Traffic wars
Traffic wars
I believe that traffic information and routing will be the killer app for navigation devices. Currently, you need a nav system only if you go to unfamiliar places--the majority of driving is done during a daily commute, where a nav system isn't needed. Add traffic information to it, and suddenly the nav system is useful at all times. Current nav systems are hard drive or DVD based. Telcontar wants to push wireless systems. I have seen cell phones with a navigation app, but the screen is small, so it tends to be good for routing information only, telling you when to take the next turn. A wireless navigation device would be interesting because it wouldn't need much storage if it could download maps dynamically, depending on where you are headed. Storage is one of the components that keeps the price of navigation devices high. But when you leave a wireless-coverage area, you won't get maps updated and could be left high and dry. Since traffic information is currently limited to freeways, which do tend to have wireless coverage, any wireless navigation device would probably be useful only in urban areas.