PBS&J assesses market condition. (Telematics).

Telematics has been defined numerous times in the past 5 years as the industry has tried to attract consumer interest and dollars. PBS&J (482 S. Keller Rd., Orlando, FL 32810; Website: www.pbsj.com) recently published the first in what will be a series of white papers detailing its definition of telematics as well as its assessment of the current market status.

The author, Jonathan Lawrence, a senior ITS specialist with PBS&J, states at the beginning, "Few emerging niches of the technology landscape are in as much disarray as telematics." The consolidation and shakeout of the past 3 years has been every bit as painful as that experienced by the higher profile Internet sector.

Yet Lawrence also writes, "There is a future vision for the telematics business in which the automotive and wireless industries, along with the consumer, all recognize significant value from the provision of telematics services." Telematics, in PBS&J's definition is "vehicle dependent" or physically dependent on the vehicle's architecture or location. A link to an outside network is required, but is not sufficient. Therefore, by this definition, cell phone-based traveler information services do not qualify as telematics applications. In addition, the company considers the prevalent practice of bundling of services a problem, not an attribute, noting users don't want to pay for services they don't need. Lawrence further notes that safety features are routinely bundled into cars for "free" and consumers come to expect their presence, at little or no apparent cost. Thus telematics will become commodity.

Lawrence stated that congestion cannot be eliminated through the dissemination of free or even premium information because the number of cars is ...