SiRF Announces a Novel and Cost Effective Vehicle Positioning Approach for Navigation & Telematics Products

SiRFDRive2 GPS/Dead Reckoning Software Breaks Cost Barriers by Tapping Vehicle Data Bus for Dead Reckoning Measurements

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 16 -- SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. , a leading provider of GPS-enabled location technology, today unveiled its new, patent pending, SiRFDRive2 GPS/Dead Reckoning Software, a novel approach to maximizing position availability and accuracy for automotive navigation and telematics applications at a significantly lower cost. Already receiving notable interest from leading OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, SiRFDRive2 reduces system costs by tapping the vehicle data bus as a source of distributed sensor information, enabling automakers and tier 1 manufacturers to eliminate the cost of a dedicated automotive gyro and greatly reducing installation costs.

SiRFDRive2 requires only a single connection to the vehicle bus to supply the dead reckoning speed and heading measurements to complement GPS. Telematics and navigation systems need these measurements to validate and correct GPS fixes during signal blockage and multipath interference, such as when traveling through tunnels or urban canyons. SiRFDRive2 complements GPS satellite measurements with independent vehicle speed sensor and anti-lock brake sensor inputs provided over the vehicle data bus. These measurements are typically in the form of speed tick rates, angular wheel velocity or linear wheel velocity from the existing active or passive ABS sensors on at least two parallel wheels on the same axle. SiRFDRive2 is compatible with all SiRFstarII-based GPS receiver chip sets, but manufacturers can achieve the greatest cost benefit when SiRFDRive2 is used in conjunction with the rich peripheral features of the new SiRFstarIIA GPS System on Chip (see SiRF's press release dated 5/16/05) optimized for automotive applications to dramatically reduce the total bill of materials costs.

"We saw an excellent opportunity to help drive down overall system costs by developing a software that takes advantage of the information already available on today's modern vehicle platforms," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of SiRF Technology. "The combined SiRFstarIIA/SiRFDRive2 solution will enable automakers to add high-performance navigation and telematics systems to their vehicles at prices affordable to the mainstream consumers."

Because SiRFDRive2 completely eliminates the need for telematics and navigation systems to have sensors tied directly to them, automakers have much greater freedom to install these products without any of the usual location and orientation constraints imposed on them by conventional systems with integrated sensors such as the gyro. Consequently the logistics for the auto electronics equipment suppliers and OEM customer is greatly simplified as only one product configuration is needed for all conceivable installation orientations resulting in inventory and installation cost efficiencies. By using the existing sensors, SiRFDRive2 eliminates the addition of superfluous sensors and associated electronic components in the vehicle for the telematics and navigation system, lowering overall cost while improving reliability.

The SiRFDRive2 system is self-calibrating, and will continuously calibrate all the sensors using GPS data when the GPS position is available. When GPS signals are not available, the system will navigate in dead reckoning mode until the sensor calibration data no longer is valid, and if any of the sensors break or become unreliable, the system will detect this, notify the application and resort to GPS-only navigation.

SiRFDRive2 is already getting significant interest from leading equipment suppliers, OEMs, and telematics service providers.

About SiRF Technology

SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. is a leading supplier of GPS enabled location technology for high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications. SiRF's technology has been integrated into mobile consumer devices, such as automobile navigation systems, mobile phones, PDAs, GPS-based peripherals and handheld GPS navigation devices, and into commercial applications, such as asset tracking devices and fleet management systems. SiRF markets and sells its products in four target platforms: automotive, consumer electronics, mobile computing and wireless devices. Founded in 1995, SiRF is headquartered in San Jose, California, and has sales offices, design centers and research facilities around the world. The company trades on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol SIRF. Additional information about SiRF and its location technology solutions can be found at www.sirf.com.