2010 Audi A8 will boast handwriting recognition technology

why can't there be a pull out from the dash keyboard that can be used to enter the address in the navigation. Or have a laser virtual keyboard projected on the dash to enter the address.

I can imagine people frustrated over loosing the stylus or learning to write with the system.

i don't c touch screen in cars is a good idea. it always get dirty, and sometimes u press 3 to 4 times to click a button. thats y we don't see them in BMWs

writing while driving? not a good idea I suppose. What's wrong with voice recognition anyway? even a Focus RS got one these days

This won't work for Right Hand Drive markets. How many drivers are left handed? It's tough enough scrolling through menus, but writing with our left hands to get to where we want to go? It ain't gonna happen.

handwriting is just 1 of the options, the system will also feature all the other traditional ways (language, MMI etc.)

The only problem with this I see is , that since I started using the computer, I dont hand write anything any amore and now I cant even read my own handwriting. could be a problem and I am not even a doctor!!

Touchscreen navigation is the most convenient that I've used so far. If this handwriting thing is anything like the ones in my smartphone than forget about it. It's really frustrating to use if you write really fast.

I just wonder how well touch screens work when it's freezing outside and the car's interior temperature goes below 0 Celcius. Surely LCD screens work poorly anyway in cold temperature.

Wait, why does it select HA when there is clearly a M scribbled into the console? ;)

im an audi fan, but this tech is useless, specially when u have to input a destination letter by letter...

Writing while driving? this is unsafe! it will pull your attention from the road! This creation if fitted into the A8 will be one of the main reasons of death!

I have hand writing recognition on my phone and it is a pain up the ass to use, it doesnt always recognise the letter and so on. I would rather just have a touch screen with letters

whoever came up with this stupid idea should be fired, along with the whole design team, also the CEO... damn the whole damn company is stupid.. and the cars should be scrapped..

start looking at what you're writing, start erasing and after 15 seconds of trying to work it out, the a8 gets totalled

what they dont show on the screen is the truck hurtling towards them cos the audi driver has read the word incorectly

I think the solution for a car in this segment (ppl with a decent amount of $) would be cellphone synchronization. Most people know where they are going before they get in their cars, most people have cellphones, most ppl that have enough $ for this car have a GPS capable cell. If your car had it's own cellphone # with txt messaging service and it could recognize addresses from txt messages that would be amazing. You search on your iphone or nokia nseries where you want to go click send address to car, and your car already has the address and route planned before you get in. Or lets say a friend wants you to meet up somewhere they send you a text message containing the address and your car recognizes it and BAM it asks you if you wish to go there, simple click yes or no. I think that would be really cool and useful, i mean Nokia has this already with their maps and contact geotagging, you can see where your friends that have nokia maps and enable the feature are. Why not use that in your car too.

This is also good for europe and mutes. Voice doesn't work so well when you are going from lets say England to france, or france to germany, or italy or romania, or a country using a foreign language. Even less effective if you are mute, also a touch keypad is a pain in the ass, small area for the keys, plus more than half of the screen would be out of reach, and bumps in the road, try typing on an iphone with your arm fully extended out poking at it sitting in a chair while someone is shaking it, not so easy. This would put all your letters in 1 box closer to the driver, and save you using MMI wheel, or worry about foreign language pronunciation. I think it has it's benefits. You guys just havent thought of them.

Touchscreen virtual keyboards seem like good enough for now... Garmin, iPhone, Nokia 5800 XM & N97 are reasonable examples... Problem of pressing the same key 3x by mistake due to road vibrations remains a challenge, but is managable.