XM unveiling new XM NavWeather service at NAIAS

XM is jumping the gun a bit and announced the unveiling of their new XM NavWeather personalized weather tracking service for GPS nav systems, at the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

While CES is ready to kick off this week, NAIAS will be held next week (January 13-17) in Detroit.

There's no official word about whether this new "infotainment vehicle" would be on display at CES as well - but you can bet I'll try to find out.

XM NavWeather - which we first heard about at last year's CES, and then later learned the product name back in August - enables drivers to view live, personalized weather forecasts and conditions on top of their existing navigation display. Sure, it was known that this personalized weather service was coming for the Bushnell ONIX400, but what we didn't know is how this would apply to OEM versions.

Another feature we didn't know about is XM's exclusive "Threat Matrix" technology which provides immediate alerts on developing weather conditions, such as hail, tornado and storm warnings, mapped to the driver's specific location and driving route. Drivers will get the option to view current and developing road weather conditions and multi-day forecasts for cities across the country, and also view weather maps to monitor conditions anywhere in the United States.

XM NavWeather was developed with Baron Services, who is XM's weather partner for the award-winning XM WX Satellite Weather service that provides "professional grade" real-time weather information direct to aircraft cockpits and marine navionics instruments.

This is the "consumer friendly" version of XM WX.

XM plans to announce the first auto partners to offer XM NavWeather in early 2008, and the service will be available for the portable Bushnell ONIX 400 within 30 days.