Car Care Takes On A Whole New Meaning

From Technology Review:

Your car may soon be able to warn you if your blood sugar dips, alert you to high pollen counts, and remind you to take your medication. Ford demonstrated the new in-car technology—currently a research project—this week at the Wireless Health 2011 conference in La Jolla, California.

Many carmakers see a big opportunity in adding new functionality to the computers built into many models. Some cars already use Internet connectivity to alert drivers to traffic tie-ups. Ford has developed three sample apps that combine this connectivity with the growing number of wireless medical devices and health-monitoring apps for people with chronic conditions. Its initial efforts are focused on people with diabetes and asthma; the car can connect to a wireless glucose monitoring device from Medtronic, get allergy alerts through pollen.com, and sync with WellDoc, a mobile health-monitoring platform.