Vehicle telemetry: Calling all cars | The Economist
Nov 19th 2009
Tapping remotely into a car’s data systems provides lots of useful services

IN THE early hours of the morning two men are robbed at gunpoint and ordered out of their Chevrolet Tahoe. The thief jumps in and roars off, but he does not get far. The vehicle is fitted with a telemetry system that provides a data link to a control centre. Soon after being reported stolen, the Tahoe is located by an operator who interrogates its satellite-navigation device. A signal is then sent to the engine-management system to prevent it restarting once stopped. Finally, once a police car has the Tahoe in view and the road ahead is clear, a second signal slows the engine down. The vehicle stops and the thief tries to run for it, but he is apprehended.

The robbery took place in California last month. It was the first time the “slowdown” feature had been activated by General Motors’ OnStar service to respond to a carjacking since it became available a year ago. However, 38 other cars have been slowed down remotely after other types of incident, such as the car having been stolen from a dealership, or to prevent a high-speed chase. OnStar itself was introduced in 1996 as a quick way to summon roadside assistance, but it has become increasingly sophisticated over the years and has nearly 6m subscribers in North America. Other carmakers are now offering or developing similar services, or plan to do so.

Some of these systems, like Ford’s SYNC, link up with the outside world through the driver’s mobile phone. Others, such as OnStar, have their own, private communications links. One way or another, a quarter of the world’s new cars will be equipped with some form of remote monitoring and control system by 2016, predicts Egil Juliussen, an analyst with iSuppli, a Californian company that monitors technology trends. The result will be cars that are not only impossible to steal, but can also call the emergency services if the airbags go off in an accident, make themselves more comfortable to drive before their owners get in, and even admit an owner who has mislaid his keys. (Every month more than 60,000 OnStar subscribers ask for the doors of their cars to be unlocked remotely, because they have locked themselves out.)

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Perhaps the most important features of these telemetry systems, though, are fault diagnosis and timely servicing. Both OnStar and SYNC subscribers, for example, can receive regular e-mails with details of their vehicles’ health. This makes owners more likely to carry out preventive maintenance, says Mr Juliussen. Moreover, an owner armed with all the past reports will find it easier to show a prospective buyer that the vehicle has been properly looked after. As for manufacturers, Mr Juliussen adds, the data provide early warning of problems developing in particular models. Production lines can be modified accordingly. With the interval between services for some cars now stretching to two years, such problems might otherwise take a long time to emerge.

Eventually, vehicles might book themselves in for repair and order the necessary spare parts before they arrive at the garage. Aircraft already behave like this. The telemetry used in civil aviation transmits data on engine performance and the behaviour of other systems back to base while the plane is in the air. These data can help pilots identify and evaluate any problems that occur during a flight. An engineering team can then meet the plane on its arrival and carry out repairs immediately. In a car, such a system could analyse a developing fault and add it to a coming service schedule if it were minor, or—if it were more serious—locate a nearby service centre, check on workshop availability and suggest the driver go there immediately.

Remote vehicle-monitoring of this sort will be especially useful with the new generation of electric cars, such as Nissan’s LEAF. This is due to be launched in 2010 and will include a lot of novel technology, which raises the risk of teething troubles. Nissan intends to use telemetry to send information to a global data centre from every LEAF sold.

Besides keeping an eye on what is going on, this centre will provide support, information and entertainment to drivers. Some of the features of the LEAF, like the settings for recharging its batteries, will be operable remotely by phone. So, too, will the heating and air conditioning. Switching such things on before the driver gets in allows any car to be made comfortable. But it is a particularly good idea for an electric car because mains electricity can be used if the car is still plugged in, thus conserving battery power.

It is already possible to buy a piece of kit that plugs into a car’s engine-management system and sends data to an application on an Apple iPhone. This allows performance information to be viewed. Once vehicle telemetry takes off, a wealth of other apps are sure to follow. Toyota’s system in Japan already allows owners to operate the door locks and the windows by phone. Having a look to see who is inside the car, using an on-board camera, is also possible—a handy feature for suspicious spouses.