Several European countries are testing the EasyPark system developed by an Israeli high-tech firm. Drivers electronically replenish a calculator-sized device that communicates with the parking meters, sets the appropriate parking rate, and computes the fee until it s turned off when the driver returns to the vehicle. To keep the parking meters as simple as possible, fees are automatically transferred to the cities or municipalities when the device is reloaded at special bank kiosks. In Yokohama, Japan, Nissan has provided 20 hybrid electric mini-cars that residents and tourists can use for a short run to the market, sightseeing, office errands, or anything else that they need to do. This loaner program is based on a European oddity where people can rent or borrow a bicycle from one station and drop it off at another.
Drivers simply swipe a credit card, pick up the keys, and drive around.
Ford announced at the North American International Auto Show that it will equip some of its cars with technology that brings the information highway right into your dashboard as early as this fall. So in less than two months, you can buy a car that will automatically notify the police when your airbags go off in an accident, call your wife when you forget to go by the supermarket, and even monitor e-mail, schedules, and stock quotes via the Web. But these technology advances do have their downside - at least for criminals. Despite voice warnings from a phone installed inside the car that they were being followed electronically, the teens figured that tossing the phone would solve their pestering problem. The technology uses GPS to relay and track information about a vehicle on request.