PARSIPPANY, N.J.-Avis Rent a Car System Inc. and Motorola Inc. announced the “Avis Assist” navigation service has been expanded, with premieres this week in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis.
Avis Assist uses Motorola’s Viamoto software, which features global positioning system, Java and location-based services technologies, to allow Avis customers to request and receive spoken turn-by-turn directions to their destinations on Motorola handsets. The units can be rented for an additional $10 per day.
“Avis Assist offers our customers a definite advantage over other available GPS products,” said Scott Deaver, executive vice president of marketing for Cendant Car Rental Group, the parent company of Avis. “Because it is portable, Avis Assist allows travelers to use the unit in any vehicle they choose to drive, or even take it with them when they leave the car. That makes this a powerful personalized direction service for leisure and business travelers unfamiliar with their surroundings.”
Avis Assist is already available in cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Orlando, Fla., and Avis and Motorola said they plan to launch the program in the southwestern and western United States by the first quarter of 2004.
Separately, Motorola announced a joint marketing agreement with Gearworks to provide new location and mobile productivity solutions to the enterprise workforce. The companies will develop and market solutions based on Gearworks’ Etrace mobile workforce management service and Motorola’s VIAMOTO suite of location-based services.
