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BusinessWire: Garmin announced yesterday that its automotive OEM division will provide in-dash navigation for the new 2011 model year Chrysler Grand Cherokee.

The program marks Garmin’s first major automotive navigation system to be installed at the factory.

The system combines Garmin’s best-selling, affordable, and intuitive user interface into Chrysler’s Uconnect radio that merges technology and content into one 6.5” touchscreen display.

“Garmin is uniquely positioned to quickly bring the latest and greatest navigation technology to an in-dash environment – priced at a level that mainstream drivers can afford,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and chief operating officer.

“Being a navigation provider for Chrysler is a significant and long sought-after achievement for our company. We look forward to collaborating with them on this exciting project.”

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Electronista: The next model year of Chrysler vehicles will have mobile Internet access as a staple feature, the American car company has said before an official announcement of the vehicles themselves.

All of its 2009 models will have the option of UConnect Web, a service that will give the vehicles a 3G cellular Internet connection shared throughout the car over Wi-Fi. The service is intended to let passengers use notebooks and smartphones whenever the car is inside the cellular network’s coverage area.

The feature isn’t platform-specific and won’t restrict the type of use in the car, according to Chrysler’s UConnect engineer Keefe Leung. The service would thus allow streaming video from some sites as well as other apps and content sometimes filtered out of mobile services.

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