This week at CES the results of a six-month partnership between Mercedes-Benz USA and Facebook will be revealed: cars with built-in Facebook via an in-vehicle telematics system. The social network’s features will be modified to make accessing Facebook no less distracting than the average GPS/navigation system, and will make it easier for drivers to find friends and businesses nearby. How does it work, and what safety considerations are in place?
The Facebook integration is part of Mercedes new “mbrace2 telematics system” featuring a high-resolution color screen near the dashboard and a high-speed wireless Internet connection. This system will premiere with the launch of the 2013 SL-Class Mercedes in spring 2012, and become a standard feature on all Mercedes 2013 models.
According to Facebook’s Vice President of Partnerships and Platform Marketing Dan Rose, “Now that cars have screens that are intelligent, you would expect that more and more car manufacturers will want to make those screens capable of allowing people to connect with their friends and take advantage of the social context that comes along with that.” He told Reuters that “One of the core things that people do on their screens in the car is GPS navigation and the ability to see which of your friends are nearby is something we think will be really interesting for people.”
That does sound interesting – but it also sounds like quite a distraction while driving, at a time when mobile calls and texting are already creating more accidents on the road.
But the service is “no more distracting than a standard in-car navigation system or radio” according to Robert Policano, Mercedes’ Product Manager for Telematics Services. And the moment the car is in motion, any Facebook activity that involves entering text is disabled.
What features does the Mercedes-Benz in-vehicle Facebook app offer?
- It displays a variety of standard, pre-written postings that a driver can publish on Facebook with quick taps/turns of a knob
- If a particular destination is already entered into the car’s navigation system, the driver can automatically publish a Facebook posting stating they are en route to that destination, along with an estimated time of arrival, based on the current traffic patterns
- Drivers can also quickly access a list of friends that are nearby, or restaurants in the vicinity that their friends have “liked” on Facebook
- Drivers can flip between Facebook and other specially designed apps – including Google Inc and Yelp – by turning a knob
Reuters notes that third-party apps are not enabled, so (thankfully) drivers will not be able to play social games on Mercedes’ version of Facebook.
Facebook is certainly crossing new frontiers, but what do you think? Are these safety considerations enough or will Facebook prove to be much more distracting than a GPS system, regardless of built-in features to make it easier for drivers? I’m not sure I’d want the driver behind me flipping through “pre-written postings” and sending one out while I’m braking with my turn signal on….
