Navigation Systems: Directed Toward the Consumer Market
By Mark Gill, Analog Devices
The standard glove compartment is full of driver necessities: car manual, napkins, paper, pens, and the inevitable tattered map or ten.
Navigation systems have the power to make those dog-eared paper maps extinct. Just like MapQuest has popularized travel mapping on the Internet, in-car global positioning systems (GPS) have empowered drivers to know precisely where they are and where they are headed. Navigations systems can now build on this and let you plan how to get to your destinations. "Smart" Navigations systems such as the AcuraLink system in the Honda Acura, collect information from radio systems to indicate to travelers where heavy traffic pockets are, enabling them to avoid the bane of every driver's existence
With the rapid growth of the navigation systems market – industry analysts are estimating a 25 percent leap annually – why aren't navigation systems designed in to every automobile? The simple answer is price. Up until recently, manufacturers have only been able to design these systems for use in high-end automobiles. So, while the average BMW or Lexus driver may be enjoying the benefits of flashy, in-car navigational systems, many drivers still need to rely on paper maps or to buy a navigation system on the aftermarket.
While that may seem like an easy solution, the consumer sector is currently the biggest threat to the growth of the market. Because of the expensive subsystems used to build these units – for instance, hard drives that contain mapping information and image-rich LCDs can each cost up to $100, plus multiple processor sub-systems required to build the functionality – most navigation systems have a consumer price tag upward of $2,000.
Sensing the need for more consumer friendly solutions, manufacturers are currently looking to build low-cost alternatives. Processor technology, such as the Analog Devices' Blackfin processor, is enabling manufacturers to build navigation systems that are integrated with your automobiles other subsystems, such as your CD player, and hands-free wireless system.
The Blackfin processor, for instance, allows manufacturers to run all these applications on one processor, instead of requiring numerous separate processors to drive each application. By integrating all the control processing and software signal processing into a single device, the Blackfin allows the GPS to continually update the location while the driver can listen to music, carry on a hands-free phone conversation, and recalculate the travel route. By reducing the number of electronic sub-systems needed to drive an automobile's Navigation and entertainment unit, car manufacturers will be able to realize the price point for navigation systems to $399 and under.
To reach the consumer market, manufacturers are making minor tweaks in design without sacrificing performance. Less expensive and robust monitors will replace high-end LCDs. In lower priced systems, mapping and directions will be turn-by-turn, meaning the navigation system will display specific directions to a given point. Instead of a built-in hard drive containing every map in the continent, users will download the maps they need from the internet onto a flash card, which is plugged into the navigation unit in the car. This eliminates the need for large expensive memory devices and still allows for the space needed to download maps that are required.
By driving all the subsystems off of one software-based processor, manufacturers are reducing some of the cost burden associated with what were formerly hardware functions. There are other benefits as well. Rather than needing a huge database for complicated voice guidance, manufacturers are utilizing text-to-speech databases, allowing street and city names to be naturally added to the directions provided.
Speech recognition software has become an essential component of navigation systems for destination entry and control, in turn, reducing driver distraction and, by combining hands-free wireless and navigation system processing on one processor, manufacturers are now able to offer the two applications simultaneously.
While the market elasticity is there for consumer-priced navigation systems, there are some caveats that manufacturers must take into consideration. For instance, in some markets, a higher-end graphical interface is a necessity and it doesn't appear that any price reduction is going to change that.
However, for other markets that are open to adopting these more economical systems, capturing some technology to deliver text-to-speech technology is critical to success in a market that analyst research firm In-Stat predicts will reach 13 million units sold by 2008-09.
For prices of navigation systems to drop, consumers must take into consideration what features are truly valuable to them. If the demand is more about look than performance, than consumers will still be looking at a hefty price tag; however, if they are willing to give a little on the bells and whistles, manufacturers will soon be able to deliver highly featured systems at one quarter the price. The value of any good navigation system is its capacity to take the place of a passenger in the car, talking the driver through the turn-by-turn directions on the monitor – without providing backseat driver commentary.