Public sector telematics Weekly Brief—10.29.2012

In this week’s Brief: the Swedish Transport Administration, TomTom, England's Highways Agency, INRIX, the National Traffic Information Service, European Satellite Navigation Competition, Fraunhofer Portugal, the University of Porto, Ford, Telenav, AutoNavi, AllGo Embedded Systems, DENSO Corporation, Appcelerator, Volvo, and the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium

Partnership opportunities with municipalities, federal governments, and government agencies is an area of growing activity for the telematics industry. This week, the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) agreed to exchange updates on speed limits and signage with TomTom to improve the quality of TomTom’s map database.

As part of the cooperation, the STA has joined a growing list of early adopters of TomTom's OpenLR location referencing technology. The royalty-free, open source technology will enable the STA to share speed limit changes with TomTom on a daily basis.

The STA also plans to share height restrictions, changes to signage and other road safety information.

"The expanded cooperation with the STA means that our maps are always fresh and all our customers are benefitting from accurate and up-to-date maps," says Charles Cautley, managing director of TomTom Licensing. "That's why we are planning to introduce similar data exchange programmes in other countries across Europe."

England’s Highways Agency awarded INRIX a multi-million dollar contract to provide real-time traffic speed and travel time information for the National Traffic Information Service (NTIS), which consists of 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads.

Starting in a 12-month trial, INRIX will merge existing road side sensors with consistent and precise junction to junction information, helping pinpoint queues and their impacts for drivers and traffic operations staff faster than sensors alone.

The company will also implement next-generation high speed data processing specifically for the NTIS, ensuring that data gets from the road/vehicle to the National Transportation Operations Center operators and end users in less than a minute.

In other news, a team of engineers from Portugal was named the overall winner of the 2012 European Satellite Navigation Competition. The team, which is a collaboration between Fraunhofer Portugal and the University of Porto, proposed an indoor navigation system for smartphones that attempts to achieve seamless navigation in millions of indoor square metres using ultra-low-frequency magnetic field communication.

The team won 20,000 Euros, support to bring the solution to market, and the title of “Galileo Master.”

Ford integrated “Scout,” a personal navigation assistant from Telenav, into its Ford SYNC AppLink. Scout customizes its navigation tips to the user and provides personalized information about where to go, when to leave, how to get there, and what to do upon arrival.

Ford is the first automaker to make Scout for Cars available in vehicles.

AutoNavi launched China’s first map app for Windows 8, which Microsoft unveiled for the Chinese market this week in Shanghai. AutoNavi's “AMAP” takes advantage of Microsoft’s significant enhancements to the Windows 8 user interface.

Key features of the app include a 3D view, location sharing, location alerts, and split-screen capability that enables users to perform other functions while still viewing their map.

AllGo Embedded Systems released its Android-based automotive infotainment solutions, which make for some of the deficiencies of Google's Android when it comes to the in-car environment. Android, for example, does not provide support for rear view camera, automotive specific Bluetooth profiles, CAN/MOST interfaces and fast boot up time.

AllGo's Android Automotive solution addresses these IVI requirements while making sure that core Android architecture has not changed and Android Compatibility Test Suite requirements are met.

Automotive supplier DENSO Corporation partnered up with mobile platform company Appcelerator to create a development solution for in-car applications that are fully integrated with vehicle information systems. Appcelerator allows DENSO to beef up its mobile technologies capabilities.

Appcelerator's Titanium technology will be closely integrated into DENSO's NaviBridge Module, enabling any Titanium app to transmit points of interest, such as restaurant or museum locations, to in-dash navigation systems that support NaviBridge.

Volvo joined the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium with the goal of creating a common platform for vehicles to communicate with each other and with the traffic environment. CAR 2 CAR is already at work with a network of European suppliers and automakers, and Volvo has committed to a memorandum of understanding that a standardized technology will come to fruition by 2016.

The consortium is building its platform around a wireless network similar to WLAN and is utilizing existing systems such as the GPS navigation system to create inter-car communication that functions between all cars, irrespective of make.

"In the future we will have advanced exchange of vital information between vehicles such as their position, speed and direction," says Erik Israelsson, project leader cooperative, Intelligent Transport Systems, at Volvo Car Corporation.

For exclusive business analysis and insight about automotive apps, read Telematics and the future of automotive apps.

For all the latest trends in telematics, check out Telematics Munich 2012 on October 29-30.

For exclusive insurance telematics business analysis and insight, read TU’s Smart Vehicle Technology: The Future of Insurance Telematics report.

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