Cross Country Automotive Services, a 28-year-old company responsible for much of the behind-the-scenes work for several car manufacturers’ roadside assistance programs, announced last week it is partnering with WirelessCar to provide complete end-to-end telematics services and solutions.
Based in Boston, privately-held CCAS said WirelessCar will utilize its range of roadside assistance, consumer affairs and telematics services, and CCAS will access WirelessCar’s Universal Telematics Network to deliver its content and services. WirelessCar, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, with offices in Irvine, Calif., is a joint venture backed by L.M. Ericsson, the Volvo Group and Swedish mobile carrier Telia AB.
The partnership puts CCAS in the position to launch its Total Telematics-CRM Solution next year, the company said.
“Our partnership with WirelessCar instantly provides infrastructure for launching telematics services,” said Michael Saxton, president and chief executive officer of CCAS. “We’ll be able to interface with any standard. The car manufacturer does not want to be restricted to a CDMA network.”
“We’ll bring in our infrastructure that will allow CCAS to connect to all U.S. carrier networks,” said Gary Hallgren, chief operating officer for WirelessCar North America. “We’ll also bring a billing engine that … can handle a multitude of billing situations.”
CCAS offers roadside assistance, mayday, mobile security monitoring and post-warranty membership renewal and concierge services, among others. The company’s first client was Southeast Toyota in 1972. Saxton said at that time, Toyota was not very popular in the United States, and the auto maker was looking for a way to add value to its cars. CCAS’ founder began developing a roadside assistance product in response to Toyota’s needs.
In 1977, Cross Country Motor Club began its 24-hour-a-day service, and in 1984 the Cross Country national dispatch network was created. CCAS acquired its first telematics client, BMW North America, in 1996.
Saxton said CCAS’ alliance with WirelessCar will make it an attractive alternative for auto manufacturers that do not want to contract out the various aspects of telematics provisioning to different parties. The CCAS Total Telematics Solution is designed to handle both front-end and back-end responsibilities, and CCAS’ customers are allowed to keep their brand intact. Much like ATX Technologies Inc. here, and Teragon Networks in Europe, calls answered and services provided by CCAS are in their clients’ name.
Wingcast, Ford Co./Qualcomm Inc.’s recent joint venture and one of CCAS’ competitors, plans to embed much of the telematics equipment in the mobile device, but Hallgren and Saxton said CCAS will take a more traditional approach, and future telematics equipment from the company mostly likely will be more car-centric.
“What happens if you’ve crashed and you’ve left your phone in the office?,” Hallgren said. “There will be some sort of embedded module in the car.”
Saxton said CCAS’ immediate plans are to work with its current customers on expanding and enhancing their telematics portfolios.
“We’re going to spend some time with some existing customer relationships … and try to participate in that development,” Saxton said.
