In “More Ways To Be Distracted While Driving” news: Beginning this month, Cadillac will offer an in-car wireless internet option on its CTS sport sedan.  The dealer-installed $499 option (plus $29 per month) is provided by the company Autonet and overcomes through patented technology many of the connectivity issues that have plagued previous attempts at such in-car technology.

Portable In-Car Router By Autonet

In many commercial/business applications and for those that would utilize this technology in a safe way, this is quite an achievement and a feather in the cap for Cadillac; the first major automaker to offer this as an option.  Unlike cell phones that (relatively) seamlessly pass the connection from one tower to another; streaming media, like Youtube has typically been much harder to maintain a consistent signal in a moving car.

Autonet has also improved upon previous models by making it smaller and portable to other vehicles with the same docking unit.  This is surely just the first of several ways in which companies and car manufacturers, including BMW and Mercedes are looking at ways to add internet capability in their vehicles.  Word within the auto technology crowd is that car manufacturers will be increasingly likely to offer such services as a way to entice buyers into using in-car technologies, rather than a wireless service through their cell phone.  Once this technology is applied to the inside of semi-truck cabs, God help us all.