The number of safety-and-security telematics users, for applications such as collision detection and emergency braking, is expected to increase to more than 300 million in 2018 from 72 million, according to “Safety and Security Telematics,” market and forecast data from ABI Research.
ABI said driver behavior monitoring services are gaining consumer and commercial users, and are expected to continue growing as customer awareness and regulatory initiatives increase.
“While safety and security mandates in Europe (eCall, 2015), Russia (ERA GLONASS, 2013), and Brazil (Contran, 2013) are on their way, car OEMs (original original equipment manufacturers) continue to roll out safety telematics services globally across their portfolio,” said Dominique Bonte, VP and practice director for ABI Research. “Ford now also offers emergency calling in Europe as part of its SYNC launch and Mercedes recently extended the availability of its free eCall service on the COMAND Online multimedia system to nineteen countries in Europe. Clearly OEMs increasingly consider safety telematics as a commercial proposition and no longer await possible mandates which keep being postponed.”
ABI also noted that while the number of insurance telematics users has remained limited, announcements of partnerships between mobile carriers and insurers, such as those between Vodafone with Towers Watson and AIG Europe, and Telefonica with Generali, appear to be increasing.
“This whole area is quickly turning into a battleground between car OEMs vying for safety image and technology leadership with Tier1 suppliers such as Continental aggressively developing these high-margin product lines,” ABI said.
