Bosch Unveils In-Car Navigation System in the UK

07/19/96

Blaupunkt, a subsidiary of Bosch, has unveiled an in-car navigation system dubbed TravelPilot for use in and around London. The service will be available for use in the UK's M25 road corridor around London, initially, with plans to expand its database for other major cities in the UK later this year. Coverage for the whole of the UK should be in place by the end of 1997.

TravelPilot uses an on board computer system that tracks a vehicle's motion through sensors attached to the vehicle's wheels. The wheel sensors determine distance traveled, and the computer recognizes turns by computing the difference between the distances traveled by the outer and the inner wheels. The TravelPilot also communicates with a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite which can read the position a vehicle with an accuracy that comes within a few hundred feet. TravelPilot uses both systems and CDROM technology to determine the precise location of a vehicle and to determine what travel options are available from that place.

The use of CDROM technology is what makes the TravelPilot different from other navigating systems. Bosch says that the system is "very sophisticated," taking account of speed limits--even where they change according to the time of day--to calculate the most effective, quickest, or most fuel economic route between two points. To prevent driver error, the CDROM database even includes information on one-way streets, no access zones, and streets that are blocked off for pedestrian use.

The Germans and the Swiss are already using the TravelPilot system, and once users have the UKP3,499 system installed in their vehicle, they can roam between countries by slipping the relevant CDROM database into the machine. TravelPilot will expand to Austria and Northern Italy later this year.

At the beginning of a journey, a driver selects a destination using a keypad. TravelPilot presents a color rolling map that keeps up with the car as it moves, along with recommended routes. A pre-recorded human voice also speaks route instructions, so that drivers can concentrate on the road. If a driver leaves the recommended or selected route, Bosch claims that the system can compensate for that event in real time, offering alternative routes on demand.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel