Blue & Me - Fiat and Microsoft Collaboration

The Fiat Linea, which was presented in Istanbul last October, now makes its market. Some models of Fiat Linea is equipped with a system called Blue & Me powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile. The car has Windows Logo on its steering wheel and dashboard.

Blue&Me, the result of the collaboration between Fiat Auto and Microsoft, is changing the way people communicate and listen to music on the move.Using a series of voice commands, without taking your hands off the wheel you can telephone and listen to incoming SMS messages, interpreted on your Bluetooth Blue&Me mobile phone, consult your phonebook and listen to MP3s. Blue&Me supports most mobile phones with Bluetooth technology.

The car was developed by Tofas A.S., the 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Auto and Koç Holding which is listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Manufacturing of Linea is in the plant in Bursa, Turkey (fully operative, output will reach 60,000 units per year) and is marketed in a number of European and non-European countries: Spain, Germany, Morocco and Finland. At a later date, the Fiat Linea will also be manufactured in Brazil, India, China and Russia.

 

About Blue & Me

Instead of costly and rigid hardware, Fiat Auto and Microsoft is offering a platform that can  be adapted to most mobile phones, digital media players and other mobile devices. The customer is free to change them with new models without compromising compatibility with the car.

Blue&Me guarantees maximum security levels and user-friendliness. The voice-activated system, the complete integration of steering wheel control buttons and information on the dashboard display will allow users to utilize any Bluetooth-based mobile phone - even if it is in a pocket or handbag - without removing hands from the steering wheel.
Thanks to a modern voice-recognition system, no preliminary voice training is needed, and even incoming SMS messages are read aloud to the driver. And even in Turkish in the local Language .
Among audio functions, it is possible to listen to music stored on a mobile phone, in the newest smart phones, and in MP3 readers or USB removable sticks. All this thanks to a USB port, in the glove box, which enables the connection to any digital device with the correspondent port.
The collaboration between Fiat and Microsoft allows Blue&Me to be based on an open platform, compatible with the largest number of devices such as mobile phones, Palms and MP3 players, with the real benefit of continuously catching up with market innovations, thus maintaining the perfect integration with the car at an entry-level price.

Here are the some of details of Blue & Me :

The hands-free system
The Blue&MeTM hands-free system uses exclusive universal voice-recognition technology: regardless of who is speaking, the system does not need time to learn the voice.
After pairing your Bluetooth mobile phone with the system, which you only need to do once, and by downloading your phone’s phonebook, you can make and receive phone calls simply by speaking: all the commands can be given without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road.
Up to 5 different mobile phones can be paired with the system: should more than one paired phone be present in the car at the same time, Blue&MeTM connects with the last phone used.
You can call a number by dictating the number, digit by digit, or simply by saying the name of the person you want to call, provided they are in your phone’s phonebook. Alternatively, you can use the steering wheel controls to scroll through the phone book on the display on the instrument panel.

SMS Reader
If you receive an SMS, you can have the system read the message for you out loud! It can even interpret abbreviations and smilies! What could be easier or safer?

Musical entertainment
With Blue&Me  you can listen to all your favourite music in the car, in MP3/WMA/WAV digital format.
All you have to do is connect your Media Player to the USB port in a handy position in the centre of the dashboard: a USB pen-drive, an MP3-player or a smart phone, or even an I-pod. The only requirement is that the files downloaded are not covered by music copyright, such as iTunes files.
When you connect the device to the USB port, the words ‘MEDIA PLAYER’ immediately appear on the radio display, indicating the music source you are listening to.
Using the voice or steering wheel commands, you can select the music track you want to listen to by browsing through the various folders and files shown on the instrument panel display: in an instant, you will hear your selected track