With the Regal Cielo with Personal Vehicle Assistance (PVA), the Buick division of General Motors moves into the lead in the competition to provide communication and entertainment in a vehicle.
The Cielo is already pretty unique, since it's going to be the only 4-door sedan with a retractable roof when it starts coming off the Oshawa Regal assembly line, as seems likely in the next year or so.
But being the only car with the ability to use voice or steering wheel controls to run a personal digital assistant (PDA) and laptop computer built into the back of the flat-folding front passenger seat also moves the Cielo to a fairly unique place.
Cielo has a receptacle for the PDA that displays the handheld unit's data on a touch screen, so the driver could look up addresses, phone numbers and what have you. This could be done via the screen when the car is in park, or by voice when the car is moving. A name and phone number would also be displayed on the screen of the Cielo's instrument panel so the driver could then speak it to the built-in hands-free cell phone.
The laptop, which sits in a purpose-built briefcase, can be accessed by the driver when the front passenger seat is down. Lots of drivers already put their laptops on the passenger seat, but the Buick design will put the laptop in a better position and keep it fairly well secured.