ABI: Global Telematics Penetration Levels to Reach 23 Percent by 2015

May 19, 2010

Penetration of consumer and commercial telematics systems in passenger cars and commercial vehicles respectively will evolve from less than 10 percent in 2010 to 23 percent in 2015, according to a study by ABI Reesearch.

ABI Research Telematics & Navigation Practice Director Dominique Bonte comments: “Coming out of a global recession OEMs and telematics vendors are finding new momentum to make connected vehicles a reality at last. Decreasing hardware and connectivity costs as well as increasing awareness about the benefits of connectivity among both consumers and enterprises guarantee healthy growth in the coming years. Other drivers include regulation or legislation for services such as automatic emergency calling and stolen vehicle tracking.”

An important enabler of telematics systems is the explosive growth of converged technology, the study says. Both consumer and commercial telematics vendors have embarked on the integration of smartphones and portable devices into their systems. Hybrid solutions will become important, as demonstrated by Ford recently having welcomed its two-millionth SYNC customer in the US. In the commercial segment companies such as Telenav, TomTom, and Garmin have successfully developed converged, portable fleet solutions.

While North America is the clear market leader for both consumer and commercial telematics systems, developing regions such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific are set for solid growth, boosted by booming automotive markets, according to ABI Research.

ABI Research’s Telematics Market Outlook market database provides detailed forecasts of both the consumer and commercial telematics markets. Data include telematics subscribers, service revenue, telematics hardware shipments, and revenues and market penetration rates. Consumer telematics data cover OEM and aftermarket systems. Commercial data include fleet management, trailer tracking and container security tracking systems. It is part of the Telematics Research Service, which also includes Research Reports, Research Briefs, ABI Insights, ABI Vendor Matrices, and analyst inquiry support.