Bright Ideas: Hands-Free Communication System

Buyers of the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica can opt for a factory-installed, voice-activated, Bluetooth-powered communication system. U-Connect links the user’s own Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, which can be stored anywhere inside the car, into the vehicles onboard system. The factory-installed version of UConnect is activated by pressing one of three buttons integrated into the rearview mirror. On the dealer installed version the control pad is mounted just to the left of the center stack. If the driver is entering the vehicle while a call is in progress, they need only activate the U-Connect system and convert the call to handsfree without missing a word.

U-Connect uses voice commands to dial the phone or access prestored phone numbers. The system recognizes three languages, English, French and Spanish. Customers can store up to 128 phone numbers or 32 names with four numbers per name. The system will recognize up to five different phones.

Peiker Acustic Inc. a specialist in the manufacture of in-vehicle communications systems, headquartered in Friedrichsdorf, Germany, was chosen by Chrysler as the supplier of the dealer-installed system. For the factoryinstalled system, Johnson Controls (JCI) handled the design and manufacturing of the U-Connect control modules as well as the integration of the systems components. The system includes an Intel X-Scale microprocessor, IBM ViaVoice, Broadcomm Bluetooth chipsets and a QNX operating system. Gentex supplies the rearview mirrors that house the U-Connect buttons.