Analyst commentary on issues, trends, and developments in the automotive telematics, navigation, and infotainment markets.

On Thursday 15 November at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Audi announced that it is working with three California universities on six multi-year research projects. The efforts are aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions via better overall fuel economy through more intelligent interactions between driver and car, cars on the road, and in the real-time management of traffic. The overall name of the scheme is "Clean Air, a Viable Planet." Audi researchers are working with the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Riverside, and Stanford University.

This initiative is something that ABI Research thinks is the right approach to reducing fuel consumption at the national level. Any vehicle, regardless of its fuel economy rating (based on an arbitrary drive cycle), will use less fuel getting from A to B if it can cruise at a constant speed than if it is constantly speeding up, slowing down, and idling in traffic. The technology exists today to be able to compute multiple routes to a destination depending on whether the driver wishes to optimize for time, distance, or fuel consumption. However the infrastructure is not yet in place to make this a reality.

One of the key features of this approach that often goes unrecognized is that once the infrastructure is built, most of the existing cars on the road could get access to many of the benefits with the purchase of an aftermarket device costing probably a few hundred dollars.

The current proposal to increase the CAFE standard will distort the free market again, and any benefit that does accrue will take many years to appear. If state and federal governments really want to reduce the nation’s fuel consumption they should abolish the CAFE legislation and accelerate investment in ITS and DSRC technology.

Incentives via tax credits for those that drive cars with high fuel economy ratings is the correct way to influence the market, but they should be based solely on miles per gallon and be technology independent. Automakers will then react to increased demand by producing more fuel efficient vehicles, and everybody will benefit.

Telematics will be an Increasingly Important Piece of the Bigger Picture
Author: David Alexander
Principal Analyst, Commercial Telematics
Posted: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:50:33 EDT

Telematics Detroit 2008
Author: Dominique Bonte
Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation
Posted: Tue, 27 May 2008 07:41:52 EDT

Navigation and LBS at CTIA
Author: Dominique Bonte
Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation
Posted: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 16:51:36 EDT

Navigation Highlights at CeBIT 2008
Author: Dominique Bonte
Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation
Posted: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:36:08 EDT

The Mobile World Congress 2008: Pedestrian Navigation at Last!
Author: Dominique Bonte
Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation
Posted: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:32:37 EST