Microsoft is teaming with Kia Motors America to port an in-vehicle communications and entertainment system into the latter's vehicles. Known as Uvo, and built on the Windows Embedded Auto software platform, the system will theoretically allow drivers and passengers to make and receive phone calls and Short Message Service text messages, as well as access music from various devices (Uvo will feature 1GB of media storage and allow users to rip music from CDs). At first glance it appears very similar to Sync, the in-car connectivity system designed in joint partnership by Ford and Microsoft.

The original version of Sync made its debut at the Detroit Auto Show on Jan. 8, 2009, and the second generation is due sometime in 2010. With Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally scheduled to deliver a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7, it's highly likely that Sync will be on display at the event.

The second-generation Sync will allow drivers or passengers to insert a USB mobile broadband modem into a USB port, creating a hot spot in their hot rod and allowing them to access their contact lists, play songs from a USB thumb drive or sync with Bluetooth-capable phones, the Zune and the iPod.

Kia's system will be offered in the third quarter of 2010, starting with the 2011 Kia Sorento CUV, but will be demonstrated first in Vegas this week. In addition to allowing users to make calls and access music, Uvo will also feature voice-activated controls for changing radio stations and operating a rear-view camera when the vehicle is in reverse.

Personally, I'm not sure this connectivity in vehicles is entirely a good thing.

I've seen a few examples of in-car connectivity at this point, and it seems that they take care to prevent the driver from engaging in more attention-intensive activities--no watching a YouTube video while speeding down the highway at 80 mph. But drivers and passengers already have more than enough distractions keeping their minds from the road, and porting a hot spot into a vehicle won't help matters.

I may be in the minority with that opinion, though. According to Windows For Devices, Sync is now installed in more than 1 million Ford vehicles, and the automaker plans on expanding the system to include a GPS receiver and "Data over voice" technology, among other features. Microsoft will make Microsoft Auto 4.0 available in the Spring for automakers looking to give their own cars a similar array of technological offerings.

If at least some of those features make people better drivers, then more power to all involved. But with various municipalities starting to crack down on people making calls or sending texts in vehicles, I sense it's also a matter of time before in-vehicle systems like these begin running into legislative trouble. What do you think?