RAC telematics services development

In the next 12 months (1999-2000), several leading European motor manufacturers are likely to launch fully integrated line fit and aftermarket fit telematics units, allowing location specific telematics services to be delivered to their customers. Trials and demonstrations of telematics services, delivered via a number of ad hoc or proprietary protocols, have been a feature of RAC development projects and pilot customer trials since 1995. This experience has allowed, not only an opportunity to gather customer feedback from representative services, it has also allowed a sound business understanding to be developed against which service delivery platforms can be scoped to match likely customer services and volumes. RAC are developing telematics services and systems to be GSM network and service provider independent on the assumption that the growth of the telematics services market will be restricted if it is tied to specific market players and segmentation. The potential for GSM SIM Application Toolkit to offer customised services whilst retaining the benefits of working within the GSM standards framework is particularly attractive to a telematics service provider such as the RAC. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), for micro-browser based services and alternative GSM bearers, such as the GPRS are particularly relevant to telematics service delivery and are likely to feature prominently in the next generation of telematics hardware