Just in case driving by billboards doesn’t fully satisfy your desire for advertisements, Lexus cars will soon be equipped with a system to play advertisements to drivers. USA Today’s Chris Woodyard reports:
…new Lexus vehicles will start being delivered later this year with a system that includes capability for voice messages sent directly from the automaker to its drivers…
“It’s a non-starter,” says William Matthies of consultants Coyote Insight and a longtime consumer electronics executive. “You’ve got the same thing coming to your home now. It strikes me as the same thing” as junk mail.
Assertions that the messages will be targeted and useful enough to appeal to particular drivers don’t impress Matthies. “They’re not claiming anything different than all direct marketers claim,” he says.