"Turn left… turn right… Turbo Boost… you are at your destination, Michael."

"Turn left… turn right… Turbo Boost… you are at your destination, Michael."

Jul 09

I’m surprised nobody did this sooner – for years now we’ve had in-car GPS systems and they’ve been talking at you for awhile. So if your car is going to talk at you, why not make it sound like William Daniels? Mio Technology has invented what they’re calling “Navi-tainment”, which is a dorky way of saying “GPS guidance system that sounds like a TV show.” Still, you have to admit, the symmetry makes sense. Fictional talking car lends voice to real-world talking cars.

But why stop there? Here is Alert Nerd’s top 5 list of other robot voices they should license for GPS units;

5) Old school Cylon Centurion. Awesomely creepy way to get directions, but the “By Your Command.” every time you enter a destination will be worth the cost alone.

4) Dr. Theopolis. Twiki would have been cool, but Mel Blanc is dead. Eric Server isn’t. Hence…

3) C3-PO. I don’t know that I’d want it, but from a business standpoint, this is actually one I expect to see happen, particularly if the KITT version does decent. If they can sell a lightsaber remote, they can sell Anthony Daniels as a GPS.

2) Robby the Robot. Will only really work if it yells “Danger! Danger! We are off course!”

1) Daleks. Not robots, strictly speaking, but c’mon… “YOU! WILL! TURN! LEFT! YOU! WILL! OOHHHH-BAAAAAAY!”

And no, I didn’t forget HAL. There’s creepy funny, and then just creepy. You shouldn’t fear for your life every time the system can’t find a particular location.