Pinpoint Profits With Dashboard Gadgets

It's road-trip season across America, and that means that at this very moment there are thousands of drivers getting seriously lost. Or stuck in traffic. Or really, really bored.

Lucky for them, the long-promised era of telematics -- the convergence of computers, communications, entertainment and cars -- is finally at hand. So in coming years, if prices for vehicle-based gadgets decline in dealer showrooms as dramatically as expected, the miserable experience of being waylaid, delayed or left without something to play on a steaming summer highway will become as distant a memory as the hand-operated window.

Luxury passenger vehicles, particularly from European manufacturers, are swiftly becoming four-wheeled family rooms, complete with high-end entertainment systems, wall-to-wall telephony, satellite radio, gaming consoles and video monitors that rival theaters in quality. It seems that people of means can't stand the idea of being bored for one second after they leave the electronic cocoon of their homes.

The difference now is that these systems are moving into the mass market as relatively inexpensive entertainment and navigation options find places in moderately valued Japanese- and U.S.-made cars, vans, trucks and SUVs.

It's not just about price, though, especially when it comes to safety and convenience. New navigation systems provide much more than just a flat-screen version of a fold-out map: They give voice directions ("Turn left in three-tenths of a mile; turn left now"), warn of traffic problems ahead and provide alternate routes in real time to help you evade congestion, complete with accurate forecasts of travel times.

Investors have already fawned over high-end DVD/CD/MP3 systems makers such as Harman International Industries(HAR), as well as content-service providers such as Sirius Satellite Radio(SIRI), sending their shares barreling up the freeway. For now, it appears that the navigation-systems makers and mapping-content providers -- while certainly not desperately undervalued -- might have the greatest appeal to investors.