Sunday, March 18, 2012

TomTom Adds Services to Yet Another Fiat

 

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TomTom is all about the in-dash navigation anymore and has announced yet another car that will feature its Live services. The Fiat 500 will come with the Uconnect 5″ Radio Nav LIVE system which will not be available in the United States. This system will feature yearly map updates and the same sorts of navigation things that you’d expect to see in a portable TomTom unit including live speed cameras, weather alerts and local POI searches. Although personally, I’m not sure why you’d want one.

According to the release, the TomTom Live services will be available to consumer for free for the first 5 years and is “the most comprehensive package to drivers ever launched in a Fiat 500…” Of course, I didn’t see any particular notice as to how much the services would cost after the five years are up, but since most people really only keep their cars for a little over five years nowadays, I suppose that might not be as relevant. The press release also said the new navigational system will also be available in the Fiat 500x and other units which will be sold in various countries across Europe. read more

TomTom’s In-Dash Navigation Accesses the Cloud

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TomTom has been working fluidly towards getting its products embedded in the dashboards of various manufacturers including Jeep and Volkswagen. In the last few years, the company has signed multiple deals and its products have begun shipping inside various different car models. Well, it looks like the Dutch-based navigational company is going a step further with access to the cloud.

Last week, TomTom announced that its in-dash navigational entertainment systems can now upload, download and read information stored in the cloud. This capability will greatly extend the reach of the TomTom system and allow users to seamlessly navigate and share information and routes across devices. Pre-planning trips on websites, tweaking it on a phone and then sending it to your car’s navigation will now be possible. read more

TomTom Launches Trucker 6000 in Europe

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I can’t tell you how many GPS fails I’ve read that revolve around a commercial driver using the wrong GPS for their small commercial vehicle. Trucks and vehicles that are even slightly larger than normal must not only be driven differently, but sometimes even require different routes depending on the area.

TomTom recently announced that it will soon be releasing a GPS designed specifically for commercial trucking and driving in Europe. The creatively named TomTom Trucker 6000 will feature customized routes for commercial drivers and will allow users to select the vehicle type, size, weight and cargo in order to find fast, usable routes. As is becoming standard, the TomTom Trucker 6000 features an interactive pinch, zoom and swipe screen. The screen on the device measures 6 inches. read more

TomTom Aims at Self-Driving Cars

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Ever since the Jetsons first rode around in their very own self-driving car in the 60s, we have been working towards making transportation safer and easier. In the last couple of years in particular, great leaps have been made in the realm of self-driving cars with several companies already testing vehicles on closed tracks. But, are self-driving cars really going to happen? Dutch navigation company TomTom certainly thinks so, and it wants in.

Earlier this week TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn told Reuters that TomTom’s goal is to become the main provider of technology for self-driving cars in the future. That’s a pretty lofty goal for a company which, for the last seven years, has posted very little profit for an international corporation. But, as one of the three largest digital mapping companies in the world—the others being Google and Nokia’s HERE Maps—TomTom certainly has my vote.

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TomTom Introduces New MyDrive

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While GPS devices are incredibly useful for finding your way around while behind the wheel, programming them can sometimes be a chore. There’s nothing worse than having to finger-peck out a long address, hunched awkwardly over the wheel as you jab a finger at the touchscreen. But, we all do it—it’s one of those necessary evils of using a GPS device, it seems. Well, TomTom begs to differ.

This week, the Dutch navigation and telematics company has introduced a new website and app duo that will allow users to prepare routes, search locations and view realtime traffic information from a computer or smartphone. Then, when you’re ready to go, you can simply send the information to your TomTom, get in the car and drive. It’s absolutely genius, and the best part is that it’s free. read more

TomTom Launches Maps on Firefox OS Devices

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According to the first quarter results posted by TomTom earlier this week, the company has been steadily losing profits in its automotive and other segments. So, I can’t say I was surprised to read that the company has continued reaching out to other corporations and pursuing partnerships in order to further its business. read more

TomTom Expands Maps to Australia

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TomTom, the Dutch-based mapping and navigational company recently announced that it has acquired Location Navigation including the WhereIs map assets and customers from Sensis. With this acquisition, TomTom will be able to both improve and expand its mapping into Australia.

Currently, TomTom already offers maps for Australia, New Zealand and Asia. However, the addition of these maps will help improve TomTom’s reach and allow it to release real-time mapping and other features to these countries. read more

TomTom Traffic Analyzes Evening Congestion

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Yesterday, TomTom released its annual Traffic Index which analyzes more than 200 cities around the world to determine traffic congestion in specific cities and areas during certain times of the day. Unsurprisingly, evening congestion was the most congested time of day pretty much everywhere around the world. In fact, the average commuter spent an extra 100 hours sitting in evening rush hour traffic in 2014.

Here are the top 10 cities that TomTom found to have the worst traffic in 2014: read more

TomTom GO Mobile Launched for Android

TomTom GO Mobile

While no one can deny that dedicated GPS devices are more reliable when it comes to directions and navigation, smartphones are just so convenient many consumers have a hard time justifying the additional expense on a separate device. Well, in order to stay on top of consumer trends, TomTom announced earlier this week that it was debuting a new mobile app for consumers to replace the old TomTom Navigation App.

This new app is called TomTom GO Mobile and like the old TomTom Navigation app, includes almost exactly the same features as you would find on a dedicated TomTom device including traffic, points of interest, offline maps, 3D imaging, quick searches and more. The app is free to download on Google Play but an iTunes version has not been released. The app is available in a range of countries. read more

TomTom Crowdsourced Maps Raise Concerns

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Late in January, TomTom announced innovation that would allow it to collect user location data and analyze it in order to provide maps that would be updated for accuracy daily. However, with all of the recent privacy issues around the world, many people have begun to express concern about exactly what TomTom is going to be doing with this sensitive information. read more