Orbital's Car Navigation System Priced Below $2,000
10 December 1997
Orbital's Car Navigation System Priced Below $2,000; Magellan Subsidiary's Satellite System Now in Reach of Many Consumers
DULLES, Va., Dec. 10 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation's
Magellan subsidiary continues to bring satellite navigation
within reach of people everywhere with the announcement that its
PathMaster(TM) automotive navigation product is now just $1,995. The new low
price includes all equipment, one regional database cartridge and
installation.
More than 10,000 PathMaster units are installed in vehicles across the
country, including 8,000 Hertz rental autos (under the name "NeverLost"),
making PathMaster the leading vehicle navigation product in the U.S. The
PathMaster system allows a driver to program a travel route by selecting from
hundreds of local destinations including hotels, airports, hospitals, tourist
attractions, other points of interest, and even individual street addresses.
Once the route is set, PathMaster employs GPS satellite navigation, along with
dead-reckoning and map-matching technology, to precisely locate the vehicle
and provides visual displays and voice prompts to guide the driver, turn-by-
turn, to the destination.
The system consists of a small, color display screen which mounts in the
car's passenger compartment; a central processing unit, direction sensor and
satellite receiver which mounts in the trunk or some other out-of-the-way
spot; and an inconspicuous antenna which enables GPS satellites to pinpoint
the vehicle's position at all times. Installation time and complexity are
about the same as that of a standard cellular phone, and the system begins
working immediately upon installation.
Markets that Magellan is pursuing for sales of driver information systems
include private passengers, motoring tourists, field sales and service
personnel, government agencies, public safety departments, utilities, real
estate professionals and others who use an automobile in the course of their
work. The current PathMaster and follow-on products will be sold through
Magellan's existing network of specialty retailers as well as automotive
aftermarket stores, automobile dealerships and directly to government and
private fleets.
For information on the PathMaster system, a customer service
representative at Magellan's Driver Information Systems unit in Rochester
Hills, Mich., at 800-823-2547 is available to help.
Orbital recently announced that it would merge its Magellan subsidiary,
the world's leader in low-cost GPS navigation and satellite communications
products, with over 1,000,000 units sold worldwide, with Ashtech Inc., a
strong supplier of advanced-technology precision GPS positioning units. As a
result of this merger. which is expected to be completed in December, Magellan
will offer the broadest range of satellite navigation and communications
products of any company in the world. They include personal-use units for the
automotive, aviation, outdoor recreation, and other consumer markets, as well
as professional-use products for surveying, mapping and geographic information
systems work.
Orbital is a space and information systems company that designs,
manufactures, operates and markets a broad range of affordable space
infrastructure systems, satellite access products and satellite-provided
services, including launch vehicles, satellites, space sensors and
electronics, satellite ground systems and software, satellite-based navigation
and communications products, and satellite-delivered fixed and mobile
communications and Earth imaging services.
NOTE: To learn more about Orbital Sciences Corporation and to access
recent press releases, visit the company's Web site at http://www.orbital.com.
SOURCE Orbital Sciences Corporation
