Autoblog

In a move sure to cause consternation among the tinfoil hat/black helicopter types, Fiat and Microsoft are teaming up for a new feature called EcoDrive. The Italian carmaker and the software company already have an electronic communication system similar to the recently introduced Ford Sync that's called Blue&Me.

New Fiats will be able to log a variety of vehicle and driver data such as throttle position, transmission, speeds and various engine parameters that affect fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Through Blue&Me, drivers will be able to plug in a USB thumb drive and the data will be automatically downloaded.

When the driver plugs the thumb drive into a computer loaded with the Microsoft EcoDrive software, the data will be analyzed. The software can then give the driver suggestions about how to modify his/her behavior behind the wheel to reduce fuel consumption. As you might expect, the software is Windows-only. Hopefully the data won't be stored in a proprietary format so that open source types can come up with their own analysis software for Linux and Macs.

[Source: Fiat]