Peapod will use iPhone as nav system, green driving advisor, and - huh? - a key
click to enlarge
Last week at the New York Auto Show, we visited Peapod Mobility and got a good look at the duck-like car with the big smile. One thing that we noticed in the promotional booklet that Peter Arnell, the chief innovation officer at Peapod Mobility, gave us was a few pages on the car's iPhone integration. We've scanned (see gallery) the relevant pages describing just how tied together your Peapod and iPhone could be: it won't just give you efficiency tips and play music, it can also be used as a key. The brochure doesn't describe the system in great detail, it just says "simply dock your iPod for a fun, cutting edge way to start up. Exclusive software designed exclusively for Peapod turns your iPod into a key. Both options are interchangeable and secure." This isn't the first time a car and an iPhone have been able to communicate, but it could be the first production vehicle to allow your phone to engage your wheels. Sorry, Rinspeed.
Gallery: PeaPod iPhone Connection
Gallery: Peapod detail shots
[Source: Peapod Mobility]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 11:21PM (4/17/2009)
Just one little problem - those folks most likely to drive a Peapod are the ones least likely to own an Iphone.
Now, if Tesla Motors had incorporated such a feature in their Roadster, almost all of their customers could use it.
Reply
Danny B 11:16AM (4/19/2009)
This "innovation" is nothing to get too excited about. Its little more then taking a patent idea from a NC State college student but just twisting it to work with the iPhone. I should know, I came up with the idea 2 years ago. Congrats Peter Arnell for being a jacka** and getting a no name car company to use the idea, chevey and ford didnt even understand the concept when i tried to present it to them.
Gadgetsage 4:27AM (4/18/2009)
The first 'pods will be delivered to buyers by October to hysterically gay men and shrieking eco-harridans if they can find any who possess both $12k and an ipod.
.
I scrolled up to the beginning to check the date to try and determine if this article was an april fools joke. hmmm, nope, woulda been an excellent one...
.
Thanks for the image of the iphone ringing and the car losing power and slowly rolling to a stop as an eco-harridan SHRIEKS into the phone; "I'm driving! Didn't you get my twitter that I'm driving! Never call me when I'm driving!!"
.
And getting lectured by my robot slave after every trip about how much I just F'd up the planet out to three decimal points?
.
No thanks!
.
They could serve a useful purpose though, just like piercings; you know the person drivin em ain't right.
Reply
Chris M 3:42PM (4/18/2009)
Boy, have you ever overloaded on right-wing windbag stereotypes!
Fact is, the majority of NEV sales is to retirees, who aren't in a hurry and like the cheap "fuel" costs and quiet operation of vehicles like the Peapod. There are also a lot of sales to the Country Club set who like to drive them straight from their multi-car garages, through the quiet streets of their gated community, past the clubhouse and right onto the golf links.
It's highly unlikely that an incoming phone call would cause the vehicle to stall. The Iphone is capable of multi-tasking, and apps are fairly well designed.
Gadgetsage 7:02PM (4/18/2009)
Lighten up Francis, it's just a joke, like that car.
MJ 7:58PM (4/25/2009)
What a bizzare comment. To drive an electric car, in your mind, requires some aberration from god knows what you consider the norm..just like the person saying people with iphones would be the last to consider this car...every person I know with an iphone would buy one if they could.
I must have lived outside of America long enough to not understand the trends of thought if you two are at all representative. Oh yeah, that's why I left...that tolerance, that curiousity, that intelligent thought that seems to be rarity among the common American herd. Thanks for the reminder.
Personally, I think the car sounds like a step in the right direction. More power (electric power) to them!
BoneHeadOtto 2:15PM (4/18/2009)
The Peapod.... otherwise known as the AT&T car.....
Reply
Miss Cellania 12:54AM (4/20/2009)
So will the iPod or iPhone turn the ignition on? This article names both gadgets as if they are the same.
Reply
Hucbald 12:41AM (4/21/2009)
Leaving aside the fact that I wouldn't be caught dead - or alive - in that hideously fugly contraption, starting my vehicle with my iPhone seems just a tad game-boy to me. Now, if I could use my iPhone as remote keyless entry and remote startup, THAT would be a feature set I could use. I once locked TWO SETS of keys in my car at the same time - main set and backup set (One set in the ignition, and the other in the trunk) - but I've never locked my iPhone in there.
Reply
JP 11:00AM (4/23/2009)
$12K for a car made entirely of recycled materials (garbage)! So $10K goes to Arnell and the rest to cover the cost of the car. Where can anyone drive 25 miles per hour without being run over by "normal" cars? Nobody will buy one of these except for a few Hollywierd celebs, who'll buy one for the publicity and never use it. Don't quit your day job Arnell...
Reply