Telematics race continues, driver education key - The Supply Side - Brief Article

Automotive Industries,  March, 2002  by Andrea Wielgat

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Should the government mandate a vehicle telematics package like airbags or safety belts? Who should pay for telematics research? Can companies agree on a telematics standard?

Industry experts ask these questions as they look to not only increase safety but also kick start the telematics business.

Telematics is not just a sprint or marathon but a long-term iron-man race that involves the public, automakers, dealers, suppliers and mobile-phone service providers, says Steven Buytaert, coCEO of Acunia, Inc. at a recent telematics roundtable sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.

But before anyone can win the race or even see the finish line automakers and telematics development companies must focus on further educating drivers while looking at possible standards and ways to keep costs low.

"Telematics is a big name," says Harel Kodesh, chief executive, at Wingcast LLC. "It is almost like the Internet."

Most consumers think telematics equals navigation systems but it's much more and companies need to enlighten consumers about what they can and can't do with telematics, says James Rillings, research fellow at General Motors Corp.

Doing this will also help reach more buyers-- a key part of moving telematics into volume segments.

"Telematics will not be a big thing if only luxury cars have it," Kodesh says.

One of the ways to bring telematics to the masses is to keep costs down. A set of standards would help simplify development and installation. Upcoming Bluetooth wireless communication will help and so would a supplier designed 'plug-and-play' system.

But both these take time and money. Meanwhile, many existing telematics systems, including GM'S OnStar, have yet to make a profit.

"There are tremendous benefits that have to be weighed against the disbenefits," says Rillings.

For GM those benefits include early response to accidents by emergency personal, he says.

"This also helps us build our relationship with our customer."

RELATED ARTICLE: Study says embedded phone system safe

A recent study conducted by General Motors Corp. using data from its OnStar system found that an air bag deployment crash associated with using the system was rare and the possibility that the call actually caused the crash even mere rare.

GM used OnStar data gathered from October 1996 to May 2000 including information about when a call started and when the OnStar personnel was in contact with the vehicle after an air bag deployed.

Here are some of the results of the study:

* In only two of 8.1 million calls placed to OnStar was the driver known to be on the phone at the time of a crash severe enough to deploy the vehicle's airbags.

* In six cases the driver was on the phone within 10 minutes before the crash.

* There was one airbag crash per million calls with an OnStar service advisor.

* There was one airbag crash per 4 million calls where the phone was in use during the crash.

* OnStar was active on 1.2 million vehicles and more than 70 percent of the calls in the study were from vehicles that were moving.

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