OYSTER BAY, NY -- Penetration of safety and security telematics solutions in new vehicles will increase from 10.2% in 2012 to 49% in 2017, a new research report says. 

According to ABI Reseach vice president and practice director Dominique Bonte, “Clearly, progress in government mandates in both Europe (eCall) and Brazil (CONTRAN 245) will be important growth drivers for the uptake in safety and security telematics solutions in the next 5 years. However, strong commercial drivers also exist with safety high on the public image priority list of many car OEMs and features such as advanced remote diagnostics and preventive maintenance becoming instrumental in offering better service and an optimized user experience to car owners.”

While embedded systems are touted as the only reliable way to implement telematics safety features by most OEMs, Ford continues defying this paradigm by bringing emergency calling functionality via its hybrid phone-based SYNC system to Europe in 2012. In a similar vein, Ford has partnered with insurance vendor, State Farm, in the US to launch (smart)phone-based UBI solutions. In both instances, Ford is aiming to roll out products across its entire vehicle range to all its customers at no additional cost, bringing safety telematics and UBI within reach of the mass market.