RAC launches desktop widget

The RAC Widget was launched today, allowing computer users to access route planning information, road maps, traffic news and mileage calculations, all from the comfort of their own desktop!

RAC has teamed up with Yahoo! to offer one of the most interactive widgets in the marketplace. The Widget can be downloaded from the RAC homepage and will soon be available from the Yahoo! Widget Engine straight to users desktops. The Widget sits on their desktop and every time they wish to plan a route, check for traffic, check mileage or claim fuel all they have to do is enter their start point and destination into the fields and they are brought to the results, either on RAC’s website or the Widget itself.

The Widget has three sections:

RAC Routeplanner - the user just types departure and destination details into the Widget and this will fire up the route that they wish to take from the RAC Routeplanner on the website.

Mileage Calculator - this will check the distance between two points as well as calculating the fuel consumption to aid customers in company expense claims.

Traffic information - the customer can use the Widget to access real time traffic news in their region from the RAC website.

Jonathon Brown, head of RAC eChannels said, “Building on RAC’s commitment to being the motoring expert dedicated to helping the motorist, RAC has designed a Widget to bring the RAC online experience right onto the customers’ desktop. Anyone can download the widget – you don’t have to be a RAC member.

“When we all start thinking of how to get home, users can pop some information into the Widget and it will tell them how to get home, how long it will take and what the traffic will be like. Also, this Widget has a mileage calculator that will also calculate expenses for fuel claims in one easy step”.

The Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly known as Konfabulator) is a javascript runtime engine for Windows, launched back in 2005.

Members of the public can download the RAC Widget from either rac.co.uk or widgets.yahoo.com.