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In-vehicle electronics systems to grow tenfold Visitors to Convergence 2000 this month in Detroit's Cobo Center will explore the future of telematics, which is predicted by 2010 to grow globally more than tenfold -from a current $4 billion to $46 billion - and produce more than $7 billion in earnings.

Based on a recent study by UBS Warburg LLC, 71% of those revenues a decade hence will be service-based - largely for service provider, security and phone charges and Web access items such as e-mail, navigation, news and entertainment.

Right now, the bulk of the telematics business is in Japan. Europe's telematics users only produce about $230 million in revenues, and in the U.S. it's a similar $280 million. But Japanese drivers, with a serious need for traffic and navigation information, already plunk down $3.68 billion for telematics products and services. For example, nearly 2 million navigation systems are expected to be sold in Japan this year - nearly double the sales of nav systems in the rest of the world.

The telematics connection in the vehicle of 2010 very likely will incorporate most of the leading-edge items that can be found in many high-end vehicles today - or will be in the not-too-distant future: a built-in GPS and wireless phone link and a connection to all of the vehicle's on-board sensors (such as wheel-speed sensors, fuel gauge) and an in-vehicle display unit or portable display units similar to current PDAs (personal digital assistants). The in-vehicle link to a PDA is one of the most recent innovations, with a 2002 model appearance likely from products by Delphi Automotive Systems, Visteon Corp. and Siemens Automotive.

The real change by 2010 will be in the number of telematics users and the way telematics devices interconnect. All components, but more specifically those such as the wireless phone or PDA-type display unit, could be hard-wired through a vehicle port or interconnected via a truly wireless Bluetooth (named by its developers after an ancient Viking king) "network" using something akin to today's infrared connections, but which doesn't require line-of-sight for reception.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:00 AM