Smart Automotive
Telematics opens the road to
intelligent transportation. The
ultimate goal of telematics is to enable a
vehicle to communicate to nearby vehicles
and even the infrastructure itself – sensing
lane markings, curbs and other vehicles
close by and providing enhanced roadway
safety. Telematics is not only going to
improve driver safety but also deliver new
services. Telematics can also help address
carmakers’ concerns that tomorrow’s
buyers could have very different needs
and expectations for their vehicles,
including how much technology they want
to own. The end-game scenario is to move
from what are today many stand-alone
systems to a situation where there is a full
connectivity between cars and
infrastructure – necessary elements to
enable automated driving. Vehicle-toVehicle, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are
applications that are already being
incorporated by the Auto manufacturers.
These applications use sensors to detect
the position of the vehicle in front and in
adjacent lanes and create an awareness
zone around the car. Building a telematics
infrastructure will require more than just
vehicle hardware and electronics, but an
ecosystem of connected cars with tens of
billions of sensors requiring
telecommunications networks, cloud
infrastructure, data storage capacity,
integration with applications, and welldesigned human-machine interfaces
(HMI) so consumers can comfortably
interact with the telematics system.
In India surging economic growth
and a rising middle class are driving
consumption and domestic demand for
vehicle ownership in India. The economic
progress combined with the smart cities
mission is establishing India as a new
market for connected navigation and
telematics services. Smart Mobility is a key
characteristic that will play a pivotal role in
realizing the country’s ‘Smart Cities
Mission’. Unlike its early days, the
telematics system today is not limited to
just tracking a path on the map but
connectivity and telematics have the
potential to safeguard the fleet and
ELE Times | 33 | November, 2016
improve the overall transportation
infrastructure. To improve overall
transportation some key factors are
playing a crucial role in advancing
telematics technology as a response to
such challenges. Firstly, rising role of IoT
where consumers want vehicles that are
safer, entertaining, more efficient and
better equipped to cope with congested
urban driving environments. Secondly,
rising awareness amongst buyers over the
necessity and importance of connected
services which will drive the market
demand for telematics in coming years
and lastly, the growing demand for
automotive safety where the current
telematics environment is not only
capable of reporting data on driving
behaviour but also can track vehicle
performance, sending information
pertaining to maintenance issues, vehicle
location and crash reports.
Fully autonomous vehicles will turn
cars into mobile extensions of our homes
and offices, completely changing the
driving experience. Now is the time to
capitalize on the promise of a future with
connected cars, and establish a solid
foundation for the future digital
innovations that are sure to come.
Telematics will introduce a convergence of
multiple connected processes.
Automakers can greatly benefit by not
restricting these innovations to the basic
capabilities of this technology.