Road warriors, fasten your seat belts. It's time to turn your car into a Wi-Fi hotspot.

In the coming weeks, Avis Rent A Car plans to roll out a new service in some markets that will give travelers a high-speed wireless Internet connection in one of the last digital frontiers the car.

For an additional $10.95 a day, renters can connect laptops and other wireless devices to the Internet through a portable router that plugs into the vehicle's cigarette lighter.

No special software is needed.

"We wanted to make it so easy, anyone could use it," said Sterling Pratz, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Autonet Mobile Inc., which developed the device. "Basically, you turn it on and within 30 seconds you have a high-speed Internet connection."

Avis will launch the wireless service officially April 16 in San Francisco, Pratz said. By month's end, it's expected to be available in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami and Newark, N.J. At first, about 20 units will be available in each city.

A larger, 100-city expansion should be completed in the next six months.

Aimed at business travelers and families on vacation, the router allows multiple people to surf the Web while on the road. That means the kids can watch YouTube videos or download games while Mom checks e-mail or gets the latest weather report from Yahoo.

Business travelers can work from the car or sit under a shady tree, so long as they're within 100 feet of the car. The router also can be plugged into a wall outlet and used in a hotel room or business conference center.

"People lead a car-centric lifestyle," said Pratz, a former professional race-car driver. "At the same time, they lead an Internet-centric life, with all sorts of gadgets and toys. Until now, the two never met."

The router creates a seamless broadband connection by tapping into existing cellular data networks. It works with any wireless device, including laptops, PDAs, Wi-Fi phones and portable game systems, and is compatible with all operating systems.

The technology took about a year to perfect because it was tricky to provide a consistent connection as cars move between towers and from high-speed to low-speed networks, Pratz said.

For now, Avis is offering the only chance for large numbers of consumers to give on-the-road broadband a test drive.

Starting this summer, consumers should be able to order the router from Autonetmobile.com for $399 a unit plus $29 a month. Right now, there's a backlog of orders. Pratz said several "major retailers" have shown an interest in selling it.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service)