German audio equipment maker Blaupunkt and Australia's miRoamer have teamed up to produce the first Internet car radio, giving drivers access to tens of thousands of Web radio stations.
George Parthimos, chief executive of miRoamer, said the Blaupunkt 600i is the first "purpose-built Internet car radio, where the Internet radio capabilities are an ingredient part of the actual unit itself."
"It will have everything you'd expect to find in a medium - to high-end radio - AM/FM, CD, MP3 - with the added ingredient of Internet radio," he said. A 3G mobile phone with a data plan is needed to connect the radio to the Internet, Parthimos said, and the company estimates the average user would consume around two gigabytes of data a month.
"It uses Bluetooth connectivity to connect to a cellphone and then the cellphone connects to a cellular network," he said. "The mobile is purely used to connect to the Internet.
"The actual radio itself is where all your settings and all your user experience happens," Parthimos said. "As soon as you jump in your car your mobile will automatically synch to the radio itself."