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Technology Stocks : Trimble Navigation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SKIP PAUL who wrote (2449)	4/19/1998 2:44:00 PM
From: David	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3506

Some car nav tidbits from a trade publication . . . . According to the February/March issue of Traffic Technology International, Pioneer's Japanese aftermarket car nav product, Raku Navi (i.e., "Easy-Navi") uses voice communications this way: "When the ignition is started the system will ask for the driver's destination and offer both graphic and voice commands to the best route." Pioneer is supplied by TRMB. In that same issue, TTI quoted the head of the Ford Visteon unit as saying that multifunction in-car systems are the way the market is headed. "If we integrate the whole range of systems -- today we've got a separate entertainment system, a separate wireless system, a multiplex system, a phone system -- the smart systems provider who can put all that function in a single package instead of four different packages will achieve a sharp reduction in price." Sounds like Auto PC to me. TTI's report of results of a British survey on telematics, etc.: Would the following in-car telematic functions be "useful": Congestion/weather warning -- 88% Parking space guidance -- 79% Wakefulness monitor -- 77% Talking car diagnostic computer -- 77% In-car route planner -- 74% Automatic adjustment of car to speed limits -- 61% How many pounds would you be willing to spend on useful functions? Automatic in-car route planner -- 190 Congestion/weather warning system -- 159 Parking guidance -- 106 Also in that TTI issue, a mention that the Trimble car nav European systems integrators are using Tele Atlas maps. They now cover 12 European countries with a population of 200 million, including an Alpine region map. "Since the launch of the Tele Atlas CDs for the Philips CARiN system in April 1997, sales have exceeded all expectations." The December/January edition of TTI commented on the "Network Vehicle" by the IBM-Sun-Netscape-Delco alliance: "Seen by many as a hasty response to Microsoft's recent flirtings with the automotive industry, the Network Vehicle offers all the expected transport telematics services but separates the critical real-time computing functions of the vehicle (such as traction and braking functions) from the entertainment and information services through two vehicle databases." That issue also notes that "Within the next two years, in-car navigation products with travel information are expected to be brought onto all major European markets."