Experts at the recent Telematics Update Conference in Novi, MI, predicted a major rebound for automotive telematics in the next five years and said all major automakers will have their telematics strategies in place by the end of 2008.
“The good news is that this industry is taking off,” said Thilo Koslowski, managing vice president of Gartner's Automotive Industry Group. “It's a re-launch. A lot of companies had to realize that their early revenue expectations were inflated. But by the end of 2008, all vehicle manufacturers will have made up their minds and defined their new strategies.”
Koslowski told an audience of about 500 engineers and auto executives at the conference that embedded hands-free phones and portable hands-free solutions head the consumer wish list for telematics products. Other electronic products on the wish list include emergency/SOS functions, theft recovery systems and digital satellite radio, he said.
Conference executives said the event was the organization's biggest telematics show ever, signaling perhaps the dramatic downturn that started earlier in this decade is finally ending. More than 70 companies exhibited at the show this year, up from about 40 last year. Attendance was similarly up, from about 350 in 2006 to more than 500 this year. (See presentations).
Koslowski said the flurry of business activity at the show is a sign the telematics market has emerged from a “trough of disillusionment” into a “slope of enlightenment,” in which vendors are starting to offer new, innovative offerings to the market.
“We believe that over the next 18 months, you'll see telematics go mainstream,” Koslowski said. “This is a very different dynamic than we saw five years ago.”
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 After passing through a so-called "trough of disillusionment," telematics suppliers are beginning to innovate again, experts say. |
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