BMW, Toyota/Lexus, and Hyundai make the cars with the most advanced technology, according to an annual report from iSuppli called the Technology Availability Scorecard. BMW has six of the top 10 spots including the BMW 7 Series (photo), 5 Series, and 6 Series running 1-2-3, while Toyota and Lexus have two, and upstart Hyundai has the other two top spots. "Advanced technology" means driver safety aids such as lane departure warning or active cruise control, navigation, iPod adapters, telematics (Mayday calling), Bluetooth, back seat entertainment, voice recognition, hard drive storage, and other stuff that makes your daily commute a delight if you can figure out how to use it all. BMW wins the top award for the fourth straight year.
The new-for-2009 BMW 7 Series boasts 30 of the 35 features in iSuppli's rankings, including an 80-GB hard disk drive for navigation data and audio files, the second generation of the Flir night vision system, an updated iDrive system that finally can be used by not-geeks (see our BMW 7 Series review), traffic sign recognition (just not in the U.S.), blind spot detection, and a boatload of wireless features such as the industry's first Internet browser (just not in the U.S.), real time traffic information, HD radio, satellite radio, and premium Harman Kardon audio.
2009 Technology Availability Scorecard
1. BMW 7 Series, 30 of 35 possible features 2. BMW 5 Series, 28 3. BMW 6 Series, 27 3. Hyundai Equus (not available in U.S. until 2010-2011), 27 5. BMW X5, 25 5. Lexus LS, 25 5. Hyundai Genesis, 25 8. BMW 3 Series, 24 8. BMW X6, 24 8. Toyota Crown (NA in U.S.), 24 Source: www.isuppli.com (Global Most Technologically Advanced 2009 Vehicles)
Most Commonly Available Tech Offerings
According to iSuppli VP Phil Magney:
Navigation systems are offered on 66% of vehicles worldwide. The number is going up in part because the price is coming down, although in the U.S. the cheapest is still more than $1,000 (the Hyundai Sonata's $1,250 option).
Hard disk drives are available on 25% of 2009 cars, up from14% last year. "Available" doesn't mean that a quarter of the cars sold have hard drives, but that on one in four models, you can get it with a hard drive
USB ports are on 25% of 2009 vehicles vs. 12% in 2008. iPod interfaces are on 33% of 2009 models (including some USB ports that are versatile enough to handle more than just iPods). Note that when Apple says something like 80% of cars have iPod compatibility, they mean ... "even if it's just a line-in jack that would work with your 1980s Walkman cassette player."
Telematics solutions with emergency calling and collision notification are on 18% of new vehicles. News-weather-sports info is on 15%. Remote diagnostics are on 8%. The iSuppli rankings measure the availability of the offerings but not the quality or the cost. All real-time traffic information isn't very accurate, for instance. An automaker gets the same credit for having satellite radio standard as they do for charging $500. And Ford gets no more credit for having the free or low-cost Sync system in the majority of its cars than Bluetooth and iPod options costing $1,000 on other brands.
What it means: BMW continues to set the standard for high technology. Korea's Hyundai shows it's a force to be reckoned with. But some high tech options remain costly as automakers refuse to use industry-standard technologies that have driven down the cost of, say, PC technology.
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