TomTom and AutoNavi first to market with premium real-time traffic in rapidly growing Chinese market
AMSTERDAM and BEIJING, 15 February, 2012 – TomTom, the world's leading provider of location and navigation solutions, and AutoNavi Holdings Limited ("AutoNavi"), a leading provider of digital map content and navigation and location-based solutions in China, today announced that together they will introduce HD Traffic, a premium real-time traffic solution, to drivers across China.
Through the joint-venture TomTom and AutoNavi will enable their customers in automotive, wireless and enterprise markets to deliver solutions based on the most accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date traffic information.
“This agreement is an important step in enabling drivers to save time and money when finding their way to destinations on the increasingly congested Chinese roads,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, Head of TomTom Traffic Product Unit. “In addition to the cost savings, TomTom HD Traffic can help reduce CO2 emissions and improve driving experiences.”
“Partnering with TomTom to deliver HD Traffic demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing the highest quality products in the industry and reflects our position as a valued partner,” AutoNavi's Chief Executive Officer Mr. Congwu Cheng commented. “The combination of TomTom HD Traffic's superior technology along with AutoNavi's data acquisition capability through our tens of millions of mobile device users, and our hundreds of thousands of fleet probes, will enable us to deliver cutting-edge traffic services to our customers and end-users. Our dynamic, real-time and integrated navigation and location-based products and services continue to improve China’s navigation landscape while providing an unmatched driving experience to our rapidly expanding user base across multiple devices and mediums in China.”
TomTom’s award winning HD Traffic is derived by combining information used anonymously from multiple GPS probe data sources. This produces precise delay times and indicates the exact location of congestion on the road network. HD Traffic will use industry standards TMC and OpenLR, TomTom’s open source dynamic location referencing technology which brings unique coverage on highways and all major roads including city roads. HD Traffic will be rolled-out as a nationwide service, covering up to 30 important Chinese cities by the end of 2013.