TomTom's revolution in personal navigation
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2009-05-31
In a recent interview with Telematics Update's Krystyna Grant, TomTom's president Jocelyn Vigreux was cagey about partnerships it might be developing with U.S. carmakers, but he strongly hinted that deals might be in the works.
Vigreux said TomTom is happy with its deals with Renault and Toyota in Europe and its development of 'semi-embedded' navigation devices.
The GO 740 Live is TomTom's first wirelessly connected GPS device and it got an enthusiastic reception at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It features an exciting new development in traffic information - it not only receives information about traffic conditions but can also participate in creating such information.
The Go 740 Live has other exciting features too, such as Map Share and IQ Routes. Map Share allows users of the TeleAtlas maps preloaded on the TomTom to contribute updates on road changes and share their roadway experiences to keep the maps in touch with changes such as blocked streets, new one-way streets and even street name changes. IQ Routes uses local knowledge gleaned from the experiences of TomTom users to work out driving times taking such factors as rush hours, special events and even driver behavior into account.
"A lot of learning and developmental focus will come as we continue on the path of connected devices," Vigreux told Telematics Update. "The ability to communicate in a 2-way fashion will be absolutely central."
This, says Vigreux, will be the key element in development of navigation and information-based services over the coming five years.
Jocelyn Vigreux has been a leading figure in bringing TomTom to the forefront of portable navigation technology. He will be a keynote speaker on Navigation and Location at the Telematics Update conference June 1-2 at Novi, Michigan.
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