Snapshot

Recent reports in the UK media have highlighted the beginning of a 12-week government consultation period that is looking at banning the use of hand-held mobile phone devices while driving. If implemented, this ban would add the UK to the list of 35 countries that currently place legal restrictions on the use of hand-held mobile telephones in vehicles.

Analysis

The market for in-vehicle telematics is an emerging one, and is currently attempting to make the transition from a largely niche, technology-driven sector into a high-volume, profitable business. Clearly, widespread bans on the use of hand-held mobile devices will not stop the market in its tracks, but they do represent a worrying development in potentially restricting the options for vendors and OEMs.

We are living in an ever-increasing safety culture, which is growing in all mature vehicle-producing regions. The past years have seen the vehicle evolve from a transport device with few passive or active safety devices to one loaded with airbags and sophisticated braking and chassis control systems, with even more advanced system under development.

In such an environment, is it safe to assume that any ban will be restricted to hand-held devices alone? Numerous published studies have indicated that the use of a hands-free phone offers little if anything in the way of safety benefits over a hand-held device. In addition, many safety lobbyists are pressing for all forms of in-car telephony to be banned on safety grounds.

Strategy Analytics thus believes it wise to assume that in the long-term there will be some form of regulation regarding the safety aspects of vehicle communication systems in most mature vehicle markets. However this needn’t be the threat to the telematics market that some may fear, but instead may help give it some of the direction that it currently lacks.

Implications

In anticipation of future safety-related legislation, vehicle manufacturers, system suppliers and service providers should be communicating more clearly the safety benefits of their telematics products.

The safety benefits of a system such as On-Star are clear, but there has been little attempt to market products such as navigation and traffic information systems from a safety angle. This clearly could be done: attempting to use a paper map or driving erratically, making last-minute turns while trying to find one’s way are clearly not the safest ways of making progress. Neither is driving too fast while attempting to make up for time lost in an avoidable traffic hold-up.

A clear demarcation between vehicle-centric and person-centric applications also needs to be made. The former should be the prime responsibility of the vehicle maker and its carefully-chosen suppliers. In the opinion Strategy Analytics of such solutions need to be fully integrated into the vehicle, with the safest possible MMI (man-machine interface). Automotive companies should be more wary about entering the market for person-centric services, or of delivering what should be vehicle-centric services with a personal device.

In the opinion of Strategy Analytics, an industry-led telematics safety drive – maybe pushed along by alliances similar to the Bosch / Conti-Teves one recently formed in the US to promote the benefits of stability control systems – could be the answer to both ensuring a favourable legislative environment and maximising revenues.

Questions?
To comment on this insight, please contact the analyst Ian Riches
Email: iriches@strategyanalytics.com

Other Contacts:

Chris Webber: cwebber@strategyanalytics.com, tel.: +44 1582 589 802

Clare Hughes: chughes@strategyanalytics.com tel.: +44 1582 589 825