LOOKING FOR THE LEAD
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• The market for tracking vehicles electronically is still in its infancy; out of the concepts evolved, only a few have so far emerged in commercial form,
With so many vehicles on the road this seems surprising and, as every fleet operator knows, it is all too easy to fritter away time and money through the inefficient deployment of a fleet. The fleet operator is the prime customer for suppliers of vehicle location systems, so what does the market offer?
Available tracking services either use radio networks or satellites to pinpoint a vehicles's position. Only location can be achieved so far — the problems involved in remote navigation are too great at present to bring out a reliable product. It is technically feasible to give automatic guidance to moving vehicles, but Eric Lowe, managing director of Welwyn-based company Terrafax, which has a "no frills fleet management location system," reckons it will be some time before navigation is feasible. The problems hinge around giving accurate information to the driver in the busier parts of the world, coupled with the logistical nightmare of updating maps on computer. Lowe claims Terrafix