Telematics Everywhere

from the compute-in-your-car dept

We've recently been doing some research for a client on the corporate side of Techdirt on telematics - which is the fancy word they're using these days for "in car computing". There's a lot going on in the space, and it's a pretty interesting area. Red Herring is running a series of articles about it, that are pretty interesting. The first is just a general overview of what telematics are and what automakers see in them. The second article talks about how some venture capitalists are getting into the telematics world with a few investments here and there. They seem a little uncertain of where and how to invest, but they seem to think there's a lot of potential. When most people think of telematics, their first reaction is to think about things like OnStar and being able to get some help when your car breaks down. However, one big area where people see a lot of money to be made is in improving the transportation system and trucking industries. I also thought it was interesting that following all these pretty positive articles from the Herring about telematics that I came across a different article from folks in the telematics industry complaining that they really need a "telematics dictator" to push things forward - because no one could agree on standards and everything was moving too slow.