One day in the not-too-distant future you'll get in your self-driving car, speak out your destination and put your smartphone down on the arm rest - where it will begin charging automatically.
Daimler (owner of Mercedes-Benz) and Qualcomm have announced a new partnership to work towards in-car wireless charging. The companies are also going to develop ideas for charging electric cars without cables.
The days of fiddling around with cables and cigarette lighter sockets could soon be over - in fact, your car's built-in systems might eventually be able to charge up your mobile while it's sat in your pocket.
Signal boost
"It's important that we remain on the cutting edge of technology," said Daimler's Thomas Weber, echoing the thinking of every car manufacturer as the likes of Google and Apple jostle for position.
The agreement between Daimler and Qualcomm also covers 3G/4G connectivity inside cars, which will be a key technology for getting software patches, map updates and more straight to a vehicle without a mobile phone.
We don't have any details of particular products yet or a timescale on when they might appear but it's encouraging to see car manufacturers getting up to speed with today's technology at long last.
Via Reuters
