Mapping and location services company Here has announced the launch of three new cloud-based services that provide drivers with pre-departure traffic information and personalized fuel and parking recommendations based on their preferences and habits.
Backed by a consortium of leading automotive companies, Here will combine data analytics and machine learning to deliver personalized information to drivers when they need it most – before they set off on a journey. The foundation of the new services are Here’s real-time traffic, fuel, and parking APIs (application programming interface), which provide robust, dynamic and accurate information on hundreds of thousands of fuel stations and parking facilities across the world. With decades of experience in designing automotive and consumer location services, the company is trying to help automakers reimagine what is possible in the car, with an entirely new class of personalized driver services.
The three new features join the suite of Here automotive services that seamlessly deliver advanced content to drivers via connected embedded navigation systems. The new services have been rigorously designed to make driving easier at every phase. The services are:
• Departure Alert, which proactively displays traffic conditions on the most common routes a driver takes. The service learns travel patterns, based on destinations, routes, time and location, and combines the information with Here’s Real Time Traffic service to aid decision-making at the start of a trip;
• Personal Fuel Recommendations, which learns the fuel preferences of the driver and provides timely recommendations based on the driver’s comfort zone for how far they travel on one tank of gas before refueling, their preferred fuel brand and sensitivity to fuel pricing, and the distance and time required for them to get to a preferred fuel stop;
• Personal Parking Recommendations, which provides off-street parking facility recommendations when the vehicle is within roughly half a mile (1km) of the destination, or around the driver’s location when a destination is not entered. Over time, the system learns the driver’s preferences in terms of price or walking distance to their destination.
“Rather than requiring the driver to check traffic conditions on a common route, or manually select one fuel station or an off-street parking facility out of many, our new services proactively display personalized suggestions to the driver at the right location and moment in time,” explained Mark Foligno, product manager at Here.
Chris Schreiner, director of user experience at industry analysts Strategy Analytics, commented, “These self-learning and contextually aware features provided by Here align closely with what our research shows consumers want in the connected car. These new features allow for appropriate surfacing of personalized information at the right time, reducing the amount of time the driver would need to locate this information on their own, thereby allowing them to keep their eyes on the road longer.”
