There was a time when car owners and automobile manufacturers weren’t very conscious about their carbon footprint, or the negative effect that cars could have on the environment. However, things have changed for the better. Rising fuel costs and growing public demand has forced manufacturers to begin designing environment friendly cars. Today, the majority of new cars on the market pollute far less than their predecessors.
Cars today are designed with inbuilt computers that adjust fuel flow and air-intake. These computers help make the car more environment friendly. However, there is still one factor that that remains, the driver himself. How a person drives their car can make a huge difference in fuel economy.
What if there was an application in your car that could talk to you and help you drive better, bringing CO2 emissions down dramatically? Well, Fiat Automobiles SpA has devised just such an application. Fiat, known as one of the most environment friendly car manufacturers in Europe, realized that software technology can help reduce auto emissions of CO2, which is responsible for global warming. Combining with Microsoft, the pair have come together to create just that… EcoDrive.
EcoDrive is the first of its kind in the world. It communicates with car drivers and helps them change their driving habits for the better. It is an enjoyable and easy to use application that offers advice on your driving habits once your journey is over.
If you have Blue&Me, a Bluetooth tooth based system developed by Microsoft, which offers drivers an interactive and intelligent hands free control system over mobile phones and music players in their cars, you should be able to use EcoDrive.
Blue&Me EcoDrive reviews your driving style for you. All you need to do is detach the plugged in USB Stick from your dashboard and plug it into your computer or laptop. With the help of EcoDrive application, the information of your latest driving excursion will appear on your computer screen. Fiat’s application is an extremely user-friendly format that interacts with you the driver, and lets you know how many pounds of emissions were produced on the trip you just took. A list of suggestions will appear on how these emissions can be reduced by driving in a more environment friendly manner.
This is a real first,” says Cilimingras, Fiat Advertising Manager. “For the first time, we can extract data from an ordinary car right out of the factory and send it to a notebook computer or personal computer.” The Fiat Grande Punto will be fitted with Ecodrive, however earlier Fiat cars with Blue&Me will also be able to upgrade Eco drive for free!