About the .CAR new gTLD

In a presentation in the spring of 2009 at the Fully Networked Car forum held in conjunction with the Geneva Auto Show, Arnaud de Meulemeester, ATX Europe managing director, detailed the initial steps toward defining the attributes needed to communicate to in-vehicle devices. ATX and the CVTA will seeked to recruit interested, European entities to help lead the initiative. ATX, which already enables Web connectivity to select vehicles in Europe, also advocates the creation of a specific top-level domain -- ".car" (dot-car) -- to help ensure safe Web browsing in the vehicle.

"While the primary focus is to give motorists the ability to surf the Web in their vehicles, there are other key issues for automakers involved in the scope of this initiative," noted de Meulemeester. "Beyond meeting consumer expectations and reducing lead time to deployment, other considerations include ensuring flexibility of the interface for the life of the vehicle to customization according to vehicle model, country and driver type."

Benefits of a .car top-level domain:

• Ensuring flexibility to adapt the embedded user interface for the life of the vehicle;
• Dramatically reducing lead time to market compared to the current embedded software design process;
• Achieving the capability to customize according to vehicle model, country and motorist;
• Facilitating easy customer access to content and updates;
• Meeting customer expectations of web browsing while keeping a safe and convenient driving experience.

About ATX

ATX (www.atxg.com) is one of the world's leading providers of customized, connected vehicle to global automobile manufacturers. ATX pioneered connected vehicle services in 1996, and today provides innovative safety, security, communication, navigation and information services to vehicle owners through many of world's most distinguished automotive brands, including Toyota, Lexus, BMW, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.