There’s more fun to today’s automobiles than master ing sharp turns at high speeds or rolling down the windows and letting the wind blow back your hair. Cars have become ‘smarter.’ Thanks to an automotive wireless communications system called ‘telematics’ that incorporates global positioning system (GPS) technology, many carmakers can now link motorists to services that provide emergency calling, directions or other location-based services. This new technology is taking the automotive industry by storm.

The emerging convergence of computing and communications will make our world much smaller, even while on the road. Tomorrow’s ‘smart cars’ will be equipped with systems that can provide real-time traffic information and play music on demand.

Telematics
The term telematics originated in Europe and remains widely used in the automotive industry. It’s an emerging market of automotive communications technology, combining wireless voice and data to provide location-specific security, information and entertainment services to drivers. DamlierChrysler was one of the first companies to describe their communications technologies as telematics systems and customers quickly identified with the new term.

The first systems deployed addressed the need for added safety and security in the car. Motorola pioneered the telematics market in 1996 when it helped Ford introduce the first emergency response system, called RESCU.

Since Ford’s RESCU system, Motorola has helped many carmakers bring telematics to drivers worldwide. It capitalises on the converging technologies that we’re beginning to embrace and take for granted—things like wireless communications, GPS, embedded software and voice recognition.

Motorola’s core technology components are found in the Telematics Communications Unit (TCUÔ), which is composed of deeply integrated software and hardware technologies, including GPS, necessary for delivering telematics services to drivers. The TCU connects the car and driver to a response centre.

The breadth of services telematics systems can offer motorists is limited by the amount of data that the cellular infrastructure can support. As network operators move to global packet radio service (GPRS) and 3G technology, the packet-data delivered services demanded by drivers will only grow.

Consumer Benefits
In an emergency situation, a telematics system automatically notifies a response centre when an airbag is deployed. This is especially important when the driver is unable to manually contact a response centre. In some telematics systems, automatic notification to the response centre also occurs in a roll-over accident.

With telematics systems, drivers can request information and quickly receive help in emergencies or problem situations. Telematics systems in the future will extend these capabilities even further and bring greater levels of intelligent transportation to all drivers.

Services available today include:

• Vehicle management services —empowering consumers to remotely unlock car doors if keys are accidentally locked inside

• Car-theft notification and tracking services that are triggered by an embedded alarm system in the vehicle

• Convenience voice services —offering users mobile yellow-page inquiries

• Convenience data services —enabling motorists to access real-time stock quotes and current news reports

Motorola and its telematics customers recognise that these technologies directly address the ongoing safety concerns of motorists. These telematics leaders believe the inherent value of these technologies — the real improvements they provide in automobile safety and convenience—necessitate their broader availability in all vehicle classes.

What’s Next?
In the next few years, cars may carry entertainment systems that will play music on demand, provide route assistance and accompanying traffic information, deliver personalised news weather and sports or even offer the capability to even read e-mail.

To date, there are already over 150,000 telematics systems on the road in North America and Europe. The Strategis Group, an analyst firm based in Washington D.C., and Frost & Sullivan both predict that these numbers will increase dramatically in the next three years. Experts estimate the telematics market will reach at least $8 billion by 2003.

Motorola is developing personal area network technologies that will—in the future—allow seamless integration between cars and portable wireless devices. In addition, Motorola will help enable wireless delivery of entertainment on demand, with all its attendant e-commerce opportunities.

What can drivers expect to see coming down the telematics highway in the near future?

• More information services — ranging from more advanced safety services messaging and entertainment—as high-speed packet-data technology proliferates

• Strong collaborative networks—set up by private companies, public organisations and individual consumers—to satisfy the demand for new levels of driver-automobile interaction

• Up-to-date travel guides, e-mail and voicemail access, aeroplane and hotel reservations, and server-based navigation incorporating real-time road conditions

• On-board safety, convenience and entertainment services.

In the Future
The future of telematics cannot be realised by one company acting alone. We must strive toward a telematics ecosystem that actively involves consumers, automobile manufacturers and technology companies in ensuring that telematics is adopted and embraced at the mass-market level.

Automobile manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Nissan and Renault bring years of automotive manufacturing expertise and experience to the development of telematics. Technology companies are able to leverage their experience in developing and manufacturing wireless data protocols and communications, cellular network solutions and remote wireless data services.

The future of the telematics market will depend on the industry’s ability to make telematics products and services available and economical for mainstream consumers. Consumers want one package that is easy to use, affordable and provides a solution to their needs. In order to deliver this solution, automotive, technology and service companies must develop a service and pricing policy that will drive proliferation of telematics products in the mass consumer market.