DALLAS, Texas -- ATX Group, the world's second largest telematics provider to the automotive industry in North America and Western Europe, announced today the development of several new telematics and interactive voice recognition applications involving the remote activation of vehicle functions.
Among the new applications is the capability to use a personal computer or wireless phone to remotely activate the car via voice commands to make the vehicle's interior more comfortable before the driver gets into the vehicle and to roll the vehicle's windows either down or up.
"These are simple solutions designed to address simple needs that are easy to understand," said Ron West, ATX Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Imagine being able to roll up your car windows when it begins to rain without leaving your desk or rolling out of bed, or honking your horn to locate your car when you forget where you parked your car at the shopping mall."
ATX already allows its telematics subscribers to use their wireless devices to remotely unlock their car doors, a particularly valuable feature when keys have been inadvertently left in the vehicle.
"This is an application in which consumers place high value because of the added convenience and one that we can provide as part of any standard telematics package at a very low cost," said West. "We are taking a capability that already exists with limitations in the aftermarket and integrating it as an embedded function on telematics-equipped vehicles with an interactive voice recognition interface."
Remote vehicle activation also gives automobile dealerships a quick and easy showroom demonstration of telematics' tangible benefits to prospective buyers. Additional applications under research or development include a remote stop function, such as preventing the car's ignition from being started or allowing the car to be operated only during specific hours - functions that could be useful in preventing teenagers or parking valets from taking one's car on a joyride.
"Basically this all about giving vehicle owners more control over one of their most critical, personal assets," said West.
Based in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area and Dusseldorf, Germany, ATX Group is the world's second largest provider of telematics services for the automobile industry, serving both North America and Europe. ATX telematics services are designed to provide enhanced safety, security and driving convenience to vehicle owners. These services include location-specific emergency and roadside assistance, automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle recovery, remote diagnostics and real-time traffic and navigation assistance. ATX, the largest independent telematics provider not owned by an automobile manufacturer or telecommunications firm, also provides telematics services designed to help automobile manufacturers and their affiliated dealerships to use telematics data to reduce costs, enhance vehicle servicing, and more closely manage customer relationships. ATX services are provided to vehicle owners through the brand names of its customers -- Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maybach, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
For more information, visit www.atxg.com.
