“Why does Detroit not design these cars with phone holders, just like cup holders?” asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt when he called National Public Radio’s popular Car Talk program a few weeks ago.
“People bring all kinds of things into cars, but they can be boiled down to the following: Starbucks coffee, hamburgers and cellular phones,” he said. “But why are there not phone holders in these cars where you can bring your cellular phone right in, and pop it right into the automobile and it’ll be charged up and you’ll be able to deal with it in the hands-free way so that you will be able to focus on driving?” Hundt asked.
Until recently, hands-free solutions for portable phones have only been available on an after-market basis in the form of kits users could install themselves. The auto industry was reluctant to commit to a standard hands-free design for embedding in the car interior at the factory and they were frustrated with trying to accommodate the myriad portable cellular phone models in use.
But as cellular and personal communications services penetrate the mass market and several countries mandate the use of hands-free kits for safety, two of the largest suppliers of automotive interiors-Prince Automotive and Lear Corp.-have embraced wireless by licensing an embedded car kit design from CellPort Labs Inc.
“Lear can now offer a standard universal wireless interface that enables hands-free operation, powers any model of portable phone, charges the phone’s battery pack, and provides an external antenna for enhanced range and clarity, increasing user value and safety,” said Lear Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Way.
Boulder, Colo.-based CellPort said its patented universal car kit technology is designed to accommodate any cellular, PCS or other wireless terminal and is compatible with all wireless communications network protocols.
“The universal car kit gives auto makers the opportunity to capture a significant percentage of the global car kit market for the first time,” said Pat Kennedy, CellPort’s president.
Portable phone sales now comprise 85 percent of all cellular phones sold in the United States and 90 percent of foreign sales. Portable designs may account for 100 percent of PCS handset product lines.
A recent report from Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. noted that sales of in-car mobiles-which lock the user into one type of phone and service-have collapsed, but the need for an in-car hands-free solution for portables remains.
The Shosteck report said that since 1995, new vehicles have more metal-based window tinting that blocks reception by any handheld phone. Hands-free kits provide access to an external antenna. And there is a continuing need for battery charging and power conservation in the handset.
But Hundt’s tongue-in-cheek comments on Car Talk were nevertheless scripted to address the most serious, emerging issue of all for the wireless telecommunications industry: Whether the federal government will mandate the use of hands-free car kits for cellular and PCS phones while driving, an action already taken by the governments of England, Italy, Israel, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.
“Look guys, you gotta look at the reality,” Hundt said to the Car Talk hosts, “By the year 2000, there will be more cellular telephone subscribers in the world than people who drive cars.”
“You have got to have the cars accommodate the use; not the other way,” he said.
