Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, Switzerland, Mar 02, 2010

smart drive kit for the iPhone: Greater safety and lifestyle appeal

- Clever app from smart for the popular phone
- Phone calls, music and intelligent navigation
- Multifunctional smart cradle with smart style

smart is the first car brand to develop its own drive app for the iPhone. Together with the smart cradle for the iPhone the popular phone becomes a multimedia trip computer that is optimised for the smart fortwo in terms of function and design. The smart drive app for the iPhone has all the important features needed whilst driving: phone calls via hands-free system, your own extensive music collection, internet radio and a clever navigation system with a special smart touch. There are also smart extras – for example the Car Finder that will guide you back to wherever you parked your car. The new smart drive app for the iPhone is simple to operate thanks to extra large buttons. The new app makes urban mobility even easier and more fun - the declared objective of the smart philosophy.


smart has prepared the way for modern city cars with lots of innovative ideas and has redefined urban mobility. And Apple brought new ideas to mobile phones with the iPhone. The new smart drive kit for the iPhone is now bringing the lifestyle phone to the smart fortwo as a multi-talented companion. Marc Langenbrinck, Managing Director smart brand and Head of Sales & Marketing smart says "The smart fortwo and the iPhone are both lifestyle icons. This is why the smart drive kit is ideal for our smart community."

Two new elements developed by smart make the two-seater car and the iPhone a perfect team:

- The smart cradle for the iPhone with control unit and microphone serves as a stylish and functional holder. It charges the iPhone and also functions as a hands-free system using the loudspeakers of the smart radio for sound output and automatically muting it when phone calls are made.

- The smart drive app for the iPhone is the world's first drive app on the market to be developed by a car brand. It combines all the features needed on the road in a single app. All the functions are extremely easy to use thanks to extra-large buttons and extra-large letters.

Really smart – the clever app from smart

Listen to music, make phone calls and find your destination straight away – the smart drive app for the iPhone masters all this and makes city driving even easier and more pleasurable.

Media Enjoy your entire private music collection with the app. Thanks to an integrated web radio function you can also listen to your favourite foreign radio stations and podcasts whenever you want. The song ID function of the app enables you to obtain information online about titles and singers of songs that are being played on the radio or on web radio.

Phone The hands-free system and all important functions needed to make phone calls are automatically available as soon as the iPhone is put in the smart cradle. Keypad, contacts, favourites, call lists and other telephony functions are clearly arranged for simple use.

Maps The basic version of the app shows the vehicle's position on a map of the area ("Follow-me maps") and enables points of interest to be found by using the on-board database or off-board via Microsoft Bing. The navigation upgrade is a highlight and turns the iPhone into a full navigation system with maps for Europe or the USA – enabling navigation without being online. A smart guides you to your destination on the display of your iPhone. Street names are not only shown but even read aloud. In addition, traffic information can be called up in realtime so that you know where traffic jams are.

Assist With the Car Finder your iPhone will automatically remember where you parked your car when it is removed from the cradle and it will find the way back for you after a day's shopping. The app from smart also uses the GPS function of the iPhone for a further service. Should roadside assistance ever be needed, the driver can give his or her precise position via a direct line to the smart hotline.

smart drive kit camera – even more safety in future

Researchers at Daimler AG are currently working on enabling users of the smart drive kit for the iPhone to use the innovative driver assistance systems from Mercedes. A camera fitted on the windscreen is needed as an additional element to transmit pictures of the area in front of the car to the smart drive kit for the iPhone via WLAN. This will enable the future application to identify traffic signs with speed limits, for example, and to inform the driver about the speed limit that applies. In future smart drive will be both an infotainment and a driver assistance system.

Available from the summer

smart driving with the smart drive kit for the iPhone will be possible from the second quarter of 2010. The smart cradle for the iPhone will be available from smart dealers at a price of €240 (German list price with VAT plus fitting costs). The smart drive app for the iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store at a one-off price of €9.99 for the basic version. The navigation upgrade with up-to-date maps costs €49.99 per year.

Daimler researchers are currently putting the final touches to the smart drive kit camera functions.