats and going “We can’t get away from these ads anywhere,” but honestly you hear and see ads everywhere these days; even on your car radio.

 

Source: Detroit Free Press