Auto Industry Delivers Bumper-to-Bumper Innovation

And as the iPod® continues to become more ubiquitous in our everyday lives, Apple recently announced an agreement with Mercedes-Benz USA, Volvo, Nissan, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari to deliver iPod integration with their car stereo systems beginning this year. Customers will be able to enjoy high-quality sound through their car stereo system, access their entire music library, and control their iPod using their car's standard controls. BMW and Mini Cooper began providing this service last year.

Perhaps the most well-known telematics system is OnStar, a General Motors company. The OnStar in-vehicle safety, security, and information services use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite and cellular technology to link the vehicle and driver to a 24-hour OnStar Center. OnStar provides emergency services, accident assistance, airbag deployment notification, remote diagnostics, door unlock, stolen vehicle tracking, driving directions, and a host of other information services. General Motors recently announced that OnStar will be standard equipment on all of its passenger cars by 2007.

Running Clean

Almost all of the major auto makers now offer hybrid-engine-powered production vehicles - cars, light trucks, and SUVs that operate with powertrains that combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine. Some auto manufacturers also are developing hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered vehicles, and others are researching cleaner fuels, all in an attempt to significantly reduce emissions and protect our environment.

The technology behind hybrid vehicles has advanced significantly since the first hybrid prototypes were introduced in the early 1990s, and the first production hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) - the Toyota Prius - was introduced in 1997. Honda followed suit in 1999 with the Insight, and continues to offer hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord.

Late last year, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler announced a cooperative effort to develop a two-mode full hybrid propulsion architecture for applications in GM, Chrysler, and Mercedes vehicles. Typical single-mode systems rely on larger electric motors than what would be needed in the two-mode system. The new design will merge the full hybrid and advanced automatic transmission technologies to create an electrically variable transmission with two hybrid drive modes. The system is designed to reduce fuel consumption at highway speeds more effectively than single-mode hybrid systems.

GM also is leading the way in the development of alternative fuels and cleaner gasolines. GM's E85 flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) can use either gasoline or E85 alternative fuel, a renewable fuel composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline - a clean alternative to petroleum-based fuels. Ethanol is a high-octane, domestically produced fuel produced by the fermentation of plant sugars - typically corn and other grain products. Some of GM's full-size pickup trucks and SUVs -more than one million vehicles - are E85-capable, and cars join that lineup with the 2006 Chevrolet Impala, available later this year.