Study: Stolen vehicle tracking main telematics app

Analyst firm Berg Insight found 2.2 million passenger cars in Europe had an on-board telematics device at the end of last year. Stolen vehicle tracking is the primary telematics application, followed by automatic emergency calling, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics.
“After many years of slow adoption, we now see that the market is entering a growth phase,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight. “The penetration rate is still below 1% of the total car [registration], so there is a huge untapped potential.”
The firm predicts the telematics market will take off in Europe with the introduction of the eCall system proposed by the European Commission. The program envisions installing hardware on every vehicle that would wirelessly send information about accidents along with GPS coordinates to emergency agencies. Berg Insight predicts 16 million new cars per year will be equipped with telematics devices once the project becomes reality.