Get fuel for your ears while getting fuel for your car

by Dave Ward | January 15, 2007 at 02:01 am

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Fuel pumps are likely to take a big technological step forward in the near future. We can expect pumps to begin using touchscreen monitors to display maps, road conditions, news headlines and other information that could benefit travelers. Not to mention, inevitably, commercial advertisements.

But it goes beyond that: while you are pumping fuel for your car, you may also be able to purchase and download music for your iPod, or even download it directly to the car itself.

Wired reports:

Fuel dispenser manufacturer Dresser Wayne calls it the Ovation iX. We just call it "alt fuel." But whatever you call it, it's one of the few auto-centric devices at CES to earn a double-take — an Internet-ready WiFi-capable gas pump (complete with 15-inch touchscreen and speakers) that lets customers update their playlists as they fill up their tanks.

The CES demo entailed buying audio files from the Dresser Wayne fuel pump, downloading them to an Alpine Electronics IVA-W200 stereo and navigation system in a Lincoln Navigator, and (we assume) blasting them mercilessly à la Operation Just Cause before the awe-struck conference-goers. (If it wasn't Public Enemy, it should have been.) The whole thing is the product of a partnership between Dresser Wayne and the Microsoft Automotive Business Unit, which is apparently not content to Sync your Ford.