On 27 September TomTom announced the availability of a new delivery technology that enables further integration of its real-time traffic product, TomTom HD Traffic, in navigation solutions for the automotive market. TomTom has developed TPEGTM (an industry standard maintained by TISA) over IP service to deliver HD Traffic to automotive in-dash devices developed by other Tier-1s. This new technology will boost the number of devices compatible with TomTom HD Traffic and ultimately lead to further growth of the user community.Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Head of TomTom Traffic Product Unit, said: “We are very pleased to accelerate the availability of TomTom HD Traffic using common standards such as TPEGTM and OpenLR to provide premium traffic information for the entire road network.”TPEGTM is becoming widely adopted in the automotive area to deliver traffic information, both via radio broadcast and via IP for connected devices (e.g. GPRS, 3G, LTE). TomTom offers TPEGTM delivery via IP, leveraging the two-way IP communication channel to bring a service tailored to the device’s location. Additionally, TISA has approved the OpenLR3 location referencing technology for use in TPEGTM. This ensures that the detailed road coverage which is available on TomTom devices can also be offered to third-party devices. OpenLR enables traffic information not only for major roads which are included in the standard TMC tables, but also lower class roads. OpenLR is open source and carries no license fees. The TPEG2TM-OLR specification is now available on the TISA website.TomTom is already collaborating with several major car manufacturers to integrate TomTom HD Traffic into their devices. Further details will be released in the near future. To learn more about the TPEGTM service and TomTom HD Traffic, visit Hall 3 Booth #240 at the Paris Motor Show.
