right, but that doesnt have anything to do with GPS. Tracking systems are completly independant from NAV systems which you already know. Japanese have been best NAV system providers for a while, and you can see them improving them all the time. I am not sure of Japanese privacy laws and how would this apply.

Sometimes regulations such as this help improve the technology and make it more affordable. Making nav systems standard will drop the cost of technology tenfold and improve it as well. Look how much improved IS nav is compared from systems only 2 years back (2 gens ahead).

 

I'm not sure I agree with this ( though, obviously, it would not affect us in North America ). What about the people who don't want to pay for it ( it runs $2000 on the average ) or who rarely or never use it? Of course, on a top-of-the-line luxury car like the LS I could understand it being made standard....but the Japanese law seems to want to force it into ALL cars. I certainly hope we don't see any kind of law like that in the U.S.

 

Well about that one, i just think that it all works like how power steering phased in when it was "new technology". Initially it was considered a luxury but now it's standard. I think everything will take that route eventually.

But the fact is that in Japan, navigation has been available as an option in every car (from the Yaris and upward) for many years now. It's been out of the "luxury option" category for a long time now.

Because the things that we consider to be luxury technology is already pretty much standard to them i would say that that is a sign that they are ahead of North America technologically.

Also, the fact that the stuff that people are like, "OH THAT'S SO COOL!!!" in North America has been like, "Oh my dad had that in his car 5 years ago" to them.

The "normal" standard is what makes them more advanced to me.

 

Actually Navtech (now NAVTEQ) which provides a lot of technology behind all of them, is a U.S. based company. But certainly Japanese brand cars have the most user-friendly and feature rich systems, leveraging their tremendous consumer product experience.

Unlike airbags which were unique and increased volume would certainly have dropped the cost, a navigation system is more like a laptop (LCD, computer, storage) so I doubt there will be dramatically increased economies of scale. Maybe they're requiring it in Japan because they don't really have addresses in Tokyo at least - it's designed in concentric circles and addresses are the nearest post office box!

True, and it didn't take government prodding to do it!

 

Cars and phones for example, yes, Japanese companies innovate well. But not everything. Where's the Japanese 'google'? No pharmaceuticals. I could go on.

OK one more - they've never made a home speaker that was worth a crap.

 

http://autoshow.msn.com/as/video.asp...oshow2006Media


click on Lexus LS460 details

 

Good find. Wish he could've demo'd some more gadgets though.

 

Did anyone notice that the guy said the optional 19 speakers BOSE system and not Mark Levinson? The scene is when the guy is at the back seat describing the 9" video display.

Chu...

 

Nice. I thought it was a regular "shake and bake" massager with heat. It's actually SHIATSU!!! Yeah!

 

I really dont see how Google ties in. Nobody is saying Japan is superior to the US.
Japanese navigation systems are superior because they are developed more. NAVTEQ provides digital maps though, not actual hardware.

Economies of scales make everything cheaper, especially technological components. Price of 50,000 lcd screens with specific requirements is a lot more than price for 1,000,000 of same lcd screens.

 

I noticed that too. Right there and then he lost all his credibility to me. A Bose system in a Lexus? Makes me wonder if he's a new hire from Mercedes.

 

LS tail lights...reminesecent of honda oddysey lights but the LS are more crisper and more elegant looking. anyone else see similarity?

 

...........................

 

Thx for the msn videos...I wish I could save the first one! Lexus edited out the champagne glasses reveal section on their video.

 

Well that's the thing I've said over and over again about the taillights of many recent car models--they're all so after the fad of putting a horizontal clear stripe over a horizontal red, there's absolutely no originality in the taillights these days. The latest ES, SC, LS, 5-Series, 7-Series, Sonata, previous Accord and so on, all more or less look the same in the taillights. I so much prefer the two inner ovals in my '02 ES300 over the latest ES330. Although both are elegant designs, mine just look so much more distinctive and original.