VEHICULAR DEPENDENCE ADDS TO TELEMATICS` ALLURE

LUKE GRYMEK,
SATNAM SINGH, AND
KRISHNA PATTIPATI
VEHICULAR DEPENDENCE
ADDS TO TELEMATICS’ ALLURE
© PHOTOSPIN, STOCKBYTE, ARTVILLE
LIKE IT OR NOT, OUR LIVES ARE
intricately woven with our automobiles
in numerous ways. According to the
U.S. Department of Transportation,
there are 84 million Americans who are
driving a collective 500 million hours a
week with every motorist spending
nearly six hours per week in a car. This
dependence on automobiles provides
an excellent opportunity for automobile
manufacturers to enhance the overall
driving experience. On the manufacturing side, the automotive industry has
become stagnant, and manufacturers
are looking to add new features to be
competitive.
Telematics is the solution for injecting the automotive industry with new
life and technology while greatly
12
enhancing the driving experience.
Telematics is the convergence of
telecommunications and information
processing for automation in vehicles.
Currently an emerging technology,
telematics has yet to see the true scope
of its potential. Figure 1 shows the
bright prospects for telematics, which
tend to be geared toward either the driver or the passengers.
How does telematics work? In a nutshell, telematics deals with wireless
communications between a moving
vehicle and an outside, location-based
service. It enhances the experience of
being in an automobile for the driver as
well as the passenger by efficiently
managing information among diverse
sources. Data produced by the telemat-
0278-6648/07/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
ics device is sent to appropriate servers
where actions are taken to benefit the
driver and passengers. Similarly, the
telematics unit also provides the capability of receiving information in the car
from outside sources.
Telematics is an evolving field that
consists of key technologies such as
local Yellow Book listings, global positioning system (GPS) navigation, realtime vehicle performance data, and distress-signal transmission. To project the
direction in which this emerging technology is heading, it is crucial to have a
comprehensive understanding of the
current state and goals of telematics. In
this article, we take a snapshot of
telematics in its current state and develop a picture of what telematics services
IEEE POTENTIALS
will look like in the near future. We
present a succinct review of existing
technical and business literature about
telematics along with the key technological challenges to the future growth
of telematics.
TELEMATICS AFTERMARKET
Driver-Oriented Features
Route Assistance
Emergency
Help
Real-Time
Performance Data
While telematics is immature,
it is growing at a rapid rate. In
Boeke’s MBA dissertation,
Voice Recognition
numerous indicators are idenTraffic Info
Interface
tified that suggest a strong
upward trend in telematics
growth. There are several reaShop Online
sons why this field is destined
to grow both technologically
Telematics Opportunities
and economically. First, GPS
receiver chips have become inexpensive. As a result, they will be
readily available to automobile users.
Email
Gaming
Second, telematics deals with wireless
technology; therefore, its growth is
Television/DVD
quite promising with the increased
usage of cellular phones and Internet
Passenger-Oriented Features
access.
Telematics provides a new opportuFig. 1 Automotive telematics opportunities
nity where telecommunications
companies can use already existing networks to receive more returns on their
bile are mostly aimed at passengers to
investments. General Motors (GM) is
GOALS OF TELEMATICS
make the car journey more enjoyable.
planning to offer advanced features in
Telematics is an application of wireAnother goal of telematics is to suptheir OnStar navigation units and
less networks in automobiles. As disport and improve automotive vehicle
intends to make them standard in all
cussed by A. Karimi et al., there are
maintenance. Many automobile manutheir vehicles by 2007.
five major goals for telematics: 1) navifacturers plan to have electronic conZhao predicted that by the end of
gation and accessibility, 2) safety and
trol units (ECUs) for fault detection
2007, 55.5% of new vehicles will be
security, 3) infotainment/entertainment,
and diagnosis (FDD) in their vehicles.
equipped with telematics-ready units,
4) vehicle maintenance, and 5) producThe FDD system uses advanced statisticompared to 7.5% in 2001. Also, within
tivity. These goals may support one
cal techniques to detect, identify, and
the same time frame, the world revanother. For example, being able to
isolate vehicle faults. As these electronenue from the telematics field is
easily maintain the vehicle can reduce
ic units become more prevalent, a
expected to increase to US$14.4 bilthe chance of unexpected vehicle
telematics unit can increase the ease of
lion. The number of vehicle manufacbreakdowns, thus increasing comfort,
vehicle maintenance by using the
turers and vehicle models offering
safety, and security. The goals may also
information obtained by the FDD systelematics has been steadily growing,
contradict one another. For example,
tem and communicating this informawhile the average cost of telematics
adding more entertainment features
tion to the driver and vehicle maintehas been shrinking. All of these are
may distract the driver, thus reducing
nance operators.
positive indicators of a strong future
safety or productivity.
for telematics.
Telematics can enhance navigation
While GM and Ford may be the lead
and information access capabilities for
Telematics services
manufacturers of telematics services in
the driver by providing a means to
Currently, telematics systems are
the United States, telematics services in
communicate with the outside world.
available in high-end vehicles or as a
other countries, Japan in particular,
Through a wireless network, the telemcostly option in mid-level vehicles.
have achieved greater growth. Japan
atics unit has access to valuable and
OnStar and Wingcast are the current
alone is predicted to see US$11.2 billion
useful information for the driver.
telematics services leaders in the United
in revenue by 2010. In October 2002,
Telematics also increases the safety and
States, which are owned by GM and
Toyota released its own telematics sersecurity of the automobile for the driver
Ford, respectively. For the cost of initial
vice unit in Japan called the G-Book.
and passengers. For instance, if adverse
hardware and a monthly fee, these
Since its initial release, Toyota vehicles
driving conditions are approaching, a
companies provide some selective
equipped with the G-Book have been
telematics unit can inform the driver
telematics services. Those services
able to offer many telematics services
and then suggest an alternate course of
include GPS navigation, information
that only recently have become availaction. The goals of enhancing the infolistings, such as Yellow Book, and disable in the United States.
tainment/entertainment in an automotress signal transmission capability
MARCH/APRIL 2007
13
through an electronic unit embedded in
the vehicle’s dashboard.
Distress signal
A feature of the telematics unit with
significant consumer interest is the distress signal. Upon a breakdown or
severe accident, the driver is able to
quickly contact an emergency service
using the distress signal and address
the situation. By having the distress
signal service, the driver doesn’t need
to worry when he is stranded in the
middle of a desert in Nevada or alone
after a near-fatal accident. A distress
signal uses a cell-phone communication link and the GPS data. The signal
can be sent either manually by the
automobile user or automatically by
an electronic unit embedded in the
dashboard. Automatic signals are sent
when a particular sensor is triggered,
such as if windows break or air bags
go off. When that happens, the GPS
unit will send the vehicle’s location
information and the vehicle identification number (VIN) to the emergency
service providers.
GPS navigation
With the GPS unit, a driver can
obtain reasonably accurate information
about his/her location. By typing in the
desired destination, the driver can learn
an optimal route to take. Based on the
driver’s input, the onboard telematics
unit will provide listings for the local
area Yellow Book using the GPS data
and local maps.
Current navigation telematics is also
blending real-time traffic data with historical data to provide the driver with
the best route to his/her destination.
In Japan, Vehicle Information
Communication System (VICS) is a
prominent provider of traffic information telematics services. An onboard
VICS unit can provide accurate highway information for freeways up to
200 km away and accurate local road
information for roads up to 30 km
away. VICS obtains its traffic information either by radio wave or infrared
beacons. The telematics unit uses
voice directions to navigate the driver
on the route. For every turn, the
telematics unit can explain associated
distances and approximate times
based on the current speed and distance. Figure 2 illustrates an advanced
navigation scenario. The vehicle is
originally on the shortest and quickest
Vehicle is
initially on
route A to
destination.
Traffic service
informs driver
and suggests
alternate route.
Traffic service is
informed of traffic
holdup due
to an accident.
Rou
te A
route to its destination (Route A).
However, there has been an accident;
traffic is backed up, and Route A is no
longer the quickest route. The telematics system detects the traffic hold up
and redirects the driver onto Route B,
thereby providing the safest and quickest route to the desired destination.
Yellow pages listings
In addition to traffic navigation, the
onboard telematics also informs the driver of nearby ATMs, gas stations, and
local restaurants. The driver can interact
with local listings (e.g., make a reservation at the restaurant, prepay for a
product at a store, etc.) through the
telematics services. One such telematics
service is provided by Toyota, which is
referred in its G-Book’s Yellow Book
listings as Live Navigation. The Live
Navigation service aims to create a
dynamic driving experience where the
onboard unit anticipates driver interests
by suggesting appropriate dining locations and events.
Figure 3(a) exemplifies ideal
human voice interaction with the
telematics unit. Figure 3(b) displays
how several integrated telematics services can be beneficial to the driver.
When the telematics system recognizes
low fuel levels, the GPS system with
local maps and yellow book listings
informs the driver of how to alleviate
the situation.
A new telematics service is expected to be available in the near future
for parking space availability notification. XM Satellite Radio is collaborating with electronic sensor companies
and parking garage owners so that drivers can view the percentages of available parking spots located within the
vicinity of their destination. Several
business offices, sports and concert
venus, and airports plan to install the
parking notification telematics service
in the near future.
Enhanced real-time data
Rou
te B
Destination
Fig. 2 Advanced navigation system in automobiles
14
Currently, automobile maintenance
can be considered either preventive or
reactive. A preventive maintenance
strategy is characterized by the operator
adhering to maintenance schedules
consisting of fluid and part replacement
as well as routine check ups. The preventive strategy fails when tasks
required by the maintenance schedule
are unnecessary; a part may be
replaced despite still being functional.
The end result is loss of money and
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I'm starving, is there any
restaurant within 10 miles
where I can get a meal
for under $10?
Along your current route, there will
be a Taco Bell in about 6 minutes
and if you want to turn off the route,
there is a Subway in 5 minutes.
You have just fallen under a
quarter of a tank of gas, at current
rate you can travel up to 50 more
miles. A Mobil gas station in 11
miles has the cheapest gas on
your route at $2.75 a gallon.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3 (a) Advanced voice recognition and (b) advanced FDD and voice recognition
time. Reactive maintenance refers to
measures taken where there is a direct
need. The reactive maintenance strategy
also is inefficient because faults occur
before the operator realizes their existence, which results in higher repair
costs and longer time without the vehicle. Telematics provides a third strategy
with remote diagnostics. Telematics can
allow distant servers to have access to
the ECU information. Consequently, the
servers can execute the remote diagnostic techniques to do a better assessment
of maintenance requirement without
being too reactive or preventive. Such
condition-based maintenance efficiency
will have tremendous consumer support because maintenance accounts for
approximately 40% of a vehicle’s lifetime costs.
OnStar recently made available its
own real-time data assessment service. The service is available only to
GM vehicles manufactured in the past
three years. Using this service, the
manufacturer or dealer would have
access to real-time vehicle and driving data to assess how the vehicle is
performing and to make appropriate
service reservations. A recent experimental application of onboard diagnostic and prognostic systems is the
carbon dioxide emissions control in
California. The wireless monitoring
system keeps an eye on the emissions system of a vehicle. Based on
the diverse data sets, the automobile
maintenance service determines if the
vehicle emission system is faulty. The
driver can be encouraged to fix the
problem before an excess of harmful
emissions are released into the air.
MARCH/APRIL 2007
Superior human machine interface
As the quantity and complexity of
the telematics services continue to rise,
a safe driver-friendly interface is also
becoming vital. The voice-based user
interface appears to be the most promising means for effective communication
between the driver, passengers, and the
telematics system. An example of voicebased user interface is the G-Book’s My
Request telematics service, which provides access to information through simple operations or voice commands. The
resulting information is read to the driver by a synthesized voice.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES
When looking toward the future
opportunities of telematics, there are
roadblocks that must be overcome to
make progress. The Telematics
Research Group has shown that a fundamental technological challenge is the
slow processor speed of the telematics
hardware units. The telematics processors lag behind personal computer processing units by an astounding four to
six years. For example, a 2007 telematics microprocessor unit will have the
performance comparable to that of a
2002 Pentium 4 microprocessor of
about 1 GHz. This delay in hardware
capabilities will hinder the development
of an advanced telematics system.
Another hardware issue associated
with telematics is the fact that the electronics and the automobiles have
entirely different life spans and development cycles. Developing a vehicle
takes between five and six years, and
the vehicle life tends to be seven to ten
years. On the other hand, the life of a
modern telematics unit tends to be one
to two years. Hence, many manufacturers are hesitant to put modern telematics units on their vehicles that will
quickly become obsolete. A solution to
this issue could be the standardization
of the signal processing, information
flow, and information management
within the telematics system.
A safe human-machine interface is
required for a fully integrated telematics
unit. It would be inefficient and unsafe
to have a separate unit for every telematics service. By adding additional
wiring to accommodate more telematics
services, weight is added to the vehicle,
and it becomes more difficult to adhere
to standards and reliability. Leen and
Heffernan suggest potential solutions to
the integration problem that include a
domestic data bus, Bluetooth, mobile
media link, flex ray, and a time-triggered controller area network (CAN).
A specific problem currently faced
by the telematics developers is the integration of portable music players with a
vehicle and its telematics unit. Cellport
Systems is trying to tackle this integration challenge. They have been successful in providing a vehicle docking station where operators can put their personal digital assistant (PDAs), iPODs,
and cell phones to operate through the
vehicle interface.
A final technological challenge is to
secure the telematics data. Especially if
financial transactions are made over the
telematics system, it is crucial that only
authorized users can access it.
Manipulation of the telematics information by unauthorized sources can be
detrimental and harmful.
15
CONCLUSIONS
Telematics services are very promising, and they have the potential to significantly enhance the automobile driving experience. However, despite all
the potential a telematics system has to
offer, its growth depends upon consumers and manufacturers. The telematics aftermarket will determine which
services will be included in the future
vehicles. Providing diverse and
advanced telematics services requires
collaboration among the companies
that specialize in vastly different enterprises, such as location-based traffic
centers, Yellow Book listings, wireless
network providers, and automobile
manufacturers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by
National Science Foundation as part of
the
Research
Experience
for
Undergraduates (REU) program at the
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE) in the University of
Connecticut, Storrs. The authors would
like to thank Eric Donkor, coordinator
of the REU program in the ECE department at UConn.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
• J. Boeke, “European car telematics— who will capture most value?,”
MBA dissertation, Judge Institute of
Management, Univ. Cambridge,
England, 2001.
• A. Karimi, J. Olsson, and J. Rydell,
“A software approach to remote vehicle
diagnostics,” M.S. thesis, Dept.
Informatics, Univ. Göteborg, Göteborg,
Sweden, 2004.
• T. Titsworth, “Telematics might
steer your car into the future,” IEEE
Multimedia, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 9–10, Jul.Sept. 2002.
• G. Leen and D. Heffernan,
“Expanding automotive electronic
systems,” Computer, vol. 35, no. 1, pp.
88–93, Jan. 2002.
• Telematics Research Group,
[Online]. Available: www.telematicsresearchgroup.com
• D.E. Zoia, “XM to roll out real
time-parking info system,” Aug. 2006.
[Online]. Available: http://www.
Luke Grymek is an undergraduate
student in electrical engineering at
Columbia University, New York. He is a
Student Member of IEEE. This was his
first research experience, which was
through the REU program at the
University of Connecticut. His research
interest are controls and optimization.
Satnam Singh is a Ph.D. student at
the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, the University
of Connecticut. He has been a reviewer for IEEE Potentials magazine for the
past three years and has served as the
president of the IEEE Student Branch
at University of Connecticut during
2003–2004.
Krishna Pattipati is a professor of
electrical and computer engineering at
the University of Connecticut. His
research has been primarily in the
application of systems theory and optimization techniques to complex systems. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
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