A huge market with enormous potential
It is hard to exaggerate the potential of vehicle telematics: over 60 million were manufactured in 2012. Take up of telematics solutions is still very low, which means that there is a huge untapped market. This situation will change rapidly – and government legislation is a key driver. There is the ERA-Glonass initiative in Russia, Contran 245 in Brazil and e-Call in Europe, which should be mandatory in most countries by 2015.
As communications in and around the vehicle continue to proliferate, it won’t be long before the car becomes a sort of vehicular smart phone in and of itself – enabling all the functionality of the Internet right in the dashboard. Expect the car to schedule its own maintenance appointments – and remind you to go when you start up. Need to book a hotel room on your way? The car can do it for you. Sync with your calendar, and it could even order flowers or book a dinner reservation on your anniversary – before you get in trouble for forgetting.
We may also soon find that the combination of location awareness, vehicle-to-vehicle communications and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications (using roadway sensor networks), together with systems sensors monitoring everything from tire pressure to fluid levels to RPMs, makes cellular-based emergency calling obsolete.
About the author:
After serving for ten years as CMO of Telit, Dominik Hierl took the reins of the new Telit Automotive Solutions in March of 2014 – responsible for the successful integration of the ATOP division, purchased from NXP Semiconductors as well as expanding Telit’s reach into the Automotive OEM segment.
Prior to joining Telit, Hierl was VP Business Development at Siemens AG, Wireless Modules, responsible for the strategy and business