Almost half of all new cars will have embedded telematics by 2014

18 May 2009

OEMs' continued efforts to enhance existing embedded and hybrid telematics services and/or launch new ones will drive global penetration rates in new cars to 12% in 2010 and 43% in 2014, says ABI Research.

According to Dominique Bonte, ABI Research's practice director, the US remains the most competitive market with GM's OnStar and Ford's SYNC to be joined by telematics solutions from Toyota and Chrysler launching later this year, adding that at the same time, Toyota and GM will expand into the Chinese market, while government regulation in Brazil and the EU will drive uptake in Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe.

Although safety and security features such as emergency calling (eCall), breakdown assistance (bCall) and remote diagnostics remain the most popular, connected infotainment such as off-board navigation, online local search, concierge services, and Internet access offered by OEMs like as BMW are enjoying increasing interest. In addition, embedded aftermarket solutions remain popular for stolen vehicle tracking and PAYD insurance, while new affordable portable and converged consumer telematics are bringing features such as geofencing, speed monitoring and basic diagnostics to a wider audience. 

ABI Research expects that by offering multiple safety, cost and entertainment benefits to different stakeholders such as governments, car manufacturers and dealers, and end-users, consumer telematics will become a standard automotive feature in developed regions by 2015.

Standardization initiatives such as the Next Generation Telematics Protocol (NGTP) and the adoption of open source automotive software development platforms supported by the recently announced GENIVI consortium will help with the removal of barriers such as high costs and long development cycles required by this evolution.