HDBaseT connectivity, used mainly in commercial and custom residential installations, is moving into the automotive sector, the HDBaseT Alliance said at CES. The alliance is finalizing specifications for HDBaseT Automotive, which is said to allow better efficiency and cost-savings in automotive applications such as infotainment and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. General Motors joined the HDBaseT Alliance board, and Daimler and Delphi joined as contributor members. HDBaseT Automotive offers data throughput up to 6 Gbps over 15 meters of single-pair unshielded cable and low latency (under 10 microseconds). It distributes uncompressed AV, ethernet, control, USB and power over low-cost, low-weight cable, said the alliance. The standard offers support for native networking and multi-streaming, it said.

From more ubiquitous Wi-Fi to "smart everything," 2016 will bring with it several technological advances, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in a news release Thursday. The group's predictions for the year include progress on a test regimen for LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence, resulting in an industry-agreed-upon test plan; increased use of Wi-Fi location capabilities in new applications; an updated Wi-Fi Certified ac, which is based on IEEE 802.11ac certification and will bring with it new features such as multiple-input and multiple-output technologies for wireless communication; and the launch of the WiGig certification for wireless devices working at multigigabit speeds. With the number of connected devices expected to hit 38.5 billion by 2020, the Wi-Fi Alliance said more companies will look to its Implementer membership category, which makes Wi-Fi certification accessible to more companies that don't specialize directly in connectivity technology development. And it said municipal Wi-Fi deployments will increase, as will Wi-Fi networks in such locations as sports stadiums, and Wi-Fi connectivity will become a standard feature in new cars.

Control4 is hitting the road. The company is showing at CES a proof-of-concept based on Livio SmartDeviceLink (SDL) open-source software that integrates smart home functionality with connected cars. Control4 is showing smart home integration using an Android smartphone and a Toyota head-up display with an app that manages smart home devices from the driver’s seat. The app can initiate scenes such as “away,” which could close the garage door, turn off lights, arm the security system and set back the temperature, the company said. The demo is in Livio’s booth 4230 in Tech East, North Hall.

Ericsson and AT&T Drive launched an automotive solution to provide consumers with "an easy way to manage Wi-Fi connectivity within their vehicles," Ericsson said in a news release Tuesday. It allows consumers to access a free Wi-Fi hot spot trial, buy a data session for their cars and manage Wi-Fi accounts within their connected vehicles, it said.

DTS will demo HD Radio at its CES booth, the first major demo of the technology since DTS acquired iBiquity last year. Las Vegas radio station KUNV 91.5 FM will broadcast special content via HD Radio on its HD2 channel during CES, said DTS, which will have several Acura RDX vehicles tuned to the broadcast. New car models -- the Cadillac CT6, Honda Civic, Kia Rio, Lexus RX, Nissan Leaf, Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota Prius -- will feature HD Radio receivers, said DTS. Aftermarket brands including Alpine Restyle, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer and Sony are integrating HD Radio technology into products, DTS said.

The U.S. DTV transition can serve as a “model” for the successful “government-industry effort” that’s needed to make driverless vehicles a mainstream reality, CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a blog post at Nextgov.com. Shapiro buys into estimates that driverless cars have the potential of reducing traffic deaths by 90 percent, he said. The “open process and committee structure” that went into the DTV transition “attracted thousands of technical volunteers who discussed and resolved hundreds of issues,” Shapiro said Dec. 29. “Their recommendations led to several formal actions by the FCC and Congress, and resulted in a unique and robust HDTV system delivering clear, sharp pictures and sound to Americans,” he said. “The transition succeeded thanks to an emphasis on setting clear goals, an open consensus multistakeholder process and a consensus among leadership and participants to develop the best result for all Americans. The initiative remains the most successful government-industry effort in which I have had the honor of participating.” If the public and private sectors were able to band together to “undertake a successful effort like this for better pictures and sound,” then certainly President Barack Obama or his successor “can challenge us to work together to save millions of American lives,” Shapiro said. “The implementation of driverless cars on U.S. roads can and should be a bipartisan effort."

General Motors said it’s investing $500 million in Lyft to aid the mobile taxi service’s continued “rapid growth” and entering into a “long-term strategic alliance to create an integrated network of on-demand autonomous vehicles in the U.S.” GM said Monday it will get a seat on Lyft’s board. GM’s investment was part of a fundraising push that netted Lyft $1 billion that will go toward additional branding and product development. “Working with GM, Lyft will continue to unlock new transportation experiences that bring positive change to our daily lives,” said Lyft President John Zimmer in a GM news release. The GM-Lyft joint development of on-demand autonomous vehicles will “leverage GM’s deep knowledge of autonomous technology and Lyft’s capabilities in providing a broad choice of ride-sharing services,” GM said. The car company will also become the “preferred provider” of short-term use vehicles to Lyft drivers. GM and Lyft will “provide each other’s customers with personalized mobility services and experiences through their respective channels,” GM said. GM CEO Mary Barra is scheduled to keynote CES on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Visteon will display 3D gesture technology, a large, field-of-vision windshield head-up display (HUD) and human-machine interaction (HMI) input technologies at CES, the company said Thursday. The advanced cockpit electronics concepts are aimed at reducing driver distraction and making the driving experience more intuitive and enjoyable, Visteon said. The 3D gesture technology uses time-of-flight camera technology, which allows for complex gestures such as hand/finger signs and swipes that enable the creation of virtual touch planes and surfaces in the vehicle, said Visteon. Defined hand movements can be used to command features such as opening windows, changing audio volume or opening the glove box, it said. The windshield HUD image features rich color, contrast and brightness levels designed to enhance content without requiring the driver to look away from the road. The wide-field image is roughly twice the size of a standard windshield HUD, allowing presentation of information not typically provided on an HUD: music menus, multimedia and simple maps, Visteon said. A backlight and mirror inside the instrument produce a full-color image designed to be visible on bright days, it said. An interactive cockpit simulator at the Visteon booth will show spatial gesture technology and pressure-sensitive touchpad input zones for driver and passenger that can be integrated in leather, wood veneers, vinyl, plastic and composite surfaces, said the company. Other demonstrations include contextual or suggestive HMI that creates driver-specific shortcuts and suggestions, based on past behavior, for connectivity, entertainment, navigation and climate. Upon entering the car, a driver can set the destination for home, check traffic, call home and turn on heat with a single gesture, versus having to navigate a menu for each option, it said.

Nearly two-thirds of car owners in U.S. broadband homes want “connected activity” built into their next vehicles, Parks Associates said Tuesday in a report. More than 40 million U.S. vehicles will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2015, “and that number will steadily increase through 2016,” the researcher said. Of the 64 percent of car owners in U.S. broadband homes who say they want built-in support for at least one connected activity in their next cars, “that demand is in contrast to current connected activities in the car, the majority of which are done on a smartphone without any connection to the car,” it said. “Automakers are keying into this demand by embedding connectivity in new vehicle models,” it said. “With the exception of smartphones, no other device touches so many points in a person’s life as the car, from home to work to family and community interaction. Car-generated data will increasingly enrich connected solutions outside the car, while also offering an interaction touch point for those external solutions from within the car.” The ability to access maps tops the wish list among car owners surveyed who want connected features built into their next vehicles, Parks said. Next is the ability to access roadside emergency features, followed by the ability to make or receive voice calls through embedded connectivity in the car, it said.

Gracenote will use CES partly to give showgoers a “sneak peek” at the company's first audio technology for the connected car “that processes the stereo signal of any music source (AM/FM and satellite radio, streaming, CD) to generate 3 channels: left, center, right,” spokesman Mark Yamada emailed us Tuesday. Gracenote plans no “formal announcement” of the technology at CES, but will be running demos at the Gracenote Lounge at the Cosmopolitan Hotel during CES, Yamada said.