单项选择题
You slip the key into the ignition and crank the engine to life. But before you put the car into gear, you tap a key on the keyboard mounted by the steering wheel, and your newest e-mail flashes up on the windscreen.
This seductive satyr is what you get when you cross a car and a computer. Dubbed the "network vehicle", or net-mobile, it may soon come to a driveway near you (probably the one belonging to your rich neighbor). In a net-mobile, a motorist could tap into a regional road system but also to map out a route around rush-hour traffic snags. Drivers and passengers will be able to send and receive e-mail, track the latest sports scores or stock quotes, surf the Web, and even play video games. Or so, at least, say a number of computer-industry firms such as Microsoft, Sun, IBM and Netscape.
The modern car is already an electronic showcase on wheels. On-board microcomputers improve fuel economy and reduce emissions. They operate anti-lock brake systems, and on some cars even regulate the firmness of the shock absorbers. But much of the technology needed to add extra is available now. A prototype network vehicle, produced by a consortium of Netscape, Sun, IBM and Delco (an automotive-electronics firm based in Michigan), was introduced at the recent annual computer-industry show in Las Vegas.
It not only offered such desktop-computer-like services as e-mail, but allowed a driver to use them without looking away from the road. It was operated by voice commands and projected its data on to the windscreen, using the same sort of head-up display system found in modern fighter jets. Members of the consortium think a real-world network vehicle could be in production in as little as four years.
Car makers have already begun rolling out some of the features found on these prototype net- mobiles. If the driver of a General Motors car equipped with its On-Star system locks his key in the car, for example, an emergency centre can transmit a digital signal to unlock the doors. On-Star also calls automatically for help if an accident triggers the airbags. Toyota and General Motors are among a growing list of firms offering in-car navigation systems. And in Europe, BMW and Mercedes-Benz recently introduced navigation hardware that can not only plot out a route, but alert a driver to traffic jams.
The passage is written probably to （）
A. promote electronic culture
B. advertise for the motor manufacturers
C. attract potential motor consumers
D. provide information about tbe net vehicle