Anyway, a new market appears thanks to the mp3.
And VDO Dayton is a pioneer on this market. Because a CD or DVD drive is finally quite expensive, expensive for the manufacturer and thus for the final user. Then they decided to propose a new product, the MS5200 that can play music and read navigation map data from an SD card. Only.

It seems not important but it's quite rare.
Imagine a life without CD drive in the car. You can find that totally crazy, or you can find that totally useful, because you don't want to pay for something old-fashion. If you think like that, you're right in the commercial target of the new Siemens VDO.

Caracteristics:
• Compact hide away system (132 x 120 x 37 mm)
• Independent choice between 12 languages and 21 voices
• TMC integrated
• 2D and 3D maps view with Split Screen and Auto-Scale
• Adressbook (200 records)
• Automatic Station List (ASL)
• Map DataBase storage: 2 slots SD card (max 2 GB)
• GPS receiver 12 channels, Gyro, Speed Pulse
• Video: RGB, CVBS (NTSC)
• Audio: 1 x 5 Wpp @ 4 Ohm (external loudspeakers)
• connectors for a TV tuner, a DVD drive (ah!) or a rear-view camera.

A screen of 3,6 to 4 inches (10 centimeters), and a price from 1000 to 1200 dollars, depends on the map provider (TeleAtlas or Navteq).

USB and other mass storage in the cars, it's just the beginning. Even Visteon does it for VolksWagen.
And you? Are you ready to throw your CD drive away from your car?


Source : all-electronics.de, last month.

For those who do not know : VDO means Vereinigte DEUTA OTA.
It was a manufacturer of information and cockpit systems, navigation, telematics, communication and audio systems and control and fuel systems.
The company was founded by Adolf Schindling at the end of the 1920s in Frankfurt, Germany by joining DEUTA (Deutsche Tachometerwerke GmbH) and OTA Apparate GmbH. The company made speedometers and instrument clusters for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
In 1991 the company was bought by Atecs Mannesmann. In 1999 Mannesmann was itself bought by Vodafone Airtouch and VDO was put up for sale. In 2000 the company was bought by Siemens Automotive and the companies merged under the name Siemens VDO.