Speeding into the world wide web - carmakers join the new economy
by Michael Harvey
Published: June 4 2001 10:29GMT | Last Updated: June 4 2001 18:35GMT
In an unlikely symbiosis of the old and new economy, the motor car has become well and truly entangled in the world wide web. Carmakers are creating a whole new business-and it's coming to a car near you, sooner than you might think.
Telematics-beaming personally tailored information directly into travelling cars-began at General Motors. GM's OnStar system was made possible by two technologies: a global positioning satellite (GPS) transponder (so called because it transmits and responds); and a mobile phone.
By using the GPS to locate the car and the mobile phone to talk to the driver, OnStar's call centre could, on request, unlock the car if you had left your keys inside or flash the car's headlamps if you had lost the vehicle in a carpark.
It's clever but cumbersome, demanding a fully-staffed call centre that must also carry the cost of the hardware. But it's popular, especially in the US where services such as OnStar are estimated to generate $4bn of revenues. It is, however, just the start. Analysts at UBS Warburg believe that by 2010 telematics revenues will have reached more than $47bn. But the great enabler will be the internet, or a kind of slimmed-down, super-fast internet for cars.
Volvo recently announced the launch of its own telematics service in partnership with Europolitan, a subsidiary of the UK's Vodafone.
Volvo On Call seems nearly identical to OnStar, even though Volvo trumpets the safety features of its system rather more. This feature will automatically alert the call centre if an airbag is deployed. A quick call to the vehicle will ascertain whether anyone is injured and the emergency services can be alerted.
For Volvo, voice-based telematics are just the beginning. Europolitan holds a Swedish licence to develop a third generation (3G) mobile phone network. The advent of 3G will make it possible for truly online cars, allowing information-and entertainment-to be transmitted directly into the vehicle's on-board systems.
Intelligent routing systems which combine on-board navigation with real-time traffic information already exist in Tokyo and some German cities but, using the present generation of mobile phones and proprietary software, they are slow and expensive.
Volvo believes 3G phones and a slimmed-down browser application could make them far more affordable. They could also enable on-board-even on-the-move-diagnostic checks to be made and, if a mechanical repair is required, for the car to book itself a service. Rather more soberly, on-board cameras could be activated in the event of an accident so ambulance crews would know the condition of a vehicle's occupants before they arrived.
specials.ft.com
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