XM Satellite Radio says it will unveil the XM advanced services vehicle, a concept car featuring in-car video, voice command, weather alerts, parking space locator, and other new innovations at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held January 5 to 8 in Las Vegas.

It will showcase in-car video as well as a vast array of other new technologies, all of which can be delivered directly to the automobile by XM’s network of satellites and ground repeaters, the same satellite delivery system that XM employs to broadcast its 160 channels of commercial-free music and sports, news, and talk radio.

In addition to in-car video, the vehicle will have the voice command system developed with VoiceBox Technologies. The VoiceBox platform goes beyond typical voice recognition technologies and lets the driver use conversational speech to control the XM radio. For instance, the driver can ask to hear a certain kind of music, such as jazz, and VoiceBox will ask which of XM’s five jazz channels the driver would like to hear.

The driver can reply and the XM radio changes channels automatically — without the driver’s hands ever leaving the steering wheel.

The vehicle also offers a demonstration of XM WeatherLink, a new concept that delivers advanced warning of weather-related driving conditions in real time.

Another innovation found inside the vehicle will help drivers locate parking spaces. XM will demonstrate its ParkingLink capability concept, which works with the car’s navigation system to find available parking spots. The system shows the actual number of spaces available at designated parking facilities on the vehicle navigation map, and uses color-keyed icons to indicate the percentage availability of each facility.

The XM advanced services vehicle contains all of these technologies, plus streaming data displays of stock quotes and sports scores, XM satellite radio.

Source: NE Asia Online