OEM and aftermarket safety and security telematics continues to see solid growth with the number of users to rise from 72 million at year-end to more than 300 million in 2018, according to ABI Research. Ford now also offers emergency calling in Europe as part of its SYNC launch and Mercedes recently extended the availability of its free eCall service on the COMAND Online multimedia system to nineteen countries in Europe. Clearly OEMs increasingly consider safety telematics as a commercial proposition and no longer await possible mandates which keep being postponed. Closely linked to safety and security, insurance telematics or UBI, aims at both monitoring and improving driver behavior via instantaneous feedback or frequent summary reports, hereby reducing accident risk. Recent announcements suggest increasing interest from the likes of carriers with Vodafone unveiling partnerships with Towers Watson and AIG Europe, and Telefonica with Generali. However, researchers say the broader automotive safety and security challenge extends far beyond passive cellular telematics services with both ADAS and V2X / ITS acting as complimentary technologies providing active safety features such as collision detection and emergency braking. This whole area is quickly turning into a battleground between car OEMs vying for safety image and technology leadership with Tier1 suppliers such as Continental aggressively developing these high-margin product lines.
