## 2 Cars, Media, Mobiles
Notably, computers became incorporated in cars for communication and signal processing within the vehicle's own internal systems. By the twenty-first century, these systems included hugely expanded onboard sensors, widespread use of software throughout vehicles, electronic control systems, as well as systems that gathered increasing amounts of data. At the least, the electronic circuitry, the rise in software in cars, the emergence of the automobile as a key site, or node, in the \"Internet of things\", and so, can be seen as a intensification of the mediation of automobility; if not, amounting to a strong claim, of a new kind of media--\"cars as media\". As noted elsewhere in this paper, the infililtration of the car's interior systems by electronic information and communication technologies is at least matched by the growth in the wide area systems of traffic, transportation, and vehicular informatics in which cars operate. That is, cars are not simply driving on a road or highway systems, or reliant on semotic systems of signs, or networks of traffic lights controlled by a control room. Cars are being piloted--autonomously or automatically--in a veritable empire of information and communication, as much as signs. Information and communication systems for cars, transportation, and mobilities systems have been the subject of much research and development for some decades. However, a new force in car media and communications has come from a different direction, not previously thought to be part of this sphere of technology and its social co-ordinates. I refer here to the growth of household consumer electronic and entertainment devices and \"systems\". Not only are car owners and passengers expected to possess and use a car radio, but also to desire many other of the media devices that line their homes and offices, and accompany them on the move: CD and DVD music players; DVD and video players; game consoles and devices. Mobile phones have promised to act as a \"convergent\" device to consolidate different media practices and technologies, and this is a vision that has recurred with smartphones. Many middle- and upper-class smartphone users expect to port their lifestyle, data, and media, wherever they go. Many hotels now offer iPhone and other smartphones docks, for instance, with cars doing the same. A pioneering instance is the incorporation of Bluetooth into advanced car systems, allowing user's mobile connectivity could translate relatively seamlessly into the car environment. Thus the car could feature as an acoustic relay for telephone calls or enjoyment of one's digital music collection. The moves of car manufacturers, mobile companies, and consumer electronics and entertainment companies towards imagining and responding to consumers' desires to be able to use mobile media in car now stand to deepen considerably with mobile Internet becoming a prominent feature of these hybrid technological systems. The appearance of mobile Internet in cars, like that of mobile telephony text messaging before it, has also been accompanied by concerns about safety and risk. Interestingly, the realization that mobile Internet use is occurring in cars has formed part of the new, broader concept of \"distracted driving\". That is, rather than professional, research, and public attention being narrowly fixed on mobile phone use and its dangers to driver safety, there is now an explicit recognition of the range of in-vehicle information and communication technologies, including mobile Internet, that enlist the driver in ways that \"distract\":  
Motor vehicle drivers are increasingly using electronic devices while driving for activities such as calling or sending text messages (texting) from cell phones, watching video, and searching the Internet. Automakers are also incorporating electronic devices into standard vehicle design, including dashboard Internet and satellite connections. Because these devices are integrated into everyday life, drivers mistakenly assume they can be used safely while operating a motor vehicle.