NAVTEQ, ATX Collaborate On Automated Directions Prototype
Drivers to Benefit from Integration of Digital Navigation, Telematics Voice Technology
DALLAS-FORT WORTH, Sept. 13 -- NAVTEQ , a leading global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, and ATX Group, the world's second largest telematics service provider to the automotive industry, announced today an agreement to pursue a prototype automated driving directions service that will integrate NAVTEQ's latest developments in digital, dynamic content and ATX's recent advances in automated, voice recognition technology.
The joint initiative involves an application that provides personalized driving directions to users dialing MY511 on any communications device. The result is a capability that can transform any communications device into a navigation system. The two companies said they expect to demonstrate the result of their collaboration before select automotive industry customers and government officials during the Intelligent Transportation Society's World Congress in November in San Francisco.
NAVTEQ(R) maps will provide the foundation for the personalized directions while ATX's voice technology shapes the user interface experience, a critical component of a mobile phone-based system.
NAVTEQ currently supplies mapping content for a variety of ATX's location- based telematics services. ATX's services store NAVTEQ content off-board on servers within ATX's response centers rather than in computers in the vehicle. Voice automated, destination entry is uniquely suited to off-board telematics systems. These systems not only can keep up with changes -- added street names, improved map data, new construction, etc., but also can leverage computing power and databases comparable to self-contained navigation within a vehicle or device.
ATX helped pioneer the development of delivering real-time traffic content to vehicles, introducing the service back in 2001. It also has invested heavily into research and deployment of interactive voice recognition technology that is acoustically modeled for the often noisy in-vehicle environment.
ABOUT ATX
Based in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area and Dusseldorf, Germany, ATX Group is the world's second largest provider of telematics services for the automobile industry, serving both North America and Europe. ATX telematics services are designed to provide enhanced safety, security and driving convenience to vehicle owners. These services include location-specific emergency and roadside assistance, automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle recovery, remote diagnostics and real-time traffic and navigation assistance. ATX, the largest independent telematics provider not owned by an automobile manufacturer or telecommunications firm, also provides telematics services designed to help automobile manufacturers and their affiliated dealerships to use telematics data to reduce costs, enhance vehicle servicing, and more closely manage customer relationships. ATX services are provided to vehicle owners through the brand names of its customers -- Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maybach, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. For more information, visit http://www.atxg.com/ .
ABOUT NAVTEQ
NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985 and has approximately 1,600 employees located in 122 offices in 21 countries.