Major leading countries and players worldwide - Road applications
From INVESaTWIKI
Major leading countries and players worldwide - Road applications
In the USA, by combining satellite navigation
tracking and wireless communications, the
new telematic systems will offer automatic
post-collision notification integrated into the
current E-911 emergency networks. In the
event of collision, onboard systems
immediately transmit alerts along with details
such as location, magnitude and number of
passengers involved to emergency response
centres operated by Cross Country
Automotive Services.
Based on the investment required to comply
with this regulation, US operators are
proposing and deploying more and more
commercial LBS road applications for mass market and
professional applications.
In the State of Minnesota, all police cars, ambulances and Government vehicles will be equipped with sensors that will record different types of information such as speed, location and direction of travel data during their daily rounds. Other types of information concerning weather information such as windshield-wiper and headlight use, outside temperature and traction-control-system data will also be gathered and will be transmitted to a service centre that will be capable to create weather and traffic advisories.
Norwich Union Insurance is researching a direct payment system for motor vehicle insurance based on the active use of the vehicle.The trial involves 7,000 volunteer customers and, if positive, will result in commercial insurance products of a new type.
A number of interesting developments in the road segment will also favour market growth:
- The availability of route guidance systems that incorporate near real-time traffic information such as the ETA (Electronic Traffic Avoidance) system in some Toyota cars.This type of service is easy to expand in order to offer other types of location-based services.
- Car manufacturers (e.g. Ford, BMW, Renault, DaimlerChrysler) are diversifying their businesses and are providing, or plan to provide, telematics services to their customers. In some cases, they are forming strategic partnerships to develop and operate such information provision.
Under an initiative of the German Government to install a highway toll system for trucks, the ETC consortium (DaimlerChrysler Services, Deutsche Telecom and Cofiroute) is implementing an infrastructure worth several billion, named Toll collect, based on satellite navigation services. 600,000 trucks will automatically transmit various parameters such as the accumulated number of kilometres, truck weight, number of axles, etc.The centralised toll centre will prepare billing to truck owners. ETC expects yearly earnings in the order of € 600 million.The system, originally planned to start in August 2003, will now come on line in 2005.
The UK Government has announced its intention to introduce a Lorry Road-User Charge (LRUC) so that freight forwarders pay an amount related to the distance that they travel on UK roads, regardless of their nationality.The Charge will apply to all heavy goods vehicles with a weight of 3.5 tonnes or above, that travel in the UK.The Government is preparing to introduce the Charge in 2007/08.
Since June 2002 KDDI, Toyota and Matsushita Electrics are proposing a service that broadcasts a message with precise information related to user location.The service, HelpNet Keitai, based on mobile handsets integrating navigation chipsets, is dedicated to emergency calls. It is offered at a rate of e 2.70 per month. It is envisaged to reach 150,000 subscribers by mid 2005.
To improve police and emergency centre activities, the DaimlerChrysler TELEAID system determines the location of cars involved in accidents.The system transmits further information, such as personal data about driver or vehicle characteristic, for more efficient intervention assistance.
T-Mobile, a leading mobile telecoms operator, launched a navigation service for cars in spring 2004. It is based on GPS and GSM and in terms of competitive positioning it challenges the traditional car navigation systems.While regular systems come at prices in the area of a few thousand Euro, the business model is based on a relatively inexpensive equipment investment, typically less than 100 Euro, but the service subscriber is asked to pay several Euro per navigational route query. Subscription numbers have not yet been published, but strong end user demand has been reported. [1]
References
[1] Galileo Joint Undertaking
"Business in satellite navigation - An overview of market developments and emerging applications".
