Location Based Systems

Ctrack is launching a telematics solution for vehicle insurers in the UK to rate how, when, where and by whom a vehicle is driven. The company, a leading provider of vehicle tracking solutions in the UK, says that Ctrack Intelligent Insurance offers providers an alternative means of determining individual vehicle premiums, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in March this year that prevents gender being taken into account as a risk factor.

Trimble has been awarded a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) by the US General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service for its fleet management solution. The BPA will be administered by GSA Fleet and gives fleet managers the option to implement Trimble's vehicle monitoring, maintenance, driver safety, and driver identification products and services.

Ford has demonstrated its latest advancements in vehicle-to-vehicle communications at the final CoCarX (Co-operative Cars Extended) research project presentation, further highlighting the viability of improving road safety and traffic management through the use of intelligent vehicles.

Switzerland-headquartered U-blox has announced the acquisition of UK-headquartered 4M Wireless, a company that designs and develops leading software and test solutions that are crucial for developing fourth generation (4G) mobile wireless devices based on the latest Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. The acquisition will give U-blox ownership of advanced protocol stacks that are licensed to chipset vendors whose products enable 4G user equipment for applications with needs for high speed data connectivity

Switzerland-headquartered u-blox has announced the successful demonstration of an enhanced LEA-6H GPS module which also supports Glonass navigation. The Russian Glonass satellite system is an alternative as well as complementary system to the US-based GPS. It currently has 22 deployed satellites, with the complete constellation of 24 satellites needed for complete global coverage scheduled for the end of this year.

GreenRoad, the specialist in fleet driver performance and safety management, has added new functionality to GreenRoad 360 which includes posted speed performance, idling heat maps, and extended data integration with new APIs.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in Europe was two million in Q4-2010. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7 per cent, this number is expected to reach five million by 2015.