Microsoft Auto Wants to One-Up OnStar

As its plan for Dr. Evil-like world domination advances, Microsoft is hoping to entrench itself in the automotive world as a first-tier provider of entertainment and information systems in its partnership with Ford.

The software is called Microsoft Auto, and the technology company has plans that go well beyond voice-activation for your MP3 player, as the Microsoft-powered Sync system already does. Microsoft wants to take the concept behind Sync and OnStar and fuse it into an all-purpose program that does everything except drive the car itself.

Staying with completely voice-activated controls, the program will provide real-time traffic updates and instant directions that can be adjusted for the most fuel-efficient, most scenic or quickest route, among other things. For instance, if you want to find a certain kind of restaurant, get around a traffic jam or download music, Microsoft plans to integrate all this technology into one seamless system. In addition, the software would allow vehicles to communicate with each other on the road, which would theoretically help avoid accidents.

All of this sounds expensive, but Microsoft wants to foot a large part of the bill with advertising on your dashboard. Rather than charging a monthly subscription fee, the plan is to sell advertising space with the system — advertising that would be tailored to your destinations.

For instance, if you ask to find a movie theater, a small ad for the hottest new movie (the Owen Wilson vehicle “Drillbit Taylor,” for instance) would appear on your dashboard (although this could be 10-15 years in the future, so it might be “Drillbit Taylor 3”).

If that sounds a bit Big Brotherish to you, well, it is, but Microsoft is betting that you won’t care.

Microsoft Wants Sync to Control Much More than Gadgets (Autopia)