AAA Launches New Company to Meet Growing Demand for In-Vehicle Services

10 April 2000

AAA Launches New Company to Meet Growing Demand for In-Vehicle Services

    ORLANDO, Fla.--April 10, 2000--AAA, North America's largest motoring and travel services organization, has formed Response Services Center, LLC, a new company designed to provide AAA with the ability to deliver leading-edge, wireless mobile emergency assistance and travel information.
    The company will open its new state-of-the art facility during April in Columbia, Md., a suburb of Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area. Full-scale operations will begin fourth quarter 2000.
    For now, AAA's 43 million members will continue to receive world-class emergency road service in the same manner they always have, however, RESPONSE will give AAA the ability to deliver advanced in-vehicle travel and Internet services as the technology matures and gains wide consumer acceptance.
    AAA plans to use RESPONSE to integrate mobile access to its huge database of maps, TourBook(R) guides and other travel guidance information, as well as thousands of AAA-inspected and approved auto repair shops, lodgings, restaurants and campgrounds.
    RESPONSE computer operators will be able to receive and interpret wireless Global Positioning Satellite data to pinpoint customer locations. Response also will process automatic, as well as driver-initiated requests for 911 emergency assistance, emergency road service, travel information, anti-theft auto tracking, remote door unlocking, route guidance and travel information/reservations. The wireless and automotive industries call bundled services of this type telematics.
    "RESPONSE is the gateway to the future of emergency roadside assistance and real-time travel information access for AAA members and other consumers," said Marshall L. Doney, vice president, AAA Automotive Services. "Ultimately, RESPONSE will allow AAA to deliver its well-known automotive and travel services to millions of loyal customers in cars or on foot with convenience and precision that is unprecedented."
    AAA, which annually responds to more than 30 million requests for emergency road service and has North America's largest dedicated network of emergency road service vehicles and call centers, is the owner of RESPONSE.
    Wireless industry veteran, Daniel L. Dickerson, formerly of ORBCOMM USA and Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln RESCU development team at Westinghouse, is president of the new company.
    As North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides its 43 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers.