Mercedes-Benz Just Got A Whole Lot Cooler
Posted 11/18/2009 at 12:55pm
| by Liam Widman

Mercedes-Benz is joining up with Hughes Telematics to bring you the ability to control dozens of the vehicles features, using an iPhone. It's called the 'mbrace' app. With it, you can control the doors to make them open and close. You can contact roadside assistance. And best of all, you can find your car by using an app on the iPhone. Never lose your car in a massive parking garage again!
The system will be included in all new Mercedes-Benz products from now on, while current customers with the car maker's Tele Aid system are eligible to retrofit their dash system with the new mbrace system for $280 a year.
Sascha Simon, the director of advance product planning at the firm said, "With mbrace, we begin the introduction of a whole new generation of innovative and personalized services that fit our drivers' mobile lifestyles, keeping them connected to the people, places and services that are important to them and offering them enhanced safety, security and navigation options. Most importantly, the flexibility of Hughes Telematics' architecture will also allow us to continually add new features and innovations that will keep Mercedes-Benz on the forefront of in-vehicle services." The whole system can also work using Blackberry devices.
The standard mbrace features include Automatic Collision Notification, SOS/Emergency Calling, Safe Ride, Roadside Assistance Connection (in-vehicle and mobile application), Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance, Automatic Alarm Notification, Vehicle Information and Crisis Assist; but if you get the premium version, you can add features like Location-Based Weather, Location-Based Traffic, agent-assisted Route Assistance, Point-of-Interest Destination Download (through agent), and "Mercedes-Benz Concierge," which functions much as a hotel concierge making restaurant reservations, locating stores and services, cash wire assistance, etc.