GPS World

Tag: connected cars

  • Hyundai Selects Verizon for Next-Generation Connected Cars

    Hyundai Motor America has selected Verizon Enterprise Solutions to provide a range of connected services including safety, security, diagnostics and infotainment to Hyundai vehicles starting in 2014.

    “We selected Verizon to provide the wireless network service for ‘Next-generation Blue Link’ because both customer opinion and various data sources indicate that Verizon provides the best solution to our customers for both coverage and quality,” said Woo-Young Kwak of Hyundai Motor Group.

    Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 820 dealerships nationwide. According to Forrester Research, the number of vehicles shipped worldwide with embedded connectivity is expected to grow from 5.4 million in 2012 to 36 million in 2018.

    “Our agreement with Hyundai expands our long-standing collaboration with a wide range of auto manufacturers throughout the industry to support network engineering, security, cloud solutions, telematics platform, and program management for millions of vehicles in the U.S. and around the world,” said Mark Bartolomeo of Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “We are thrilled to be working with Hyundai to help enhance the driving experience for their customers. It’s the breadth of our expertise combined with the depth of our technology that allows our clients to launch new services and initiatives faster.”

  • Record Number of Automakers at International CES

    It’s a daunting task — trying to find the big location story in a maze of 150,000 attendees and thousands of exhibitors at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Aside from every automaker touting their connected vehicle efforts, the big deal this year at CES is wearable technology (last year it was 3D printing? Yawn). Despite sore feet from walking football-field lengths of booths, CES is still a cool show, blaring stereos, walls of TV screens, robots…and connected cars. 

    LAS VEGAS — Although the largest number of worldwide auto manufacturers attended this year’s International CES here, many industry experts believe that technology giants Google and Apple will swoop in and grab not only the market, but will control what will go into the connected automobile in the future.

    “Leading IT, consumer electronics and Internet companies will marginalize specialist vendors. I’m worried that Internet companies will take over the [connected car] market — away from the auto manufacturers,” said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president at the Consumer Telematics Show, held the day before CES

    Koslowski’s fears have been partially validated as Google launched a partnership, called the Open Automotive Alliance, with automakers to bring the Android operating system into cars. The Google move comes after a similar announcement by Apple, which was launched to get its iOS platform into connected cars.

    Initial Open Automotive Alliance members include Audi, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia. Apple, in its group, has Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Ferrari, Nissan, Chevrolet, Infinity, Kia, Hyundai, Opel and Acura.

    “We think [Google] is a strong content partner — the deal gives [you] perspective on where we as a company are heading. Same on the Apple side,” said Charles Koch, Honda manager, new business development, at the Consumer Telematics Show.

    Despite standing room-only crowds at CES during most of the connected and automated car session, Koslowski said companies need to keep the right focus on the future. “[Connected vehicles] still are not a definite market, but we will see if it is in the next 3-4 years,” he said. “HMI and user interface will be biggest differentiators. Personalization will be important, but it will also be an expected feature.”

    Koslowski said the Holy Grail for connected vehicles in the future is the transition to autonomous capability. “It’s progressing very quickly. Automakers have to avoid the gold rush mentality as it may not be the treasure trove,” he said.  “They have to meet expectations [about the the technology] and avoid the creepiness factor that you know too much about the consumer.”

    Regardless of the future, Koslowski believes the connected vehicle is a disruptive opportunity.  “I can see carriers offering a car for free in exchange for lifetime data. Less dramatic would be with an eight-year data plan,” he said. “This would probably be a smaller, less expensive vehicle than a Ferrari or Audi.”

    Overall, the telematics market has gone through several market changes in the past 10 years, said Kevin Link, senior vice president and general manager, China, for Verizon Telematics.  Link said that Telematics 1.0 included door unlock, navigation, automatic collision notification, call centers and navigation. “It all began with GM and Mercedes becoming springboards for the industry. Initially, there was low consumer awareness; now, it is something like 88 percent in the United States,” he said.

    Outside the U.S., however, the consumer awareness for telematics drops into the single digits. “The business model, especially in the U.S., is a burden on the consumer. In China, it’s a business-to-business play, which is not a burden on the consumer, which also explains the high usage rate,” Link said.

    At CES, a record nine automakers attended and exhibited:  Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes and Toyota.

    AT&T Mobility Makes Big Announcements at CES

    In a pre-CES press conference, General Motors announced its first LTE-enabled vehicles — in which AT&T Mobility is powering the LTE network for GM’s OnStar service. The first LTE-enabled vehicles, which will be available this summer, are Impala, Spark, Volt, Orlando, Spark RV, Silverado, Silverado HD, Malibu, Equinox and Corvette Stingray.

    AT&T also announced it will provide connectivity for Ericsson Connected Vehicle Cloud which connects to the AT&T Drive platform for automakers

    “We expect about 50 million cars to be connected by 2020. The car will be another device in your life,” said Glenn Lurie, AT&T president, emerging enterprises and partnerships. “LTE in a car will get another set of application developers involved — how will they differentiate the car?  It’s a global opportunity.”

    Magellan and Navigation Solutions’ Nav System Features Proximity Capability

    Navigation Solutions, owned by Hertz, said it is working with Magellan to offer the NeverLost 6 navigation device that features connected services — many of which offer a consumer choices based on businesses and attractions near their current location.

    A number of new systems, including Magellan’s new models and Pioneer’s five NEX models, which consist of four navigation and an A/V receiver, feature connected services that allow access to navigation — even when the phone isn’t connected to a data source. This has been a sore subject for users of the free Google Maps on a phone — no Internet, no navigation.

    Magellan also announced a new line of RoadMate Personal Navigation Device (PND) units featuring Easy Touch screens and an underlying Android OS to improve navigation capabilities and features.

    In other CES news:

    • Broadcom continues to make strides in indoor and Wi-Fi position with several new product rollouts. The company also is rolling out its BCM47531 GNSS chip that can grab signals from five satellite constellations at the same time (GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, SBAS and BeiDou), said Mohamed Awad, Broadcom director, product marketing.
    • Alpine rolled out the aftermarket’s first 9-inch navigation system, which will cost $2,600 and be available in June.  The company is targeting used trucks and other vehicles as they are staying on the road longer, said Melvin Diaz, Alpine product planning manager.
    • In its press conference at CES, Kenwood said its navigation units are selling well.  Its flagship, a $1,500, 7-inch system, features INRIX traffic and Garmin navigation.
    • In the LBS Insider February blog, several industry experts will be interviewed about the future of the autonomous vehicle.

  • Ford Studies Space Robots for Connected Vehicle Communications

    Ford is studying communications between space robots and Earth to enhance future applications of the connected-car communications protocol. The research furthers the company’s commitment to the development of connected vehicle communications to help reduce traffic congestion and aid in the advancement of emergency vehicle communication methods, Ford said.

    Ford has launched a three-year research partnership with the telematics department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia in its association with that country’s space industry. The goal is to analyze space-based robotic communications systems for vehicle mesh networks to aid in mobility solutions.

    The development of connected vehicle communications has the potential to reduce traffic accidents and ease congestion by enabling vehicles to communicate with each other, and to communicate with buildings, traffic lights, the cloud and other systems to deliver a message or detect and respond to imminent collision warnings.

    Webinar: The Connected Vehicle

    All major international car-makers are installing telematics units, sending a signal that wireless information and connectivity is here to stay in the vehicle, and location will be a big part of the growth. To learn more about the rapid changes in the connected vehicle field, tune in to our September 19 webinar, hosted by Wireless LBS editor Janice Partyka. Registration is free.

    “Ford has been committed to the research and development of connected vehicle communications for more than a decade,” said Paul Mascarenas, chief technical officer and vice president, Ford research and innovation. “Our participation in this research can aid in the development of next-generation Ford driver-assist technologies. These technologies will globally benefit Ford customers, other road users and the environment.”

    Emergency Situations. One promising development from Ford’s research project with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is the advancement in emergency vehicle communication methods. Ford is analyzing how emergency messages should be sent to ensure delivery if network failures were to occur, identifying the systems and methods that provide redundancy in case of primary delivery failure.

    For example, if an accident were to cause vehicle-to-cloud communications (V2C) to be broken, a vehicle may still have access to a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications network. An emergency signal message could potentially be sent through V2V to a vehicle nearby, and then between vehicles and infrastructures until it reached EMS.

    “The research of fallback options and robust message networks is important,” said Oleg Gusikhin, technical leader in systems analytics for Ford. “If one network is down, alternatives need to be identified and strengthened to reliably propagate messages between networks.”

    Space Telematics. Telematics — the long-distance transmission of digital information — developed for use on space stations provide excellent potential for improving the reliability of future vehicle-to-cloud, vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle and other forms of communication (V2X). The communications blend multiple networking technologies including dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), cellular LTE wireless broadband and mesh networking to ensure robust and reliable connectivity for optimum signal strength for critical messages.

    Using the knowledge accrued from analyzing the space robots, Ford engineers could then develop an algorithm that is integrated into the V2X system resulting in a message that would route through the appropriate network depending on the level of its importance. An emergency message, for example, may be communicated through the faster mesh network, whereas an entertainment-related message would route through a vehicle-to-infrastructure application, an embedded device or a brought-in device network.

    “We are analyzing the data to research which networks are the most robust and reliable for certain types of messages, as well as fallback options if networks were to fail in a particular scenario,” said Oleg Gusikhin, technical leader in systems analytics for Ford. “In a crash, for example, a vehicle could have the option to communicate an emergency though a DSRC, LTE or a mesh network based on the type of signal, speed and robustness required to reach emergency responders as quickly as possible.”

    The specific space robots leveraged for Ford’s telematics analysis include the JUSTIN Humanoid, EUROBOT Ground Prototype and NASA Robonaut R2.

    Here is a video showing how Ford is studying space robot communications.

    Findings from this work could potentially enhance Ford’s wireless communication technologies and Blueprint for Mobility. Ford’s Blueprint for Mobility details the company’s vision on how to tackle the issues of mobility in an increasingly crowded and urbanized planet between now and 2025.

  • Nokia Unveils Its Connected Car Platform

    HERE, a Nokia business, has announced a complete Connected Driving offer, which will help car makers and in-vehicle technology suppliers connect the car and the driver to the cloud. The offering includes HERE Auto, HERE Auto Cloud, and HERE Auto Companion. In addition, HERE has radically improved its Traffic product, HERE Traffic, by building a new system to process data even faster and more accurately than before, Nokia said. The HERE Connected Driving offering will be demonstrated at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany, starting on September 10.

    Webinar: The Connected Vehicle

    All major international car-makers are installing telematics units, sending a signal that wireless information and connectivity is here to stay in the vehicle, and location will be a big part of the growth. To learn more about the rapid changes in the connected vehicle field, tune in to our September 19 webinar, hosted by Wireless LBS editor Janice Partyka. Registration is free.

    Technology is rapidly transforming driving, with connectivity bringing the outside world to the car and the sensor revolution creating new possibilities for the automobile industry, Nokia sai,d. People today demand that cars become integrated into their ecosystem of connected devices with the same level of innovation they see in their personal devices.

    HERE Connected Driving offers a full range of automotive products and services that builds on our high-quality and fresh map to go beyond navigation. The customizable offering is a fully flexible framework that allows automakers to differentiate the driving experience. It will help them solve the problems that drivers face every day such as synching routes and other personal information across their car and devices and finding the right parking spot or closest gas station.

    HERE Auto is the first embedded in-car navigation experience that delivers the right map at the right moment with and without a data connection. Drivers can get turn by turn voice guided navigation in 95 countries and 2D, 3D and satellite map views including street level imagery. In the future, car makers will be able to easily extend the HERE Auto experience using a software development kit (SDK) to create entertainment and other applications, such as in the areas of music and social networking. HERE Auto is already integrated in Continental’s next-generation Open Infotainment Platform. HERE is also working with partners such as Magneti Marelli and others to bring HERE Auto to the market in the coming months.

    HERE Auto Cloud provides drivers with always-on access to several dynamic services such as real-time traffic updates, helping drivers avoid congested areas, road closures or blockages that occur en route. Drivers can also get recommendations on places to eat, parking spots, information on where to charge an electric vehicle or where to find the most inexpensive fuel.

    HERE Auto Companion, a customizable mobile and web application, keeps drivers connected outside of the car allowing them to synchronize their favorite places and routes across their devices so that they won’t need to re-enter their route when they get in the driver’s seat. Car makers can tap assets from the existing HERE suite such as walking navigation, public transit routes and even indoor venue maps to build custom mobile applications. Drivers could use the app to remotely find their car with their device using LiveSight augmented reality technology and check the car’s vital stats such as fuel levels and tire pressure.

    HERE Traffic has been radically improved by “Halo,” our new engine that processes data quickly and accurately. Every month we’re collecting ever greater numbers of high-quality data, such as probe points and sensor information to deliver real-time information such as weather, traffic congestion, road construction and other factors that affect a drive. With our new Traffic product drivers get improved travel time estimates, so they can better plan their routes and quickly re-route on the go.

    “By 2016, the majority of consumers in mature markets will consider in-vehicle web-based data access a key criterion in their automotive purchase,” said Thilo Koslowski, VP of Automotive at Gartner. “Successful connected vehicle solutions will add value to the connected driver’s digital lifestyle and enable integrated cross-device experiences relevant for people everyday.”

    For more information about HERE Auto, visit Nokia’s blog.

  • The Race to Own Mapping

    Mapping turned up the heat in June, becoming a hot topic across the board. Apple ended negotiations to buy Waze, a provider of crowd sourced mapping and traffic, reportedly because the company did not want to relocate from Israel. Google quickly took Apple’s place as Waze’s buyer. With almost 50 million drivers using Waze, many via Apple Maps, Google would get another leg up in the race to own mapping. The connected car industry, gathered in Detroit last week, discussed the need for intelligibility in the market, particularly more organized categories of offerings.  Also of interest this month is the backpack-mounted Google Trekker used to map the world where cars don’t go, as well as the LocationTech working group.

    Surprisingly, reaction to Google’s sweeping design of new personalized maps, now in limited release, has been muted.  The maps show landmarks, restaurants, and other details tailored to the user’s plans, habits, and interests that will become increasingly individualized with usage. One person’s map may include bars and public pools, another’s may include book stores and playgrounds. Google also introduced other map features like blending of Google’s place images, 360 degree views within retail shops, and 3-D satellite images of earth without a plug-in or download needed.

    Connected Car Gathering. At Telematics Detroit last week, the connected car industry tried to reach much-needed clarity on the state of the connected car, with attention to standardization, consolidation, increased collaboration, and partnership. Many are trying to build a smartphone experience in the car but, “compared to a mobile phone, you’re always going to lose,” said Robert Acker of Harman. “The car is another device on the ‘Internet of Things,’ and we need to optimize that thing for consuming content while driving. Don’t make it a bigger smartphone device. That’s all Google or Apple can do. Rather, completely change the paradigm. Make it totally seamless; introduce gesture, head-up displays, steering controls. Make it truly revolutionized for the customer.”

    Auto OEMs Are Changing Really. Smartphone-like capability in the vehicle is revitalizing the staid OEM industry and has encouraged car manufacturers to take more risk and speed up development time. It used to be de rigueur that a car maker would first pick a supplier like Denso to build a component, like a radio. “Now the automotive companies are first choosing a platform and layering on companies to build the solution. Tech companies are specialists,” says David Jumpa of Airbiquity. “We stand in the middle of the platform that makes it all work together.”  Jumpa expects connected car services to get bundled and consumers to pay a subscription fee.

    Freedom to Choose. To the unhappiness of wireless carriers, the automotive industry is planning on building cars with embedded subscriber identity module (SIM). Unlike current SIM cards that are carrier-specific, these are universal SIM cards that would enable customers to pick their vehicle’s wireless carrier and then change it at will. For OEMs, embedding SIM cards creates great efficiency. SIM cards can’t be easily replaced, as they must be soldered into vehicles because of vibration and shock. With OEMs shipping vehicles to multiple countries that have different carriers, a universal SIM card provides great flexibility and cost savings. Apple once tried to pursue an embedded SIM card and the carriers rose against it, but let’s see how the OEMs fare.

    Mapping the World on Your Back. You’ve probably seen cars loaded with GPS and cameras for mapping streets. It is less likely you’ve seen mapping trikes, carts, or new photo-mapping backpack. Google uses the Trekker, a 42-pound backpack equipped with GPS and 15 cameras. Every 2.5 seconds it takes a picture as a person lugs it along trails, narrow streets, alleys, and mountains. Photos are stitched together to create panoramic images for StreetView.

    Location Collaboration. A new initiative, LocationTech, has arrived on the location scene and is dedicated to individual and company collaboration on open-source software with an emphasis on location. The non-profit Eclipse Foundation, has created the working group LocationTech, led by Oracle, IBM, OpenGeo, and Actuate. LocationTech will allow companies to jointly develop and deploy components that bring location awareness to enterprise IT. “No single vendor can address the range of issues our LocationTech working group members are going to solve,” said Mike Milinkovich of Eclipse. “By creating a multi-vendor, open platform for location technologies, we intend to spur even broader adoption of location aware products, devices and services.” LocationTech might sound similar to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo); however, LocationTech offers full-service support and staffing for open-source location-aware technologies.

     

     

     

  • CTIA: Automakers Developing Their Own Infotainment Apps

    OnStar_logo-TBy Janice Partyka

    It’s a trifecta. The most interesting news at CES, Mobile World Congress, and now CTIA was the connected vehicle. Last week at CTIA, the biggest mobile conference in the U.S., GM and OnStar demonstrated ideas of what we can expect in vehicles once AT&T’s LTE network makes its way into vehicles. We heard about many of their concepts in February at Mobile World, but with the infotainment possibilities being shown at CTIA, it is clear the endeavor is evolving quickly. Providers of navigation, mapping, traffic, middleware, search, points of interest and mobile advertising have key roles. We’ll check in ahead with some of these companies.

    GM and OnStar envision an in-vehicle curated app ecosystem with downloadable apps and remote vehicle management. Developers will have access to APIs that can access the vehicle’s speed, performance, GPS, fuel economy and other information, but are kept out of areas that could cause safety issues. GM, as well as other OEMs, is not ready to let the app marketplace take money out of its pocket. The automaker is pushing to get apps built specially for its vehicles. Mary Chan of GM said that the business model hasn’t been decided, but the apps may be free, bundled into a service that GM charges for, or paid out to the developers. Another possibility is an app subscription paid for on a smartphone could be applied to a separate app in the car. We have to wait until model year 2015 to see it come off the assembly line.

    Snippets heard at CTIA:

    “The biggest challenge of indoor location is having a good enough return on investment by the venue.” Derek Peterson, Boingo

    “We hear many pitches from companies that want to supply us with indoor location technology, but so many of them are just unscalable.” David Hildebrandt, ATT

    “Relevant, connected car data trumps free.” Mary Chan, General Motors

    “The future killer mobile apps are banking, retail, medical (records, diagnosis) and government (voting, administrative).” Michael Saylor, MircoStrategy

    “The ownership of data in connected cars will be a huge issue. And what happens to data in a vehicle when you transfer ownership?” Mary Chan, General Motors

    Traffic Information Is Getting Better. Traffic information is getting more granular, hence more useful. INRIX and others are collecting traffic data in road segments about 250 meters long, a significant improvement from the past. Not too long ago, traffic data was provided solely by sensors, cameras and helicopters, which covered only highways and some arterial roads. The use of crowd-sourced traffic data now provides a leap in the amount of traffic data collected, enabling more current traffic conditions, as well more roads, to be monitored. “We can collect traffic data for these small road segments from all sources, crunch it and turn it around in under a minute,” says Bill Schwebel of INRIX.

    How Fast? In a few years, Schwebel says we will see an expansion of navigation that goes beyond driving from point A to point B. This would include accurate estimates of the entire length of your trip, for instance, driving from your home to arriving at your airport gate. “We will be getting more feeds from parking lots with electronic counters, but we can also see the dwell time in a parking lot, or cars that exit without parking, all from crowdsourcing,” adds Schwebel. Waits at TSA lines or rental car counters can be devised using historical and near real-time data. When schedules of events in the area and school calendars are added, the predictions get better.

    Navigation Changes Ahead. Turn-by-turn navigation will take a step forward to becoming more interactive when it becomes a two-way broadcast. Niall Berkery of Telenav, predicts that two-way connected navigation will appear in 2014-2016. “We are now focused on reducing the complexity of navigation and making it more personalized,” says Berkery. The entire industry, hindered by the perspective that navigation is free, is focusing on adding value. Telenav acquired ThinkNear to add hyperlocal marketing to its offering.

    Embedded Navigation and the Delivery Man. Berkery estimates that 30% of navigation systems are embedded in the vehicle, which can makes updating or servicing the devices challenging. Some years ago an interesting solution was developed in China. When an embedded navigation system needed servicing, it was handled by a package delivery service, similar to FedEx. The delivery person manually removed the navigation hard drive from a consumer’s vehicle and sent it off to be fixed or replaced. When the drive came back from the factory, the package delivery person reinstalled it. That’s pretty special service.

    If you missed last week’s CTIA show, held May 21-23 in Las Vegas, you will have to wait a year and a half for its next appearance. With CES and the Mobile World Congress positioned on the calendar prior to CTIA, the other shows drew the lion’s share of product announcements and crowds. CTIA will reposition itself in front of these competing shows. CTIA’s new “Super Mobility Week” will be more international and take the place of the current fall and spring CTIA shows. Super Mobility Week will be held Sept 9-11, 2014 in Las Vegas and will include MobileCON and other major partnerships to create a bigger show experience.

  • Connected Car Biggest MWC News, 2G to Retire

    Janice Partyka
    Janice Partyka

    It’s a streak. The Connected Car was yet again the most exciting emerging technology in the room, this time at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). The connected car service includes navigation, infotainment and location offerings. The big news in this sphere has come from General Motors, but more about that later. Do you remember the death of cellular digital packet data (CDPD)? Now it’s 2G’s turn. The 2G network used by many asset M2M tracking devices is going away. And Amazon is getting in Google’s face with a giant, well-oiled mobile ad network.

    Beginning with 2015 car models, AT&T will replace Verizon Wireless as GM’s communications partner. Next year, GM plans to install AT&T LTE modems into many of its vehicles and Verizon will be the network behind GM’s OnStar service. The new modems will enable richer, faster content, including streaming video and radio.

    The Connected Car squabbles. Should in-vehicle connectivity be controlled by a smartphone or by an embedded device? There are arguments on both sides. Ford’s forward-thinking connectivity choices have helped elevate what was a dowdy brand. “The last thing we want to do is take this [smartphone] thing that updates every 12-18 months and embed it into a car that has a lifecycle of at least 10 years,” asserted Doug VanDagens of Ford Motor Company. “Users are already paying for the data connection on their phone, and so they shouldn’t be assessed another fee for their car to access a network.” On the flip side, Glenn Lurie of AT&T raised concerns about software updates in a smartphone tethered scenario, in which a user might have to pay for data charges incurred by software updates that auto makers push to vehicles.

    Vast market. No matter the approach, the connected car is a huge market opportunity. By 2020, Machina Research predicts that 90 percent of new passenger cars will have some sort of a connectivity platform and the market will reach $600 billion. There are concerns that in-vehicle service offerings may be too complex and could delay uptake. Drivers will want to pay one vendor for in-vehicle services and have pricing and billing options that are not complex.

    Prepare for the death of 2G. AT&T plans to shut down its 2G networks by 2017. Verizon is planning to shut down its 2G and 3G EV-DO by 2021. The majority of small enterprises that track assets use 2G GPS modems. Many larger enterprises have been transitioning to 3G (HSPA) in this space. Companies that are considering M2M solutions may want devices that will work long into the future, and as the cutoff date approaches, customers will be increasingly reluctant to make purchases of 2G devices. LTE modems are currently about three times as expensive as 2G modems, which will put a dent in ROI calculations.

    Amazon is joining the game. Amazon is rolling out a mobile ad network juggernaut. The mobile ads API, now in beta, enables third-party developers to integrate advertising into Android games and applications. Ad targeting options include GPS coordinates, gender and product floor prices. Android developers have struggled to make money through Google’s own storefront. The Amazon App store for Android has proven lucrative. For every $1 generated by Apple’s App Store for iOS, Amazon generates an average of $.89 per user and Google Play generates just $.23 per user, reports Flurry. Apple has been laying the golden egg, but Amazon knows how to sell and just may surpass Apple.

    It’s smartphones. It has finally happened. This year, worldwide shipments of smartphones will squeak by feature phones shipments, predicts analyst firms IHS iSuppli and IDC. Falling smartphone prices and the rise of LTE networks have contributed to the growth in smartphone adoption.

    Who were we talking about? Lissted analyzed more than 7,000 tweets about the Mobile World Congress sent by 619 journalists and bloggers and 419 media outlets. Nokia was tweeted about more than any other company, followed by Samsung and Android. Who will lead the hashtag race at CTIA?

    Contact: [email protected]

     

  • CES Continues to Showcase Connected Car Products

    Kevin Dennehy
    Headshot: Kevin Dennehy

    CES is big, loud and happens every year. For the past three or so years, the largest tradeshow in the United States has become a showcase for automobile manufacturers’ product rollouts…which is a far cry from the traditional car stereos and mega-huge flat-screen TVs you see walking the several football field-sized show floors. CES may not be everyone’s idea of a good time — hotels are expensive, you can’t get a cab as lines are a quarter-mile long, and much of the action for location may not even be in the show itself anymore. But it would be hard to say it’s a boring week.

    The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas had lot of everything: 150,000 people, nearly 3,300 exhibitors and almost 2 million square feet of exhibit space. What it didn’t have was a ton of location-based services news.

    Most of that action came at off-site meetings such as the AT&T Developer’s Summit and other venues. Still, a lot of auto manufacturers, partnered with the wireless carriers, use the nation’s largest trade show as a launching pad for infotainment units that feature two-way connectivity.

    This connectivity will be important for hybrid navigation, both automotive and fleet management users and service providers who want the best of both worlds, said Kim Fennell, deCarta president and CEO. “[This means] off-board search and navigation to get real-time content, traffic, search along a route for current information such as parking spaces near a theater, as well as proper on-board capabilities when no wireless connection is available,” he said. “Companies ‘talk’ a good story, but the ability to do real hybrid is difficult technologically and so this conversation will gain prominence [this year].”

    Ford and GM both touted their developer programs at CES. Ford’s developer program allows users to work with SYNC and AppLink application programming interface. GM plans to offer developers an SDK.

    At CES, not a lot of new handsets were launched, as many manufacturers use their own events or other trade shows for launch. One of the biggest trends of 2013, Fennell believes, is the movement by handset manufacturers to launch their own LBS apps and services. “Of course, Apple made a mess of it — and the result is that companies now recognize that geospatial is hard to do…well,” he said. “This will get some companies to back off doing their own, while it will get others to continue, but with more care and attention to what it takes to do it right.”

    CES always announces what companies think is going to be the next big thing. Unfortunately, consumers sometimes don’t always agree. A year ago, the big deal was Ultrabook computers, which were supposed to be the one-up to tablets and smartphones, but lackluster sales have diminished that fledgling market.

    Two years ago, the big thing was 3D TV, which turned out to be expensive and lacked content. “3D is overblown. Not at scale yet,” Fennell said.

    Maybe the PND Isn’t Dead Yet

    The lag in portable navigation sales and the rise of the smartphone as the navigation platform of choice signaled that maybe the end was near for PNDs. In fact, many companies said consumers would rather pay the extra money for manufacturer-installed infotainment products with two-way connectivity than a PND.

    This means that PNDs couldn’t traditionally receive current traffic, weather or new driving information on roads, restaurants and other services.

    To start competing with the auto manufacturers, at CES such companies as Magellan rolled out PND models with Bluetooth that connects to a customer’s smartphone. The $249 SmartGPS uses a consumer’s cell phone data connection to receive social and LBS. It will soon offer Foursquare alerts and Yelp restaurant reviews.

    Another PND giant, TomTom, partnered with Telenav at CES to provide its Live Traffic service to Telenav, which makes Scout, an application for iPhone, Android and Windows mobile devices.

    In other CES news:

    • Garmin rolled out the K2 platform, a customizable unit that offers digital displays, voice control, infrared buttons, and smartphone integration. The unit features navigation, vehicle diagnostics, music and real-time information.
    • Subaru introduced Starlink, a new in-car connectivity product. The unit includes Aha by HARMAN integration that allows drivers to access tens of thousands of stations of Web-based content, from radio stations, podcasts, and weather sites to social media feeds.
    • Chrysler upgraded its Uconnect infotainment system with dealer-activated navigation, which allows Chrysler Group dealers to activate the navigation functions in vehicles equipped with certain systems.
    • One question mark at CES was the absence of Microsoft, which didn’t exhibit for the first time in years. In years past, reporters would stand in line to listen to Bill Gates, who usually opened the conference with a speech or product roll-out the day before.

    End of an Era

    One of the pioneer companies to integrate GPS into wireless devices, as well as take a big chunk of the enterprise market has been sold. As GPS World reported, Princeton, N.J.-based ALK Technologies was purchased by Trimble for an undisclosed figure.

    ALK’s transportation, logistics and mobile workforce products are going to Trimble’s Transportation and Logistics division. No word about what is happening to ALK’s consumer products.

    ALK’s two flagship products, CoPilot and PC Miler were sold in North American and overseas. Approximately 64 percent of North American for-hire motor carriers use ALK products, the company said.

    ALK Technologies founder and long-time industry veteran, Alain Kornhauser, said last year that location markets had been good for the company. The company’s CoPilot Live had been seeing good sales in Europe, he said.

    Kornhauser was a dynamic speaker at the GPS-Wireless conference for 13 years, informing and enraging attendees alike with his great quotes. One favorite:  “Telematics is a Stalinist term.”

    Barry Glick, former MapQuest executive who was hired in 2011 as CEO, ran the company’s day-to-day operations. In December 2012, ALK established a new group, Enterprise Solutions, which combined its PC Miler, CoPilot Truck and CoPilot Live Professional Product lines plus supporting map data, software tools and professional services.

  • Trimble, ng Connect Collaborate on Connected Service Vehicle Demo

    Trimble’s ThingMagic Mercury6 (M6) RFID Reader will be part of the ng Connect Program’s Connected Service Vehicle, which showcases a full suite of cloud-based services designed to deliver office productivity to vehicle-based workers. In this concept vehicle, the ThingMagic reader will be used to support work-order based inventory management and tool tracking applications to illustrate aspects of a typical service visit.

    The ng Connect Program, founded by Alcatel-Lucent, is a multi-industry ecosystem dedicated to the creation of the new generation connected user experience. ng Connect is comprised of more than 190 Contributing and Associate member companies including network, consumer electronics, application and content providers. Twelve proof of concept demos will be featured this year in the Alcatel-Lucent CES booth at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, January 8-11, in Las Vegas.

    As a collaborating member of the ng Connect program, Trimble is providing the development platform for in-vehicle RFID solutions and sensor technology for high-volume commercial, industrial and enterprise applications. Achievements in the automotive market include receiving the Ford World Excellence Award for contributions to a first-to-market RFID-enabled solution designed to help contractors track and manage their tools.

    “We’re honored to join the ecosystem of innovative, market-shaping companies in the ng Connect program,” said Bernd Schoner, vice president of business development at Trimble’s ThingMagic Division. “Using the vehicle as the basic point of data capture can enhance productivity. Uploading asset information from the vehicle to a central data aggregation layer for anywhere, anytime consumption by a variety of applications is the future.”

  • Continued Growth of Connected Vehicle and M2M Highlighted at MWC

    The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is getting bigger every year — so much that it’s almost a mini CES that is hard to navigate and find companies…much less big location-based services news. While there were no big jaw-dropping mergers and acquisitions, big product roll-outs and partnerships, this conference will continue to be the main showcase for location companies wishing to establish a presence in Europe.

     

     

    BARCELONA — It was tough to find out what might be the big deal for the location industry here at the Mobile World Congress, among 67,000 attendees and more than 1,500 exhibitors. Two areas continued to stand out, as they had at the January Consumer Electronics Show: the rise of the connected vehicle and machine-to-machine connections.

    An MWC keynote was given by Ford Motor Co.’s chairman Bill Ford (right), who gave long-term strategies for the company, which includes big connected car components. Ford’s Sync, which is already on 4 million cars in the United States since it was launched in 2007, now is available in Europe. The company hopes to have 13 million cars equipped with the connected service by 2015 — 3.5 million of those in Europe.

    One of the more significant deals at MWC was Sprint Nextel’s announcement that it will be the strategic wireless partner for Chrysler Group’s Uconnect voice-activated vehicle communications system.

    In keeping with the connected theme, GSMA’s Connected House featured such companies as AT&T and Airbiquity that showcased the transfer of connected lifestyle from car to house. Airbiquity demonstrated its products for cloud-based services, mobile phones and application integration into vehicles. The company launched its Application Developer Program at MWC.

    TCS Offers Family Locator to Auto Makers for Connected Car Initiatives

    TeleCommunication Systems announced at the MWC that it’s incorporating the TCS Family Locator into connected vehicles and is offering it on the iPhone and Android platforms. TCS Family Locator allows users to locate family members’ vehicles through aerial photos or maps to monitor when they arrive or leave specific areas.

    TCS was a pioneer in enhanced 911 roll outs, which was the basis of today’s location-based services, said Jay Whitehurst, TCS senior vice president, commercial software group.

    The cloud-based Family Locator product is being offered to vehicle manufacturers, telematics service providers, and wireless carriers for connected car initiatives, the company said.

    Currently, Family Locator supports BlackBerry and other phones.

    For the enterprise market, TCS said its Workforce Locator mobile resource management product now has extended coverage to data cards and any device with a SIM card, which includes mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and tablets.

    Also at MWC, TomTom said it partnered with HTC to provide the maps, points of interest, and turn-by-turn directions for a line of HTC smartphones in India. TomTom views India as a growing market, citing a study that forecasts more than 5.2 million smartphones will ship to the country this year.

    The HTC deal is TomTom’s first major partnership in India, said Nuno Campos, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing for its licensing division. Campos said that Jocelyn Vigreux, formerly president of TomTom USA, has been consolidating all business units in India to steward the company’s HTC partnership there.

     

    TomTom also announced a partnership with NDrive to deliver maps and other content to its location-based applications. The three-year deal is big for TomTom as NDrive has millions of users worldwide, Campos said.

    When asked how TomTom is competing against the Googles of the world, Campos said that the market is big enough to run a profitable mapping business. His only crack at Google was that “they are finding that making maps isn’t easy.”

    TomTom, through its joint venture partner AutoNavi Holdings Limited, also announced a seven-year agreement with Qoros Auto, an international automotive corporation. TomTom and AutoNavi will deliver HD Traffic, marking the first real-time traffic customer for the newly expanded joint venture. In 2013 the first cars — aimed at young metropolitan users — will hit the streets in China equipped with HD Traffic, providing drivers with the most accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date traffic information available.

    In other Mobile World Congress news:

    • Urban Airship said its new Unique Opt-In Report allows users to gain insight in to the numbers of distinct users opting in or out of push notifications. This enables companies to hone mobile messaging strategy based on users’ behavior.
    • Locaaid rolled out its Global Cell-ID at MWC. This new feature, accessible via Locaid’s Location-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform, allows enterprise mobile developers to acquire carrier-certified, permission-based location on their devices in more than 165 countries around the globe.
    • American Roamer changed its name to Mosaik Solutions at MWC. Through its partnership with Europa, the company’s Global Coverage Analyzer and CellMaps are marketed in Europe. Mosaik Solutions’ customers include AT&T International, OnStar, and Comcast.
    • ALK Technologies Inc., which previously charged for its navigation applications, now said its CoPilot GPS is a free app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. The company contends that CoPilot is a lot more than Google’s free map service and allows users to search millions of pre-installed points of interest for nearby restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. The company had a booth at MWC and exhibited at Showstoppers, as did Poynt.

    Indoor positioning continued to be a big topic to enable LBS markets at the Mobile World Congress. Richard Najarian, Broadcom senior director, business development, said that market is shaping up. The company also showed off its Bluetooth Low Energy modules that enable indoor location positioning.

     

    Some other MWC observations:

    1. Qualcomm had an off-site reception for its indoor positioning partners that included Cisco and others.
    2. The Android room at MWC was huge…with such companies as Glympse participating.
    3. Telmap, now owned by Intel, which has recently said it will invest millions into connected vehicle initiatives, has a strong presence in Europe with many LBS applications.

    The company says it’s the No. 1 local content aggregator in Europe, according to Motti Kushner, Telmap’s chief marketing officer.

    Neustar, which is partnering with TELUS and other major operators in North America to create mobile services, had a large presence at MWC. The company’s intelligent cloud helps operators to integrate location and messaging, said Gary Zimmerman, Neustar’s director of product marketing.

    Some of these applications include geofence, which Neustar works with partner ZOS, to create opt-in mobile campaigns that send offers to subscribers based on their location. The company also offers enhanced location that shows how a brand can personalize location information once a consumer gives consent to participate.

    GPS World Partnering with GPS-Wireless

    GPS World is the GPS-Wireless (www.gps-wireless.com) conference’s exclusive media partner. GPS World’s Chris Litton will be on site at GPS-Wireless 2012, which is March 21-22 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, to discuss why location companies should advertise in the magazine and LBS Insider, which has more than 10,000 worldwide subscribers.

  • Location Technology, All in the Cars

    Microsoft says this is its last year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Fine. Move over because the car manufacturers are using the show to unveil stunning location and mobile offerings. It has only been a few years since automakers started coming to CES to pitch new in-vehicle mobile platforms. This year automakers have been knocking themselves out to bring smartphones, location and cloud content into the vehicle to enhance the driving experience. The CES invasion by the vehicle OEMs started in 2007 when Ford introduced Sync at CES. Kia followed in 2010 with UVO powered by Microsoft. 2012 brings a multitude of OEM mobile announcements, including one from first-time CES participant Mercedes-Benz.

    Cars are getting smarter. Kia unveiled the next-generation UVO 2, which adds a crash notification assist feature that automatically dials 911 on a connected phone when an airbag deploys. It adds a number of location-based services that are controlled via a smartphone app that includes noting a car’s parked location on a map, transferring destinations from Google maps to the navigation system, and monitoring vehicle location and speed.

    And the list goes on. Mercedes Benz made its initial appearance at CES to show off an app that allows drivers to plug iPhones into vehicles to enable the phone’s entertainment and navigation to appear on the in-dash display. Chevrolet introduced a new head unit that will use a smartphone’s apps, such as Pandora, to access cloud-based content and navigation. Ford added Roximity to provide contextual real-time discounts linked to the vehicle’s location and user’s preferences. TCS has its foot in this market, too. It will be supplying hybrid navigation solutions for the QNX in-vehicle car platforms.

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    Mercedes-Benz takes center stage at CES 2012.

    After-market activity. You can tweet about your accident, make it a status update, or do both. TomTom has integrated Facebook and Twitter with its navigation app for iPhones and iPads. Information from Facebook events, places and friends will feed to create navigation routes. Destinations and arrival times can then be shared on these networks.

    Heavy-weight skinny nav. Garmin has introduced the nüvi 3500 series, its new flagship personal navigation device, an ultra-thin GPS device with a five-inch screen. Capabilities include digital HD traffic and a smartphone link that can add live services, such as traffic information, traffic camera images, weather and fuel prices.

    Good luck, Verizon. At a time when straight-up navigation is becoming a utility, Verizon is rolling out a new bundled application app package. It includes their navigation app, as well as NFL Mobile, ringback tones and Verizon Video for $12.99. I don’t know much about the NFL Mobile app, but it better be good. Given the poor marks received by Verizon Video and low interest in ringback tones, the package isn’t looking too appealing when navigation is often a freebie.

    Need maps. TomTom will be providing Samsung with map and location content to power the Wave3 smartphone. TomTom will provide map coverage for more than 200 countries, POIs, traffic, 3D maps and landmarks and “safety-related speed cameras.” Safety-related speed cameras?

    Enterprise routing trends. Enterprises using vehicle routing software for fleets of service and truck vehicles are increasing their buying of on-board computers, as well as smartphones for driver interfaces. These products are used for improved efficiencies in planning routes, and often feed analytics into a complex logistics system. Customers who used to be satisfied with just obtaining GPS positions of their fleets are now pushing for more telematics and a connected vehicle.

    Lower prices and more pressure on productivity have pushed demand for on-board computers that can deliver data about the vehicle’s actual route, and sometimes connects to the engine to provide detail on how the vehicle was driven. Other fleets, particularly service fleets, are tending toward integrating routing apps with smartphones. The phones are cheaper than onboard computers, don’t need to integrated, and still can provide turn-by-turn directions to that day’s route. The trend is toward the Android operating system.

  • CES Turning into Big Tech Auto Show

    Navigating your way through thousands of booths and 140,000 attendees is a challenge in itself at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. While there was a huge amount of location-based services news, the big deal was the presence of just about every automobile manufacturer. Such off-site meetings as the Consumer Telematics Show, Showstoppers and AT&T Developer’s Conference also highlighted the connected car.

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    LAS VEGAS — It took several years, but most major automobile manufacturers are onboard with the idea that a vehicle needs to be connected. Most automobile manufacturers came to the Consumer Electronics Show here to show off their connected devices and explain where they think the market is going.

    “The connected vehicle has arrived, though it is not a smart phone on wheels. This the year we are seeing a lot of growth — and I have been doing this a long time,” said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president. “From 2008 to 2012, the majority of car manufacturers have installed connected vehicles. From 2013 to 2016, we will see really major market adoption. A mature market expects connected vehicles — and that’s right around the corner.”

    Koslowski says that automakers shouldn’t be locked into one specific market strategy. “They aren’t going to make it if they do.  Technology and business approaches evolve in parallel,” he said. “The traditional value and supply chains may not be the best way to market these systems…and you will see some consolidation.”

    The aftermarket will take over the connected marketplace if the car makers won’t adjust their strategies, Koslowski said. He said in 2004, the CRM opportunity seemed to be more important to auto makers, but now it’s somewhere in the middle of importance. “We are primarily in the product differentiation phase now,” he said. “It is an open playing field right now, but it will be a challenge for companies who think they have it all figured out.”

    Gartner’s research has found that consumers want wireless map updates, real-time weather and traffic, remote software updates and parking availability. What they don’t like are family and friend location information, creating and reading e-mail in a car, anon-demand music book, and such social networks as Twitter in the vehicle.

    TomTom Signs Deal With Samsung

    One of the bigger announcements in the location space at CES, and maybe the one with the most LBS tie in, was TomTom’s deal with Samsung. TomTom’s maps and location content will power Samsung’s Wave 3 smartphone. The deal basically allows the phone to have LBS, said Charles Cautley, TomTom managing director, automotive licensing.

    The business-to-business market has been a strong one for TomTom, which estimated that around 40 percent of its earnings came from that segment, said Cautley, who spent considerable time at General Electric in the commercial vehicle market before coming to TomTom three years ago.

    To cap off a big week, TomTom rolled out three portable navigation devices, Start, Via and Go Live. It also signed a licensing agreement with high-end automaker Fisker Automotive. Through a three-year-deal, TomTom will provide map and location data for the Fisker Karma electric sedan. “We absolutely think the electric vehicle market is going to grow,” Cautley said.

    TomTom competitor Magellan also rolled out some new PNDs, including the RoadMate 9055-LM and back-up camera. “Overall, the PND is becoming less a novelty and more a utility,” said Magellan’s Stig Pedersen, senior director of marketing strategy. “We are moving more towards safety features in the next year.”

    Auto Companies Announce Offerings At CES

    Some in the automobile industry are now saying that CES is the place where car makers are rolling out the new technology, not at the concurrent Detroit Auto Show, which is used to roll out new cars.

    Chrysler Group’s Uconnect now has a website that allows its users to get in-car updates for their in-vehicle system through a mobile phone, said Joni Christensen, Uconnect head of marketing.

    After the initial cost of Uconnect, all that a car owner needs to pay for, after a year’s free service, is the Sirius radio, Christensen said. The navigation system, like Ford’s Sync, is tied to one system — and like Cadillac’s Cue, can be switched from one screen to a view that is incorporated into a car’s speed gauge.

    OnStar will give “selected” developers access to a proprietary application program interface (API) to create mobile apps designed with OnStar’s suite of services, the company said. The first partner to use OnStar’s API will be RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace.

    In other company news, OnStar and Verizon Wireless are working on a second-generation connected research vehicle. The Chevrolet Volt research will receive streaming content from the Cloud enabled by the Verizon 4G LTE network and building on OnStar’s Advanced Telematics Operating System (ATOMS).

    Audi said it is also offering a 4G LTE capability for its Audi Connect services. The company will continue to use Google Earth maps and will show a driver their destination in 3D imagery.

    Telenav launched a new product called Scout at CES that can work with Ford’s SYNC connected unit. Scout provides customized navigation, entertainment, and convenience features for connectivity between a smart phone, vehicle, or a computer.  Scout Key features turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic, and estimated drive times to specific destinations at different hours of the day. Scout also provides personal local search based on a user’s preferences for entertainment, restaurants, and other points of interest once they arrive at a destination.

    “It’s free on iTunes right now, but we plan to launch it on other platforms,” said Sooner Heath, Telenav customer solutions manager.

    Indoor Positioning Looking to Get Bigger

    Soon all malls, shopping centers, airports, sporting venues and other businesses will feature indoor maps, which could be the boost LBS needs, particularly if big businesses come on board and advertise. At CES, CSR said it is working with Micello, Google and Nokia Location and Commerce on indoor positioning, that combines Wi-Fi and GPS.

    Some of the capabilities include being able to see what floor in the building you are walking in, pedestrian dead reckoning, and turn-by-turn walking directions, said Blake Bullock, CSR product manager.

    Fernando Villasol, Nokia Location and Commerce director of content, says the advent of indoor positioning will soon open up new market opportunities for developers.

    In other CES news:

    • Kenwood says its marketing agreements with Garmin continue to produce great aftermarket sales. The company rolled out its $1,500 DNX7180 Navigation/Multimedia Receiver, which features navigation from Garmin, including Lane Assist with Junction View. A built-in free feature is the Navteq Live Traffic for the life of the product.
    • Location Labs’ new Safely line of services include phone controls to allow parents to lock kids’ phones, a family locator, a teen phone lock during drives that is available on Sprint and T-Mobile phones, and a social monitor for Facebook.
    • Like TomTom’s discontinuation of the Tele Atlas name, Nokia has basically done away with the Navteq company name, though many in the industry still say “Navteq” when talking about the mapping side of the business.
    • There was an LBS and Safety Zone at CES that was in a terrible area in the back of North Hall. While there was a lot of foot traffic, looks like smaller and international companies were thrown in the back — not near the bigger auto players which would have generated more attention to the booths/companies. Overall, CES is more of a connected vehicle show than LBS…a change that has been happening for two years.