Albeit a Motor Vehicle Race, the Paris to Dakar rally is a veritable cornucopia of mobile technology! From vehicle telemetry to GPS to mobile broadcast and coverage technology, in this case in the air as well! Event’s like this have driven [pardon me] advances in mobile technology in ways that we can’t even imagine. Do you think the proliferation of GPS on mobile devices [inbuilt], like the Nokia N95 would be possible if an event such as this did not necessitate smaller, lighter, more accurate solutions for this technology.

Danger and the Dakar Rally have long been synonymous: Dozens have died racing from Europe across some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain to the western tip of Africa.

But the threat of an al-Qaida-linked attack pushed the element of risk to levels organizers deemed unacceptable. They cancelled the epic race on Friday, meaning terrorists have ensured there will be no spectacular images this year of dune buggies throwing up clouds of dust and lone motorcycle riders spinning their wheels in Saharan sands.

It’ a shame, something I really enjoy, and technology development that benefits us all, put on hold for, well reasons I won’t go off about!

Via International Herald Tribune

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