Technology and the Courier Vehicle Industry

Vehicle Collision Avoidance and detection technology.

Radar technology has been available to the auto industry for over a decade now. What is this radar technology? In a nutshell it a a device fitted to a vehicle that sends out a radar beam in front of the vehicle. This beam bounces back off any obstacles in front of the vehicle that it encounters, the reflected beam is picked up by sensors and then interpreted by the brains of the system and appropriate action is taken such as the brakes are then applied in order to avoid collision with the object detected.

Vehicle manufacturers have been slow to adopt this technology due to costs it would add on and safely implications like the consequences of the vehicle braking or swerving suddenly as result of an obstacle being detected. But as silicon sensor costs come down and as the technology
gains acceptance in luxury passenger models, radar systems will begin to trickle down over the next few years, to vehicles in courier fleets worldwide.

At the time of going to press there are no small or medium sized courier fleet vans sold in the UK fitted with radar technology as standard. This would be useful as parcel delivery vans are always rushing about hurriedly, to deliver parcels on time. In America it's already common for courier companies to fit third party radar based forward collision detection and avoidance systems to their trucks. Eaton , a manufacturer of such systems claims that courier fleets using collision warning systems see a 73% reduction in accidents.

Going into 2011, car radar already offers collision avoidance in the forward-facing direction, as well as blind-spot monitoring and parking support via rear-facing radar. Beyond 2011, these technologies will eventually enable driverless motoring on our motorways, with smart algorithms using forward-and rear-facing radar, as well as lane detection systems, to control drive-by-wire
steering, acceleration and braking systems.

Software to take half of the Navigation market by 2016

New passenger cars shipping with factory-installed SatNav (satellite/navigation) will increase from less than 10% in 2010 to 62% in 2016, worldwide. This is according to ABI Research. ABI Research practice director Dominique Bonte comments: “Several factors are driving the uptake of OEM telematics systems, the most important being an automotive industry that is emerging from a painful recession and finding renewed dynamism.”

At the same time soaring interest levels in the adoption of open platforms and the
integration of smartphones and navigation applications into vehicles represents nothing
less than a renaissance of both the consumer and commercial SatNav markets, borrowing the hugely successful application store paradigm from the mobile industry to improve time-to-market and industry innovation,
and most importantly to reduce the costs of navigation and demographic services for end-users including those in the parcel delivery sector.
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Initiatives such as the open source GENIVI infotainment platform and Nokia’s Terminal Mode standard are creating high expectations. However, competition worries from a new breed of connected navigation and software developers may hinder progress as tradition navigational service providers such and automotive tier 1 suppliers put on the breaks for fear of being squeezed out the market.

Another concern is the safety aspect of using such navigation devices. Increased use of such devices can lead to driver distraction which may in turn prompt laws being passed that limit the use of such devices.

While a 2009 and survey indicated that that 95% of the navigation revenue streams were from hardware embedded devices this set to change by 2014 as Personal Navigation Devices such as connected smartphones like the Apple iPhone, gain 60% of the market. These software based devices are already in widespread use among couriers including Fast Lane.

Fast Lane Couriers Ltd are an international courier company. Visit us at:http://www.wedelivertheworld.co.uk

5 Clarefield Drive
Maidenhead
RBWM
England
SL6 5DW

This release was published on openPR.