/ 29 June 2008

Just when you thought it was safe … the Knight Rider satnav

The only surprise for fans of cult Eighties television is that it has taken so long. A satnav system featuring the voice of Kitt, the robotic car in Knight Rider, will give drivers the dubious privilege of imagining they are the show’s crimefighting star, David Hasselhoff.

The GPS device features the voice of William Daniels, the veteran actor who provided Kitt’s speech in 87 episodes between 1982 and 1986. Knight Rider featured Hasselhoff as lone vigilante Michael Knight, whose self-driving, artificially intelligent, virtually indestructible car made James Bond’s vehicles look like a horse and trap.

As Daniels (81) gives directions, columns of red light pulsate in sync with the spoken commands as they did on Kitt. The actor, whose long career included the role of Dustin Hoffman’s father in The Graduate, has also recorded 300 first names so the gadget can be customised to give a personal greeting.

The Knight Rider GPS is made by Mio Technology after a deal with Universal Studios. It will go on sale in the US for $270 in August with a United Kingdom release hoped for at a later date.

It remains to be seen whether satnav competitors will respond with Anthony Daniels as C-3PO or Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. In the meantime the best known British celebrity voice on satnav is John Cleese in Basil Fawlty mode. – guardian.co.uk