Q My buddy and i are going a make an audi a4 into a show car and in your dec. '07 issue there's a '70 gto with a touchscreen computer that controls the windows, locks, and climate control. Do you know the company that put the system out like that and/or where we could get one?
A At first glance, the GTO appears to use a home entertainment grayscale touchscreen remote control, morphed into the console rather than an actual computer. I say that since there hasn't been a non-color monitor on a computer since the old IBM PC days. I don't recognize the manufacturer of the touchscreen, but if I were to take the same approach, I'd use something like a Xantech SPLCD64VW, which has a 6.4-inch color touchscreen that can have a custom GUI (graphical user interface) loaded in to really accent the vehicle. For example, I would've used the same baby blue as a screen background or "skin" to tie into the vehicle's exterior color. The skin can be made in Photoshop exactly the same way you'd make a background screen for your computer monitor.
The Xantech touchscreen controller outputs IR (infrared) commands will work with the sensor already found in the Sony head unit. There's a command library built in, but it contains no car audio IR codes, so you'd need to use the device's "learning mode" to capture the commands so you can use them in your programming. If you've ever used a "learning remote control" on your home entertainment system, this is the same thing. I use a Kenwood automotive Sirius Satellite Radio tuner connected to my Control 4 home automation system, and simply had the Control 4 system capture the IR code for each button on the Kenwood remote control. Now the Control 4 system will send the correct Kenwood command whenever it's needed.
The Xantech also outputs RS-232 codes that would talk to modules that would control climate, windows, lighting, and just about anything else I could convert to electrical activation with some kind of device. RS-232 is a much more serious code than IR, resulting in bi-directional conversations between components. I'd send a command to a climate control device and it would be able to send back the temperature reading that would then display on the screen. This makes a stand-alone device appear to function like a full-scale computer.
If this sounds hard, it isn't. It just comes from another area of the industry known as "custom home installation." These are the technicians (often made of veteran car audio installers taking their next career leap) who install home automation, home theater, and distributed audio/video among a wide variety of other residential and commercial electronic products. Price for the core touch panel (the most expensive part) is around $1,500, which is pretty close to what it would take to get an actual in-car computer with infinitely more features but less overall reliability. However, taking the next giant step into an actual in-car computer means you also can gain wireless Internet, video capture, music and video server (think iTunes), and iPod/iPhone integration.
There aren't a lot of computer choices that are specifically designed for the automotive environment, but from what I've seen, the G-Net system is pretty hot. I like the fact that the company's comprehensive website lists not only the computer and its accessories, but also a wide variety of adaptation units for different vehicle platforms. For example, when we integrated a Mac OS system into the Mobile Dynamics Escalade, we had to come up with adapters to enable the interface into the higher-level features of the vehicle. This meant using a digital acquisition card to collect data and output responses.