Automotive Industry Trends

Telematics Offers Auto Owners a Fresh Shopping List

Issue Table of Contents

Integrating Vehicles and Telematics The Expanding Use of Telematics Telematics Offers Auto Owners a Fresh Shopping List Automotive Telematic Standards and Related Publications

Telematics is the branch of automotive technology that enables a vehicle to do much more than simply take its driver from point A to point B. Telematics turns a vehicle into a home-like haven, an on-road office, and an electronic flare to call for help in an emergency. Some of the newest offerings from car manufacturers are safety features and others are purely for pleasure.

An example of a safety option for new vehicles is HFI, or the hands-free interface. HFI allows drivers to use in-vehicle systems while keeping their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road. Voice recognition technology, the genie inside the machine, lets drivers speak commands to their onboard systems, and some systems even give audible replies. As laws limiting of the use of hand-held devices become more widespread, more consumers will demand hands-free technology so they can stay connected to wireless services and, at the same time, safely operate their vehicles.

Navigation is another safety feature that is quickly becoming the gold standard for new cars. And like Telematics itself, navigation technology is evolving to meet consumers’ needs. Initially, navigation systems offered maps the driver could access from a CD or DVD, but a far more useful source is a remote server where maps can be continually and instantly updated. Navigation systems, like GM’s OnStar, use Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers, embedded units that signal the Telematics Communications Unit (TCU), to give drivers the location of their cars and also to track a vehicle that has been stolen.

But safety and security are only the beginnings of what Telematics has to offer. Entertainment is emerging as the run-away winner in the competition for a top place on consumers’ wish lists. Front-seat features, those that are least distracting for the driver, include satellite radio and MP3 player interfaces. Satellite radio services (XM and Sirius for the United States) bounce more than a hundred channels of digital music, news, talk, weather, and traffic, from satellites orbiting 22,000 miles above the Earth to a receiver integrated with the vehicle’s TCU. MP3 players have stormed the market, and Telematics gives iPodsters the chance to plug in to a TCU-integrated consumer convenience port and hear all their favorite tunes through the car’s sound system.

With new rear-seat options, automobile owners can really take entertainment seriously. On-board DVD players with wireless headsets have already moved into the mainstream. Soon to follow the same path, video game systems also will be fully integrated with vehicles. For sincere game aficionados, it will be possible to download new game data from a wireless Internet connection and direct the data through integration with the TCU to the video game terminal. Welcomed by entertainment lovers, Telematics technology may even trim the number of times a driver hears the question, “Are we there yet?”