In the heady days of the mid-fifties, Ford’s American management decided to create an automobile that combined everything a driver could ever want. So they formed committees and drew on massive market research programmes to create the Edsel. In theory it should have been a huge success – but by trying to be too many things to too many people Ford ended up with a camel of a car that almost broke the company’s back. The telematics industry is in danger of similar over-ambition in that it’s offering a wide variety of services to drivers who have yet to realise that they want, or need, them.
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The technological menu ranges from tracking vehicles in transit to providing turnby- turn navigation; providing targeted and relevant traffic information to tracking the whereabouts of buses; and managing remote assets to providing sophisticated two-way data and voice communications between the office and a remote worker. In short, a wealth of information that can be used by drivers and fleet controllers alike.
At the heart of virtually all systems dealing with vehicle location is a black box which combines a Positioning signal receiver, a central processor, and a communications board – this latter item is essentially the core of a mobile telephone set. Equipment intended for navigation also has a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and central processor, but is designed to work as a stand-alone package which reads from a disc (either compact disc or the higher-capacity Digital Versatile Disc) to provide turn-by-turn route guidance. However, despite what you might expect – and despite the commonality of components – navigation and vehicle location systems are at present not able to interface with each other.
There’s also the common misconception that satellites are used as the communications medium and that they are the only means of locating a vehicle. For the vast majority of applications, existing mobile telephone infrastructures are perfectly adequate. As for location, there are other options; Siemens Datatrak, for example, offers a highly effective low frequency radio-based service. Both systems work in essentially the same manner, taking signals from three or more different satellites or radio beacons. Each signal is time-coded, and the receiver unit interprets the elapsed time between transmission and receipt of each signal to provide a precise triangulated location. What is also often not realised is that the invehicle hardware is only a part of the package; a location-based system also needs some form of control centre. There are various means of providing this, from outsourcing the complete package to the system supplier’s bureau to having everything on a fleet manager’s desk, so that the information is always to hand. Which raises the next big issue – what information? And how useful is it? It is worthwhile looking at the range of data that can be provided from a vehicle.
Because location is so precise – to within five metres in some cases – fleet operators are able to track their vehicles as and when required, minimising the risk of cars ‘disappearing’ and keeping a lid on theft losses. Then there is information from whatever sensors have been hooked into the central processor unit. These tend to be details of who is driving the vehicle, road speed, engine performance, the temperature inside a refrigerated trailer, and anything else that is considered appropriate. These all help maintain the fleet in optimum working order.
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Gathering this data is simply a matter of hooking up on-vehicle sensors to the central processor of the telematics unit, often via computer-style RS232 connectors. In essence, anything that can be sensed within a vehicle’s architecture can be fed into the telematics unit. At present all of these sources have to be wired externally; vehicle manufacturers are in the process of developing telematics units which integrate with the engine management system, but they are understandably opposed to outside manufacturers being able to draw information from within the vehicle. As the vehicle makers see it, they are obliged to meet a raft of legal, ethical and moral responsibilities, and any external piece of electronic hardware which could compromise the integrity of vehicle systems represents one risk too many.
The next issue – still on the subject of vehicle location – focuses on the means by which the gathered data is fired back to the control centre. Because commercial telematics systems rely on the GSM telephone service, there is a call cost factor which could be anywhere between 10p and 70p per minute. Therefore systems usually hold data within the processor’s memory and send it back either on demand, or at preset intervals. Real-time tracking is available, but the value of this has to be weighed against its cost. Generally, this means that real-time use is restricted to tracking a vehicle that has been stolen, and is being hunted by the police.
Turning now to the second main function of vehicle telematics – navigation – this usually features a screen which shows a driver the suggested route, and at the same time provides verbal turn-by-turn instructions. A recent innovation, known as dynamic navigation, also provides up-to-date traffic information and an alternative route to avoid congestion. Dynamic navigation systems are currently offered by only a few suppliers – VDO Dayton was the first to bring it to market, followed closely by Blaupunkt and Toyota – ‘but others are expected to quickly follow in their path. Traffic information is received from a separate service provider – in the case of Toyota it’s Trafficlink of London – ‘through RDS-TMC (Radio Data Service-Traffic Message Channel).
Another recently-introduced service is Yeoman VoxNav which provides route guidance and traffic information, along with information on local services, but does so without a screen display; Yeoman’s rationale is that a voice-based system is perfectly adequate. For this to work, a vehicle needs to be equipped with a mobile telephone and installed hands-free kit, and a GPS receiver unit; this latter item costs around £200. The driver calls Yeoman’s number, and gives his or her destination address. Yeoman then provides a recommended route which takes into account any known traffic delays, and provides a set of instructions which can be called upon as required. Yeoman reasons that anybody can get from one city to another with ease; it’s in the last few miles of the journey that detailed guidance is needed.
The vehicle’s route is stored on Yeoman’s computer and in the event of an impending traffic problem the driver is advised of an alternative route. Calls last as long as the driver’s needs (rather than for the duration of the entire journey) and are charged at 60p per minute.
Ford’s service (branded fordtelematics) is similarly voice-based, and is initially being offered as a line-fit option on Focus and Mondeo models. Costing £600, it comprises a GPS receiver, a hands-free mobile phone with Vodafone 12-month contract, and special radio head unit. This service – again paid for in part by premium rate call charges – offers the same set of services as Yeoman, via a call centre (run for Ford by the AA) but also adds in emergency call facilities. If the car is involved in an accident and the airbag deploys, for example, its sensor automatically sends an emergency message to the telematics centre. There is also a manual button that can be used by the driver.
Other manufacturers (including Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Alfa Romeo) offer similar services but they are all screendriven, rather than voice-only, which adds to cost and also requires more input from the driver.
That last matter, driver involvement, is occupying the minds of a number of safety organisations, and is likely to lead to the establishment of some form of code of practice. At present the use of screens is tolerated, but that was once the case with using mobile telephones when driving.
Despite the wide range of services available through telematics, the absence of a ‘join-up’ between navigation and vehicle location remains a major obstacle to growth. Separate systems, each with their own arcane cost structures, make it difficult for potential users to assess the economics. Add to this the difficulty in installing and maintaining independent packages and the attendant problems of dealing with different suppliers and it is unsurprising that take-up rates are still very low. Only when there is a cohesive, pick-and-mix product range will telematics grow into a ‘must have’ vehicle feature.
All the major audio manufacturers (Alpine, Becker, Bosch, Citizen, Clarion, Kenwood, Panasonic, Pioneer, VDO Dayton) produce retro-fit navigation systems.
Initially, these featured a dashmounted screen and a separate box which was usually mounted out of sight in the load area. Now, there is a trend towards the one-box solution, which replaces the standard stereo head unit. Often these have a fully-specified radio and audio CD built in. Part of the rationale for the creation of such DIN-sized units, which typically retail for about £1,000 – ‘is the need to return leased vehicles in an ‘as supplied’ condition – difficult to achieve when several pieces of hardware have been fitted and half the wiring loom has been interfered with.
A single unit, slotting straight into the fasçia and connecting quickly and neatly, is a desirable compromise – ‘especially as it is possible to obtain nocut sub-looms, using OEM multiplugs, such as those available from SoundLinx. This also makes it easier to swap a unit over to a new car than is the case with a multi-box package. These so-called Single-DIN systems do not provide the driver with full mapping, but instead restrict their display information to a pictogram of the approaching junction. When referred to alongside the verbal instruction, this is generally adequate for most drivers’ needs.
There’s a sector of the telematics industry that is seeking its fortune by integrating PDA devices such as the Palm or Psion into the car. This is a concept still in its infancy, and uses the notion that the PDA holds a driver’s personal address book and a mapping package, which an in-vehicle port allows it to lock into a GPS location and communications package.
Streetmap, one of the up-and-coming map data providers, is working with a number of PDA manufacturers and systems integrators to offer complete packages, but for the moment fully functioning navigation packages are still very rare. A lot of hopes are pinned on Bluetooth, a forthcoming radio-based connection chip which eliminates the need to hard-wire separate pieces of equipment. All that will be needed, according to the Bluetooth Developers’ Forum, is for devices to be within a few metres of each other to be able to work together. However despite promises to the contrary, Bluetooth connectivity is taking a long time to arrive, and is in danger of losing its marketing impetus. •
