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America News: Guidepoint launches “blue light” special

Guidepoint has begun shipping units with a new in-vehicle switch that allows drivers to access help at the touch of a button. ( 11/30/2004 )

Called the Guidepoint Access Panel, the switch allows consumers to arm/disarm the system's Security Fence™ and to send an instant OnCall™ alert to Guidepoint's response centre. Designed for mounting on the dashboard, the panel features easy-to-understand graphics of a fence and phone, and a brilliant blue warning light to show system status and serve as theft deterrent.

“Lots of cars already have flashing red lights from factory-installed security systems and anti-theft radios,” explains Rand Mueller, president and chief executive officer. “We wanted to differentiate and simplify the Guidepoint Access Panel to make it easy to use and easy to install.”

The new access panel allows users to easily arm and disarm the Security Fence™ feature, which sets an invisible fence with a one-mile radius around the vehicle. If the vehicle is driven or towed out of that area without authorisation, Guidepoint's response centre will notify the owner and, if necessary, contact the authorities.

The new panel also allows users to access assistance at the touch of a button with Guidepoint's OnCall feature. Pushing the button sends an alert to the response centre, who will call the owner back on his or her pre-determined contact number. Unlike OnStar™, which uses a factory-installed communication system featuring a blue button, Guidepoint works with standard cell phones, home phones, pagers or any communication device.

“We have found that consumers like the flexibility of being called on their cell phone or being sent a text message, particularly if their car has been moved without authorisation,” Mueller says.

Prioritising what you want from your in-car telematics

An automotive telematics system is, apparently, a jack of all trades, including, but not limited to, providing navigational assistance, tracking stolen cars, remotely unlocking doors, and calling the emergency services when your airbag deploys. ( 5/11/2004 )

The trouble is, which convenience do you rate the most important?

Terry Sullivan, OnStar’s VP of Communications, says that OnStar’s system was designed, among other things, to provide location and navigation assistance, and to automatically activate data calls on deployment of airbags.

It can also give the call centre remote access to certain electrical/electronic devices in the vehicle. “If someone loses their car in a parking lot, we can remotely activate the car’s horn,” says Sullivan, “and we can open the doors if you lock keys in the car.”

However, if the GPS system’s tracking ability can tell the call centre where to send those emergency services, then, logically, it should also be able to locate the vehicle if it’s stolen.

OnStar has successfully recovered hundreds of vehicles across the US and Canada . “We were recently involved in the capture of the FBI’s most wanted criminal,” said Sullivan. “He stole a car in Tennessee , and we found it hundreds of miles away in Ohio .”

However, a problem seems to arise when car thieves hot foot it across the Mexican border.

It’s all in the way the telematics system communicates the GPS data – via wireless cellphone. Put simply, OnStar’s call centre sends a data feed to the car to find out where it is. The GPS system pinpoints the car’s location, and sends a signal back to the call centre. But, says Sullivan, OnStar’s system simply can’t function without a cellphone signal. “ Mexico ’s cellular system is different from that in the US , with many areas having poor cell coverage. It depends how far into Mexico the vehicle gets, and how fast it’s dismantled,” he said.

While OnStar’s vehicle tracking capability tends to go AWOL once the vehicle crosses the Mexico border, Guidepoint reports that it has successfully recovered 100% of vehicles that are reported stolen, 91% of them being retrieved from Mexico .

Guidepoint’s system also works off GPS and cellular signals, using either the analog channel or GSM networks. “The US and Mexico networks are fully compatible (both GSM and AMPS) because of roaming agreements that we have with Telcel in Mexico ,” says Bob Ashley, Marketing Associate at Guidepoint. Many of Guidepoint’s recoveries have been in the Guadalajara area, where the company’s main distributor is located, so they can communicate with the GPS systems from areas deep within Mexico .

“With this technology, it’s very difficult to have a car somewhere in North America and not receive a signal,” says Ashley. “Our recoveries typically take about 1 - 2 hours, and in one case we recovered a truck in 15 minutes.”

According to Sullivan, although OnStar does locate a huge number of stolen vehicles, the system’s vehicle tracking capability is a bonus, not its reason for being.

“OnStar’s system was never designed as a stolen vehicle tracking device, and we don’t pitch it as such,” he says. “A quarter of a million people have asked for directions, our call centre has received over 17,000 calls for roadside assistance and has unlocked 25,000 car doors.”

Unlike OnStar, the Guidepoint system is actively marketed as a vehicle recovery device, and even offers the option of automatic theft notification – part of the Security Fence product – that alerts Guidepoint’s Response Centre in the event of unauthorised movement of the vehicle, whether it’s being towed or driven.

Guidepoint also puts a high value on the safety features of its system. “Getting turn-by-turn directions from a call centre on a hands free phone is preferable to trying to read a map while the car is in motion,” says CEO Rand Mueller. “And being able to locate your car in a behemoth parking structure is usually preferable to wandering around. The reality is that many Guidepoint members put a high value on services like roadside assistance and navigation, particularly for their teenage or elderly drivers.”