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An auto industry group has called on President Barack Obama to not change the plan for dedicated short range communication (DSRC) aimed at safer roads that requires setting apart the 5.9 GHz spectrum band towards this end. More than 50 entities signed the letter, including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Carnegie Mellon University – University Transportation Center, and the...

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Automotive diagnostics provider TEXA has renewed its agreement with cloud services provider Interoute, with the latter continuing to serve as ICT provider.

TEXA’s product range comprises remote diagnostic tools for trucks, cars, motorcycles, agricultural vehicles and marine engines. TEXA’s TEXA MOBILE Diagnostic (TMD), a small box enabled with GPS and GSM/GPRS, is utilised to locate vehicles, exchange real time information with drivers, as well as monitor components and...

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Automotive products and systems provider Valeo has chosen Sierra Wireless to build and collaborate on the development of next generation telematics control units.

The new units will first find themselves in vehicles built by the global automaker Geely for the Russian market. The solution will power the emergency response system that is required under ERA-GLONASS for new vehicles in Russia. Geely is a multinational automaker with international subsidiaries, including Volvo and...

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Fleet management solutions provider Omnitracs has announced the launch of Intelligent Vehicle Gateway (IVG), aiming to spearhead further innovation in commercial vehicle telematics.

With the rollout of its new integrated application delivery system, Omnitracs is providing transportation and logistics companies with a new commercial vehicle telematics tool that comes with a bigger display, improved wireless connectivity, and hands-free voice commands that facilitate safety, efficiency...

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Two in five companies polled by automotive services provider RAC say their staff has concerns over perceived privacy issues associated with telematics and 24/7 car tracking systems.

As a result, one in five organisations which run business vehicles say they have not installed telematics software for that reason, while more than half of those polled (52%) say their telematics system does not have the option to be switched off.

In response to these concerns, and in order to facilitate...

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Automotive giants Toyota and Ford are working with Livio on the formulation of a framework to implement Livio’s SmartDeviceLink (SDL) technology.

Toyota will also commercialise a telematics system based on SDL. Toyota and Ford have decided to keep the collaboration open to other automakers and app developers. SDL is an open source platform for smartphone apps and car connectivity that provides customers with in-vehicle use of apps via voice recognition function and...

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The AA has put in place a new joint venture, known as Intelematics Europe, towards...

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A new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) has revealed 56% of surveyed drivers say they have made changes in their driving habits since installing a device provided by their insurer.

38% said that they did not make changes to their driving habits. The survey found that drivers over the age of 65 years were less likely to make changes than younger drivers.

Among the survey respondents with telematics devices from their auto insurers, 82% said that they received information...

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The number of Chinese passenger vehicles with telematics capabilities rose 32.1% year-on-year to 1.8 million units in January-September 2015, according to a new report by Research In China.

The report found that 4G LTE technologies and smartphone integration has found wider applications among Chinese passenger vehicles. Manufacturers are also enriching in-vehicle infotainment and networking features for a better user experience.

OnStar dominates the Chinese passenger vehicle...

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A report from Sandler Research on the global automotive telematics market reveals that the demand for connectivity in cars will be one of the major drivers of growth in the industry, ensuring a CAGR of 23.37% between 2014 and 2019.

One of the key selling points for telematics is its role in boosting the in-vehicle experience by providing consistency with the user interface of personal mobile devices. However, the high cost of automobile-embedded telematics is set to offset market...

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An increase in vehicular crime and rising demand for commercial telematics is driving growth of technology in emerging markets such as China, Russia, Japan, Korea, and India, according to Reportlinker.

Several governments are enforcing stringent regulations and making mandatory the provision of theft protection systems. For example, the Brazilian government has made it compulsory for stolen vehicle tracking to be installed as standard on all new vehicles due to high crime rates in the...

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TomTom and Tech Mahindra have come together to showcase their complete Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) service line-up at IAA New Mobility World.

At the IAA event in Frankfurt, Germany, the two firms are showcasing their use cases and demonstrations for connected cars. Mahindra's ADAS offering is the Pedestrian Detection solution, which works with TomTom's BRIDGE hardware connectivity platform to link with other TomTom-powered business applications. BRIDGE has an external...

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UK-based vehicle tracking and camera systems firm Intelligent Telematics has introduced its new Safety League Table system to report the best and worst drivers in a vehicle fleet.

The new fleet reporting solution for van, car and HGV operators is the first one to combine collision video footage, driver behaviour data and video footage of harsh driving and near misses to compile a driving report.

Intelligent Telematics claims that the Safety League Table is 16 times more powerful and...

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Big data technology firm INRIX has launched its new INRIX Road Weather service to provide critical road condition information to drivers in Europe and North America.

The new service provides information on road precipitation, surface condition visibility and other characteristics of the road itself, distinguishing itself from other conventional weather information solutions. It also provides road condition update alerts every 15 minutes.

INRIX Road Weather was developed by the...

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Two conflicting pieces of research have hit Connected CarTech’s inbox this morning. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) claim the development of connected and autonomous vehicles will help generate 320000 jobs in the UK and deliver a £51bn injection to the economy. But what does that mean on a human scale?

Research released by fleet telematics provider Masternaut reveals more than half (55%) of business drivers aged 25-34 are concerned they will be replaced by driverless...

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Over the next five years the number of connected cars on the road will rise significantly, making them a major player in the internet of things according to Gartner.

The research and advisory company has forecasted that one in five vehicles across the world will have a wireless network connection by the year 2020, which will equate to 250 million connected cars.

Connected cars are no longer available for the wealthy, with James F. Hines, research director at Gartner, commenting on...

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Looking at the recent news from some of the world’s biggest auto manufacturers, it is clear to see just how much progress has been made and how the connected car is revolutionising the in-car experience. At CES in January 2015, GM announced AtYourService, a suite of new OnStar services aimed at allowing retailers and other merchants to promote deals directly to drivers. These promotions include hotel...

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The idea of the digital supercomputer car has been around since the 80’s. Characters like Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T had the ability to learn, communicate and even connect with Michael Knight on some emotional level, not bad for a Pontiac Trans Am.

While in the 80’s it seemed that the reality of an intelligent car was only for the magic of television, today we not only have intelligent cars, but are heading towards a future where your car can be your personal...

Insurance telematics concerns could simply be sensationalised hyperbole if new research by LexisNexis rings true for the wider population.

The company’s 2014 Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) white paper revealed how consumers’ comfort levels surrounding the sharing of UBI driving data were on a similar level to other internet-related tasks such as online banking and social media.

In fact, both online search data and social media personal rated higher on the study’s concern scale than UBI driving...

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Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has moved to dismantle copyright legislation that prevents car owners from tinkering with their own vehicle's software programming.

The USA’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a series of copyright laws that aims to protect the rights of both copyright owners and consumers, restricts access to a car’s electronic control unit (ECU) on the grounds of vehicle safety.

A host of requests have been filed with the...