A Voice From the ’80s to Deliver Driving Directions
It was bound to happen sooner or later: Generation X nostalgia and modern technology have come together in the “Knight Rider” Global Positioning System from Mio Technology.
The Knight Rider GPS (www.knightridergps.com) takes both its sound and style from the 1980s television show about a computerized talking 1982 Pontiac Firebird named KITT. William Daniels, the actor who was the voice of the sleek black car, narrates the unit’s driving directions. The device, which sports a black exterior and flashing red lights, can be personalized to use one of 300 common names in the greetings and random phrases it utters.
Although it does not offer real-time traffic updates, the Knight Rider GPS comes loaded with maps of the United States and is ready to go out of the box. It weighs about six ounces, and has a 4.3-inch color screen. It will cost an estimated $270 and is expected to arrive in stores in August — the month before a retooled version of the “Knight Rider” TV show crashes back onto the airwaves with Val Kilmer cast as the new voice of KITT. J. D. BIERSDORFER