Mobile Wi Fi hotspots in Cars.

  • Posted by Jason on January 9th, 2007 filed in Wi-Fi

During next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, San Francisco-based Autonet Mobile will show off its portable router, designed to bring Wi-Fi to an area still largely devoid of Internet access - the automobile.

‘Our goal was to make the car cool again,’ said Sterling Pratz, Autonet Mobile’s co-founder and CEO. ‘People are very interested in letting their kids be online and do cool things in the car.’

The company’s initial offering is a US$399 box that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter or a standard wall plug. For a $49 monthly fee, Autonet promises unlimited Internet access on the go. The box uses cellular data networks to connect to the Internet and behaves like any other Wi-Fi hotspot. That means multiple users can get online simultaneously using a single box as an access point.

“The mobile router’s ability to plug into standard wall outlets also means it can go nearly anywhere, from rental cars to hotel rooms and even business meetings. ‘You’re not tied to a coffee shop anymore,’ said Mr. Pratz.

“Autonet is currently taking pre-orders for units it said will start shipping this spring. Mr. Pratz said the company is also exploring a round of funding to help them meet demand, which he said has been strong. The company has survived thus far on internal investors, angels, and capital from Ecosystem Ventures.

Partnerships can be a vital to the success of any business venture, and Autonet appears to have inked a deal that could quickly give the young startup significant reach. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Autonet will announce a partnership with Avis Rent A Car that will bring its mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to Avis customers by March. During a conversation on Tuesday, Autonet officials didn’t deny the existence of a deal but declined to comment.

“Mr. Pratz said Autonet has also signed a deal with a family of dealerships in Northern California that will offer its product alongside Toyota, Volvo, Land Rover, and Maserati vehicles.

“A former race car driver, Mr. Pratz has experience dealing with major auto manufacturers and said Autonet is interested in working with well-known companies. ‘We’re an interesting marriage between the automotive industry and the technology provider industry,’ he said.

“Analysts see the technology’s potential but remain skeptical. ‘It’s clearly a first step,’ said Roger Lanctot of Telematics Research Group, a firm following the automotive and mobile electronics industries. Mr. Lanctot likened Autonet’s initial offering to a bridge leading to more affordable technologies, saying that improvements to the product will be critical for mainstream acceptance. ‘They’re going to have to get smaller and cheaper,’ he said.

“Here’s to hoping in-car Internet access will be less distracting to other drivers than seatback and fold-down in-car movie screens.”

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