Wireless Hot Spot In Rentals

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:

How much distraction while driving is OK, or should even be allowed?

Yesterday I wrote a story about Ford and Microsoft teaming up with Sync. This will allow not just pairing and use of Bluetooth headsets, but email as well.

That level of distraction is bad enough, but today I read that Autonet Mobile and Avis will be teaming up to offer a Wireless Hotspot in your Avis car (for $10.95 a day), starting in March.

For $10.95 a day, Avis will issue motorists a notebook-sized portable device that plugs into a car’s power supply and delivers a high-speed Internet connection to passengers.

A mobile Wi-Fi hot spot that lets laptops and personal digital assistants link to the Internet without the benefit of wires represents an important step toward what technology experts call the “connected car” - a vehicle in which both passengers’ devices and the car’s essential systems are always online. [Source: IHT]

We Say: The “connected car” and the “disconnected driver…” people have enough trouble driving while talking on a cell phone (which is one reason I really wish the hands-free law in California would kick in before 2008), much less surfing the Internet. The article does point out (and I would agree) that there will be questions about the legality of surfing the Internet and driving. I hope that if legislation ensues, common sense will prevail.

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[tags]wireless, rental car, wi-fi, avis, hotspot, hands free law, alice hill, realtechnews[/tags]