Toyota to put wireless phone chargers in cars

All the driver (or passenger) will need to do is leave their smartphone on the mat and let it charge.

This saves you from having to fumble around for a charging cord – or battle over the cigarette adaptor socket.

The feature isn't cheap, however. It's bundled in the $1,950 “technology package.”

And don't expect that feature to work with all phones right away. Toyota says it's only compatible with handsets that use the Qi standard (pronounced chee).

Which phones are Qi-equipped? About 30 – including the two best Android and Windows Phone models out there: the LG Google Nexus 4 and the Nokia Lumia 920.

But if you want, you could buy special Qi-equipped sleeve for the Apple iPhone, which will let you use the wireless charging system.

Unlike how cars were slow to adopt aux-in jacks for plugging in MP3 players, iPods and phones, analysts say we should expect wireless charging features to appear on the option sheet for most cars soon.

Heck – if Dodge wants to offer this feature in its affordable Dart, maybe more manufacturers will offer charging mats to wirelessly juice up our tech gadgets.

I just hope the feature won't cost almost $2,000, because then I'll just stick with the hard-wire way of topping up my phone's battery.

Would you like your car to have a wireless charging mat?