Many brands are respectfully coming forward with various kinds of support for the victims of the Boston bombings last week and for Beantown itself. And then there's Mercedes-Benz, whose products played a singular role in actually bringing the crime and terror spree to its end.

"It's a great feeling to have been able to assist with that," Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Donna Boland told brandchannel.

It was common knowledge that the Tsarnaev brothers allegedly had carjacked a Mercedes-Benz ML 350, taking its owner on a rambling journey around the Boston area on the night of April 18—a trek that ended up in the death of one brother and the capture of the other that same night in Watertown, Mass.Continue reading...

It was inevitable that, as infotainment has risen in importance as a consideration for auto purchase, the value of the "info" part of infotainment would rise as well.

Now, that evolution has reached a likely and logical next step: Infiniti is making the information core of its concierge "personal assistant" service available to you even if you choose not to buy or drive an Infiniti.

The Nissan-owned luxury make, newly under the global leadership of Johan de Nysschen, has been telling dealers to give out free access to the Infiniti Personal Assist service as a tool to stimulate floor traffic, according to Automotive News. Dealers have been authorized to sign up showroom visitors for free 60-day trial subscriptions to the feature even if they have no interest in buying an Infiniti.Continue reading...

Audi along with other automakers has seen how infotainment features have risen like a rocket as consideration criteria for US luxury buyers lately. As Audi seeks to penetrate the ranks of upscale American Millennials—in general, and with its new, entry-level A3 sedan due out around the end of this year—the brand is making a new play for this crowd.

In partnership with T-Mobile, Audi is offering a new, $15-a-month data plan that will give drivers in-vehicle connectivity through the Audi Connect service, which includes access to Google Earth and Google Voice Local Search; news, weather and fuel prices; and a WiFi connection including broadband connectivity for up to eight devices in an Audi vehicle.

"We want people to be attracted by the price and to be able to keep their connection [to Audi Connect] alive continuously," Anupam Malhotra, senior manager of Connected vehicle for Audi of America, told brandchannel. "We can ensure continuity of support. And people don't have to deal with reminder-of-renewal e-mails or worry about whether the service is still active."Continue reading...

General Motors and Ford have been traveling down different lanes in their connected-car race right from the start. With their latest advancements, the two biggest U.S. automakers have continued to pursue quite different paths for getting to the same goal: clear leadership in automotive connectivity with the outside digital world.

GM shared the details at Mobility World Congress in Barcelona today of its plan to hard-wire 4G capabilities into its vehicles through the OnStar "telematics" platform that it introduced in 1996. Beginning with 2014 models sold in the U.S. and Canada, the company plans to connect its Chevys, Buicks and other brands to the Internet or Wi-Fi at speeds that are 10 times faster than current market offerings. Applications could include the display of real-time traffic jams or construction sites through the car's own brains on its in-dash screen and the piping of a robust video stream to screens in the back seat.

"We are going to make the experience of streaming or connecting more productive, which should help to make that road trip shorter," Mary Chan, president of the global connected consumer at OnStar, told the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...

Less than a year and a half after Consumer Reports first devastated Ford with its critique of the automaker's MyFord Touch infotainment system, the influential arbiter of consumer decisions is back at it again with an even more devastating review of MyFord Touch -- one that comes after Ford's mighty efforts to fix the platform.

"Why the MyFord Touch Control System Stinks" is the title of an almost-vitriolic blog posting on the magazine's web site by Eric Evarts, a senior automotive editor. "We wouldn't recommend dealing with the frustration of MyFord Touch on a daily basis even to an adversary," he wrote.

Specifically, Evarts didn't like how Ford has removed lots of conventional buttons and switches on MyFord Touch -- essentially, Version 2.0 of its pioneering Sync infotainment system -- in favor of touch-screen commands and voice controls that he says are badly executed, complicated, and potentially a safety concern as Ford and Lincoln drivers try to use the system while hurtling down a highway. Continue reading...

Turns out that maybe American drivers are more sensible than either the U.S. government or automakers give them credit for. New research shows that when it comes to "infotainment" and "telematics" in cars, auto owners are much more interested in Point-A-to-Point-B applications such as navigation than they are in making sure they can feed their Twitter account from the driver's seat.

Mobile applications are encroaching in the vehicle — look at Ford's Sync voice-activated technology, Hyundai's Blue Link, GM's OnStar, the Mercedes-Benz "iPhone on wheels" concept and Apple's iOS 6 announcement that it's integrating Siri voice recognition as an "eyes-free" (from the device, not the road) digital sherpa. Look for Siri voice command buttons on the steering wheels of upcoming vehicles from nine automakers: Land Rover/Jaguar, BMW, GM, Mercedes, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda. (Update: the news took at least one of the auto brands by surprise — Fast Company reports that Chrysler wasn't aware of being included in Apple's announcement.)

But for all the push of technology and connectivity into the passenger seat, consumers don't want Facebook and Twitter integrated into the driving experience, nor are they looking for a Zooey Deschanel-style chat about adding reminders or what to listen to (sorry, Siri).Continue reading...