Audi honored with ‘Best Navigation’ award for Google Street View, but what’s next?

By Marcus Amick June 21, 2013

When it comes to top in-car navigation systems, it seems that Audi might have one of the best on the market – visually speaking.

Already highly respected for its in-car technology, the automaker received the Best Navigation Solution or Product Award at the Annual Telematics Update Awards, held in Detroit, for its Google Street View.

The system, featured in the Audi connect navigation system, enhances the in-vehicle navigation experience by providing the driver’s view of a destination on the Navigation screen prior to arrival.

The nav system allows the driver to zoom in to get a full 360 degree Google Street View image of the destination. The driver also has the ability to navigate within the image using the Audi’s MMI touch pad or controller knob.

“Most navigation systems advise a customer when they have arrived at their destination. Audi’s integration of Google Street View in the Audi MMI Navigation plus goes above and beyond by providing a visual cue in the form of the picture of the final destination to make it easier to recognize the destination,” said Anupam Malhotra, Manager, Connected Vehicle, Audi of America, in an official press release. “It’s this kind of added detail that creates a seamless customer experience.”

However, with new technology on the horizon such as Car-to-X communication that enables vehicles to share data with other vehicles and traffic infrastructures, which Audi is involved in as well, makes you wonder if we’re approaching a day where Google Street View will be dated.

When? Who knows, but the speed in which new car technology is developing certainly lends itself to seeing things like navigation and traffic controls in much different ways than we do now.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Marcus Amick has been writing about the world of cars for more than ten years and has covered everything from new automobiles…

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