## 3 Connected Worlds: Computing and Internet in Cars
[47]  
In particular, the OECD noted that \"private companies are developing and promoting the use of such things as fax machines, on-board computers supporting Internet access, games and video/entertainment systems for use in vehicles\", recommending that the introduction of such technologies \"should be managed by ensuring they are part of national safety plans and strategies\" [47]. No doubt, such recommendations by governmental working groups and agencies were wishful thinking in the face of dynamic, disparate technology developments. This was especially the case with early mobile computing and Internet technologies. Just as media gradually populating and becoming a prevalent, prominent part of cars and car cultures, such as mobile phones, digital music and video players, and satnav devices, a similar trend may be observed with computers. The portability of computers, with the invention and popularity of the laptop computers, meant that early adopters using them, especially those travelling for work, were keen to use them. Accessories were devised specifically for computing, such as the \"AutoExec\" made by the Zeeland, Michigan, company Mobile Office Vehicle. Authors of a 1998 study into use of the car as a mobile office found that:  
The number of people using an in-car computer was small, although it is like to rise as more and more companies utilise computers in their business dealings. Current use of computers, mainly laptops, in the mobile office is primarily to store and retrieve data. People waited until they got home or to their office to download or retrieve data... The use of other mobile computing facilities such as portable modems, fax modems and printers was minimal. [49]  
Cars travellers are being urged to use laptops and other media to work from their car, and indeed various groups of works begin to do so [50,51]. We situate these new media work practices in cars as part of a wider phenomenon of mobile office work and travel time-use in the \"information age\" [52]. Fully-fledged, integrated Internet access in cars was much slower to become a reality, despite efforts by a range of information technology companies, scientists, technologists, and designers. In 1999, IBM, Netscape Communications, and Sun Microsystems, for instance, proposed the \"network vehicle\", a vision for the \"future convergence of computers, the communications infrastructure, and the vehicle\":  
Drivers can use a head-up display projected through their windshield to navigate to their destination or check vehicle functions without taking their eyes off the road. Passengers using individual terminals next to their seats can do even more, including interacting with the Internet, watching television or playing games... The Network Vehicle also has an integrated cellular phone, Netscape Communicator software for Web browsing and e-mail, a removable personal digital assistant (PDA) and docking station. [53]  
It was not really until 2008-2009, that manufacturers offered \"genuine' Internet access in cars, with BMW being among the first to lay claim to this distinction [54]. BMW's iDrive system included three TV screens, which included Internet access as well as DVDs and TV [55]. As well as accessing the Internet directly on the iDrive system and screens, BMW also made available wireless Internet functionality in the car, for drivers and passengers to access via an Internet-equipped mobile [56]. A key difficulty BWM faced was providing easy-to-understand and use controls for its rich panopoly of functions. This was something that the \"iDrive\" system, first devised in 2001, was supposed to address--the name obviously signifying its parallels with Apple's iMac, iTunes, and iPod, and other range of digital devices which had gained strong consumer acceptance.