The Infotronic system incorporates front- and rear-seat LCD screens, wireless local-area communications, a Linux-based operating system and Java middleware. DaimlerChrysler showed the prototype in two concept vehicles — the Dodge Super8 Hemi and the Chrysler IT Cruiser. Company officials said they don't expect it to reach production vehicles for "several" model years.

The introduction was another sign that automakers are embracing the idea of open standards. "Instead of exclusively writing all of our own proprietary applications, we are viewing the vehicle as part of a ubiquitous world," said Karenann Terrell, director of the e-Connect platform for DaimlerChrysler Corp. "And that ubiquitous world has already laid down its own standards for applications."

The announcement also served notice to the rest of the automotive community that DaimlerChrysler wants to be a player in automotive telematics. "GM already has OnStar, Ford has Wingcast and Mercedes-Benz USA has TeleAid," said Paul Hansen, publisher of The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics. "So Chrysler is saying, 'Hey, we're in this too.'"

DaimlerChrysler engineers wirelessly linked the prototype Infotronic system to a specially staged home electronics network that included security cameras, e-mail capabilities and Internet connections. They showed how the backseat systems could be used, particularly by kids, to download movies and games via 802.11 communications when the vehicle approaches a wireless data station.

Prototype hardware incorporates four embedded systems: one PC-compatible computer in the front seat, two in the rear and a communications gateway. The front seat has a 6.4-inch LCD screen with a voice-recognition interface, while the rear seats use 8.4-inch touchscreen displays and conventional keyboards. Eventually, DaimlerChysler engineers said they expect to build those keyboards into the lap and shoulder belts.

Although executives would not reveal hardware details of the system's networking scheme, they did say they eventually expect to network it with a high-speed bus based on the MOST Cooperation design. "I can't imagine doing this without a MOST bus," Terrell said.

To accomplish the open-standards design, engineers at the carmaker's Research and Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif., teamed with Sun Microsystems Inc. to develop the underlying software foundation. Their design includes a Red Hat Linux 6.2 OS and Java middleware.

Theoretically, the Java middleware would enable the automaker to benefit from applications written by the 2.7 million Java developers around the world. These could be easily plugged into the existing middleware, engineers said, so the Infotronic system wouldn't fall out of date as new software products are introduced.

"Companies are realizing that these cars have a very long life and that they will need to upgrade and update their systems over time," said Jim DeStefano, Sun's strategic marketing manager for Java in automotive. "They're turning to Java because they don't want to be locked into, or limited by, anyone's hardware or operating system."

DaimlerChrysler is not alone in its push for open standards-based designs. The Hansen Report recently reported that seven companies — BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen — plan to put Java middleware into production in the next five to seven years. Motorola has also said it is developing a platform using the Java Virtual Machine.

Ironically, DaimlerChrysler's announced push toward open standards comes on the heels of its defection from the Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration (AMI-C), a consortium of automakers attempting to pull together a standard for in-car electronics. AMI-C has in the past said it will embrace a Java standard. But DaimlerChrysler said recently that it will not renew its membership in the organization. BMW and Volkswagen dropped out as well.

Analysts say that DaimlerChrysler's defection may only indicate a shorter development timetable. "It could be that Mercedes-Benz and BMW are poised to innovate before AMI-C can finish a specification," Hansen said. "Sometimes if you do it that way, you can pull the standards bodies behind you."