Avis Rent A Car System, Inc. and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today announced a commercial contract that will make the "Avis Assist" phone-based navigation system available in up to fifty cities across the United States and Canada. Avis Assist, developed by Motorola, allows Avis customers to rent a Motorola phone with a location-based navigation service that literally 'talks them through' directions to a destination, broadcasting street names and maneuvers along the way.
"Our four-month trial of Avis Assist at the Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington D.C. Dulles airports demonstrated to us that customers are embracing the added benefits of this GPS application," said Scott Deaver, executive vice president of marketing for Cendant Car Rental Group, the parent company of Avis. "Our consumer satisfaction scores were high, and we saw a repurchase intent well above 70% from users. We're particularly pleased that Avis Assist is useable in any car -- yet another example of how Avis is 'trying harder.'"
"Avis Assist", developed by Motorola based on its VIAMOTO software, is more practical than viewing a foldout map. With the use of a speaker phone, Avis Assist enables Avis renters to receive spoken turn-by-turn driving directions on a Motorola i88s phone with onboard assisted global positioning system (GPS) capabilities over the Nextel National Network. The customer connects with the call center via speed dialing and provides the representative with a destination address or requests a directory search for a point of interest in the area. A voice-enabled file with turn-by-turn directions for the route is then downloaded over the Nextel nationwide packet data network to the Motorola handset. The service is continuously updated with map data and is integrated with point-of-interest databases to provide users with the most accurate and up-to-date navigation services possible.
"The Avis Assist solution allows Avis to provide an affordable travel solution for customers and increase customer satisfaction," said Wayne Ward, vice president, Data Sales and Solutions Support for Nextel. "This solution enables mobile phones to become sophisticated navigational devices for Avis customers and demonstrates how Nextel works with our partners to continually bring value to our customers through wireless business solutions."
"VIAMOTO leverages multiple Motorola capabilities, from our iDEN phone and infrastructure expertise to our knowledge of automotive and device software architecture, to provide Avis with a revenue generating navigation solution that its car renters value," says Mike Bordelon, corporate vice president and general manager Consumer Experience, Planning and Software for Motorola. "Because it's portable, renters can use Avis Assist in or out of the vehicle, and Avis can provide a navigation system in any car type that it rents."
Motorola will provide its VIAMOTO location based services software and will help deploy Avis Assist. Avis markets the service to its customers and charges a $9.95 per day rental fee.
