The television series, Knight Rider (1982-86), follows the adventures of the modern-day Lone Ranger Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and his supercar KITT (Knight Industries Four Thousand), as they travel across America battling criminals that are above the law for those that can’t fight for themselves. KITT wasn’t like any other car; it can go up to 300 mph, was bulletproof, invincible, and can jump through almost anything. It can even talk, too.
Not only has the series continued to live on both in syndication and on DVDs all over the world, but so has the spirit of KITT. Mio Technology, a Taiwanese mobile electronics manufacturing company, has revealed a Knight Rider GPS two days ago, and DVICE has been given a preview of it in action yesterday.
The production models are set to arrive on in the “August timeframe” at a price of $270.
“I am so bummed that the navigation voice is so different from the startup voice” CJW commented. “The iPhone 2 is bound to be my GPS. Hopefully they will port a Knight Rider interface over to it.”
The influence behind the navigator’s design is KITT, which is voiced by veteran actor William Daniels, who is also the voice of the GPS. In the original, KITT was a Black Trans Am. The new series, which debuts on NBC this fall, will be a black Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR.
When hooked up, the Knight Rider GPS helps drivers search and map out where they want to be — like finding a museum, for instance. It also has two vertical LEDs (light-emitting diodes) that lights up when it talks. Once the system is starting up, the KR GPS, there is an image of KITT’s legendary red Cylon-esque LED going side to side asking the question, “Michael, where would like to go today?”
“I loved the original KITT car and voice synth,” Bleepy said, “So this is a good thing. Let’s take it to the next level.”
Source: DVICE
