Philips' CARiN Car Navigation Unit to be Available at Circuit City Stores
14 October 1997
Philips' CARiN Car Navigation Unit to be Available at Circuit City StoresATLANTA, Oct. 14 -- Philips Car Systems today announced that its recently introduced CARiN interactive vehicle navigation system -- the latest electronics innovation for the automotive aftermarket -- becomes available after Oct. 17, 1997, for purchase and installation at 250 Circuit City stores nationwide. CARiN will be offered at free-standing displays at most Circuit City Stores. "Circuit City's focus on quality, service, availability and convenient locations will significantly enhance Philips' initial release of CARiN," said Mark Stephenson, Philips Car Systems' North American vice president of marketing. The 250 stores that will offer CARiN at free-standing displays are located within the 60 metro areas that are fully digitized and are currently available on the CD-ROM road maps used by CARiN. "This means consumers may leave the store and immediately pull up detailed maps, select destinations and receive precise verbal and visual turn commands for even hard-to-find addresses," Stephenson said. "We selected the Philips' brand after a thorough review of all the available products," said Blaine Altaffer, Circuit City's senior national buyer of automotive sound and security. "Our choice was based on the product's ease-of-use, the extensive mapping available, Philips' national advertising campaign, detailed customer and installer support capabilities, and Philips' extensive involvement in the commercial application of the product." Already in widespread use in Europe, the technology of Philips' CARiN uses Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to help track a vehicle's position as well as dead reckoning and other software to plot best routes to a destination and provide both visual and verbal directional information. About the size of a vehicle CD player, the navigation computer is sufficiently compact to mount under the rear deck, in the trunk, beneath a seat or on the floor of the cargo area. The computer features an eight- channel GPS receiver, a CD-ROM drive, and an integrated gyroscope. A GPS sensor can be mounted inconspicuously in a number of locations within the vehicle to receive line-of-sight tracking information from at least three of 24 geosynchronous GPS satellites. Circuit City can install CARiN, by appointment, in less than two hours. The Philips' CARiN system includes the navigation computer, integrated CD- ROM drive, LCD color display, infrared remote control and a GPS antenna array. Price of the system is $1,999 plus installation and CD-ROM maps. Potential customers can visit CARiN's web site at "http://www.carin.com" to obtain a list of Circuit City locations where the unit is sold and installed. Philips Car Systems currently provides nationwide coverage on seven CARiN CD-ROM road maps. The CDs contain all roads in the metro areas of: Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston/Providence, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver/Boulder/Ski Resorts, Detroit, Fargo/Moorhead, Houston, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Indiana, Las Vegas, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis/St.Paul, New York, Northern New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco Bay, Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia, Southern California (including Los Angeles), St. Petersburg, Traverse City, Mich., and Washington DC/Baltimore. The maps also contain the interconnecting roads of the full continental United States. Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is among the world's largest suppliers of electronic systems and products to the automotive industry. Its global automotive capabilities include vehicle navigation, car audio systems and components, electronic and mechanical systems and components, semiconductors, lamps, road lighting and traffic control. Quoted on the NYSE, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges, it is also a world leader in lighting, color television sets, electric shavers and recorded music (PolyGram), Philips Car Systems has global headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, and has U.S. offices in Farmington Hills, Mich., Cheshire, Conn., and Atlanta, Ga. As a unit of Philips Electronics N.V., Philips Car Systems has access to the resources of one of the world's largest digital technology corporations, with 262,500 employees in more than 60 countries and worldwide sales of approximately $41 billion in 1996. Founded in 1949, Circuit City Stores, Inc., is the nation's largest retailer of brand-name consumer electronics and major appliances and a leading retailer of personal computers and music software. With headquarters in Richmond, Va., Circuit City operates 460 Superstores, four consumer electronics-only stores and 52 mall-based Circuit City Express stores throughout the United States. Consumers can learn more about Circuit City by accessing the company's website at http://www.circuitcity.com. SOURCE Philips Car Systems