Connected Car PC technology has arrived. Make no mistake.  Connected Car PC technology is here.  Developers are bringing products and applications to this rapidly expanding segment.  The fact is, people today spend an ever increasing percentage of their time on the road, so it’s not surprising that demand is exploding for a more productive and entertaining mobile environment. Connected Car PCs have already been proven in cars in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.  By the year 1999, developers expect to have aftermarket systems widely available, and soon after, as standard or optional equipment in a new car.

Intel is the leading force behind Connected Car PC technology.

When it comes to on-board PC technology, Intel is leading the pack.  Intel has been working with technology leaders in the automotive, computer, consumer electronics, and communications industries to develop Pentium® processor-based computing platforms that load the automobile with a world of options.

   As a developer, you can count on Intel to provide the most advanced, reliable and full-featured Connected Car PC technology.  You can look to Intel to accelerate the development of Connected Car PC applications.

  Through Connected Car PC technology, Intel is committed to helping developers put more into cars, and helping consumers get more out of them.  Powered by four powerful engines.  Behind the Connected Car PC are four important new technologies that software developers and hardware OEMs can take advantage of right now: Intel’s MMX™ technology and the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) are new multimedia technologies that enable PCs to provide realistic media experiences.

  Pentium® and Pentium® II processors with MMX™ technology have new instructions specifically for audio, video, and graphical data.  Quicker and faster processing of multimedia data is also enhanced by a 32K on-chip cache, doubling the original cache size.  This reduces the number of times off-chip memory is accessed.

   The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) provides a high-speed pathway between the PC’s graphics controller and system memory, thus boosting overall performance.  Systems lacking large amounts of expensive video memory benefit from this pathway because it allows the graphics controller to execute texture maps directly from system memory.  In addition, the flow of data between CPU and the graphics controller is faster.

  Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a new connection that allows designers to easily connect up to 127 peripherals, controls, and other hardware to PCs using an open and royalty-free specification.  A USB Implementers Forum contains over 250 semiconductor companies offering developers broad industry support.  With USB, fewer problems with DMA channels, IRQs and I/O addresses are encountered. 

1394 is a video-speed serial interconnect that is now an IEEE standard. Like USB, 1394 enables plug-and-play peripheral connectivity, provides power to peripherals helping to eliminate each one having its own power supply, and supports isochronous data transfers. 1394, however, takes these capabilities to speeds required for video data transfer. 

  Eventually, PCs will need only USB and 1394 serial ports to handle all I/O, dramatically simplifying life for PC users. The consumer electronics industry is already shipping digital camcorders, digital still image cameras, digital satellite receivers, and digital VCRs all with 1394 interfaces.