THE CUTTING EDGE: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Wireless Car on Horizon : Telecom: New technology allows an automobile’s electronic devices to be networked with a cellular phone.

There are already wired homes and wired offices to serve the wired executive. Now, coming soon, the wired car. Or rather, the wireless car. CellPort Labs, a Boulder, Colo., company, has created a technology for networking the electronic devices in a car to a cellular phone, which it says will make cars safer, more fun and more computer-friendly.

“This concept will revolutionize the way people use their cars in the same way [local area networks] and modems transformed the way people use personal computers,” says Steve Hooper, chief executive at AT&T; Wireless Services. AT&T; announced last week that it had bought a stake in CellPort to speed introduction of the technology.

CellPort has already licensed a technology that allows any model of portable cellular phone to be slipped in an adapter pocket for hands-free use, power charging and for a long-range antenna. The company’s licensee, Hello Direct, began selling the product through cellular carriers about a month ago.

CellPort’s new technology, to be shipped in products toward the end of 1996, will allow a universal port to be connected to a range of other devices, including CD-ROMs, global positioning systems (which establish a car’s location by satellite) and computers.

The company is negotiating with European and U.S. auto companies to incorporate the technology into 1998 cars. CellPort expects car makers to offer a $100 option that would use its networking technology not only to install universal ports for hands-free use of cell phones, but also to connect the various microprocessors already embedded in today’s vehicles.

AT&T; and CellPort believe the new “vehicle local area network” (VLAN) technology will provide a platform for the development of dozens of auto-related computer and communications applications:

* When a car crashes and the air bag is released, the system could be programmed so that the cell phone automatically dials 911 and notifies paramedics of the location of the car, using information from the car’s global positioning system.

* Short news items or electronic mail messages could be flashed on a dashboard display.

* A driver experiencing engine problems could contact his or her mechanic while on the freeway. The mechanic could remotely diagnose the problem and make recommendations.

* In the event of a carjacking, a driver could push an emergency button that would automatically call the police and send information about the car’s location.

Many of these applications are already technically possible, but a lack of standards has provided little incentive to develop them. Auto companies have pursued their own, more limited proprietary systems for offering electronic diagnosing through authorized dealers, for example. A standardized system would probably undercut the dealers.

Auto companies have also been reluctant to connect any communications devices to such critical safety features as the microprocessors that control air bags.

Pat Kennedy, chief executive at CellPort, says the safety issue has been resolved by establishing a secure gateway that prevents interference with the critical safety functions of the car.

As for auto makers’ proprietary systems, Kennedy says auto executives have become more aware of the importance of standards as a result of their problems with selling car phones.

Since cell phone sets are typically subsidized by the phone carriers, it is far cheaper for car owners to buy small portable models than to buy pre-installed phones through the car dealers. Furthermore, phone kits are typically $400 with installation and are designed for a single model of cell phone; upgrade your phone and you have to buy a new phone kit.

As a result, auto makers’ sales of installed phone kits have plummeted. Of the 30 million cell phones now in use in America, 80% are hand-held models.

Yet cell phones are still most frequently used in cars. That creates a safety hazard, because drivers must hold the phones while driving, leaving only one hand on the wheel. Some countries have outlawed the use of cell phones without car kits that allow the driver to listen and speak without holding the phone.

CellPort promises a cheaper, safer hands-free option that works with any mobile phone. That makes AT&T; happy, because it wants to encourage safe cellular phone use. And any new data applications developed based on CellPort technology will mean more traffic for the cellular phone system that AT&T; acquired from McCaw Communications last year.

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Auto Network

CellPort Labs, a small Boulder, Colo., company, has created a technology for networking various devices in a car. CellPort says the technology will make cars safer and more fun. Here’s what a 1998 “communications-enabled” car might contain.

The control module governs the entertainment and information devices in the passenger compartment as well as any engine computers.