Telematics
After decades as a somewhat niche feature,
telematics has grown to become a mega cash
cow for the automotive industry. Recent data
and monetization trends suggests that this
value pool could be worth a staggering $750
billion worldwide by 2030.
Many of you reading this will already have some
telematics installed in your vehicles – whether that
be in your new models only or across your entire
fleet. For others, telematics might still remain a
pipe dream due to limited budgets, resources or a
perceived lack of short-term value.
But perhaps more important than simply
introducing telematics into your fleet is deciding
the primary purpose of purchasing them –
whether that be for safety, driver behaviour
monitoring, or reducing costs long term.
“A great way to start with telematics is to put
together your short and long-term goals,”
according to Teletrac Navman Australia.
“It helps you to figure out what needs to be
tracked and measured, as well as know where
you currently stand as a business.”
Autonomous vehicles
It’s amazing how quickly the driverless car has
gone from a pipe dream to a fully-fledged reality.
Already autonomous technology is being used
in advanced safety systems such as AEB (auto
emergency braking) to lower crash rates and
improve overall safety for drivers. “Everyone has an appreciation of how a
human being is going to react, because we
are all human beings,” says computer ethics
commentator Ben Byford.
And many driverless trials are being conducted
here in Australia and right around the globe to
improve the technology and improve customer
confidence in artificial intelligence. But just how
far away are we from seeing these advanced
vehicles on our roads? However, Byford argues programming also
comes with a risk. By making their behaviour
predictable, autonomous cars could be
vulnerable to manipulation by third-parties.
“So if you walk out in front of a car, and
presumably the car driver knows you’re there,
they’re going to react in a certain way.”
“Say that the cars always react in the same
way. That being the case, I could seriously
Ignoring the issues of hacking, costs, and general injure people by walking out in front of a car on
tech issues perhaps one of the real challenges
purpose, knowing that it wouldn’t be able to hit
autonomous cars will face in the short term is
me,” he says.
being able to understand the ways pedestrians
and human drivers behave, and driving to mimic
and react to those behaviors accordingly.
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ISSUE 18 2019 / WWW.AFMA.NET.AU