The talking car from Knight Rider left an enduring impression on '80s kids. Whether they'd end up with a 20-year old jalopy or a Ferrari — they just wanted their car to be able to talk to them.
While we might not have a fully-fledged Knight Industries Two Thousand, or KITTS just yet, ThinkGeek is offering the next best thing in the form of a Knight Rider-themed car charger.
"Our GPSes have gotten us closer to talking cars, but they're clearly not artificially intelligent the way KITT was. If they were, they wouldn't be driving us off of bridges under construction," says ThinkGeek on the product page.
The charger plugs into a car's 12-volt power socket, and includes two USB plugs for users to connect their mobile devices. Of course, it wouldn't be very interesting if all it did was charge phones.
The charger can do more than that: it can say 11 different phrases from the movie, all spoken by William Daniels, the voice of KITT itself. The driver can hear phrases like "anything you can think of, I'm sure I can perform," or "may I suggest you put the car in the auto-cruise mode for safety's sake." Users will even see the red audio bars light up as KITT speaks — and if you ever get sick of the voice lecturing you, you can always hit the mute switch, or turn the device off completely.
With a device this big, it can be a little difficult to properly position it. Thankfully, the KITT charger has an arm that pivots either up or down so the user can customize the position of the charger to best fit their car.
The device costs $30 and is available at ThinkGeek.
Of course, this device will only serve as a temporary addition to a car until we get real talking cars — something that certainly seems to be on its way, with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Both systems have started shipping for cars over the past few months, allowing users to connect their Android or iOS smartphones to their infotainment systems.
These systems offer an easy way to control our digital lives while driving, with larger, easy-to-see buttons and voice controls, which let users focus on driving rather than their phones.
In-car systems certainly aren't at the level seen in the classic Knight Rider, but who knows — maybe Android Auto 2.0 will include a KITT setting.
Via: Cnet
