Category: Fleet GPS System News

351 posts
Inrix Raises $37 Million to Become the Google of Traffic Info

Real-time car traffic data company Inrix announced yesterday that it has raised $37 million in series D financing. Inrix generates traffic information based on speed and location information provided by GPS-enabled devices in more than 10 million vehicles, including cars with participating telematics systems and fleet vehicles. The company is using the funding to support continued growth opportunities.

Currently the company offers traffic data in 22 countries across North America and Europe and has over 100 million users. Inrix’s partners include Audi, Ford Motor Company, MapQuest, Microsoft, NAVIGON, Tele Atlas, Telmap, TeleNav, and Toyota. For example, Inrix currently powers the popular Ford SYNC traffic and navigation services. Audi and Toyota currently use Inrix traffic services in some of their vehicles starting with such as the new Audi A6 in Europe and Toyota Entune-equipped Prius V and Camry in North America.

Inrix also offers traffic apps for smartphones and provides data to others, including nine of the top 10 traffic apps for the Apple iPhone and Google Android platforms. With all these partnerships and licensing agreements,the company’s CEO Bryan Mistele said that his goal is to “be the Google of traffic info.”

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FieldLogix Helps 4 Seasons Landscaping Reduce Fuel Expenses

Fleet GPS tracking technology can be one of the most cost effective means to manage fuel consumption. A GPS fleet management system can help the average fleet reduce fuel costs by up to 20%.

FieldLogix fleet GPS can put a spotlight on a driver’s habits that consume excessive fuel and emit unnecessary pollution.

According to Jonathan Haar of 4 Seasons Landscape Services, “I am so pleased with FieldLogix. It is an awesome product with an excellent installation process and incredible service…. We initially focused on drivers’ habits such as speed and idle time that have a huge impact on fuel usage. However, we were also able to use FieldLogix to improve routing. By making more efficient use of our vehicles, we lowered the average number of miles driven per vehicle, further reducing our fuel expenses.”

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TomTom Launches Fleet Tracking System in Australia

An all-new fleet tracking and fleet management system was launched last week in Australia by GPS giant TomTom (AMSTERDAM: TOM2.AS). Fleet managers in Australia can now improve the efficiency of their on-the-road operations with easy to use fleet tracking products and web tools that benefit management, dispatchers and their mobile workforce.

Fleet management systems have been proven to help businesses optimize their fleet’s performance. In fact, most managers see a huge difference in cost savings within days of purchasing a new GPS fleet tracking system.

A fleet tracking system helps businesses with a commercial fleet better manage some of today’s most pressing challenges including driver safety, fuel efficiency and compliance. TomTom’s WorkSmart fleet tracking solutions include professional navigation, traffic avoidance, vehicle tracking, job dispatch, time management, environmental responsibility and management reporting.

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New GPS Fleet Satellite Launched Into Space This Weekend

This weekend a GPS IIF-2 satellite was launched into orbit via a Delta IV Medium 4, 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket placed the navigation satellite into the Global Positioning System constellation for the Air Force. The powerful Delta 4 booster blasted away from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT) for a middle-of-the-night ascent precisely timed to deliver a critical replacement satellite directly into the GPS constellation.

Today’s GPS fleet is comprised of 31 satellites. “GPS is a global utility providing highly accurate position, navigation and timing services at no cost to billions of people,” said Jon Goodney, the GPS 2F deputy program director at Boeing. “Originally developed for military use, it’s since been adopted as the foundation of modern communications. GPS saves lives and enhances quality of living. And adding this GPS 2F-2 ensures the constellation will remain robust.”

Continuing a prolific partnership that has benefited billions of users around the world, this weekend the Delta rocket family successfully launched its 50th satellite for the Global Positioning System. It was the type of rocket flight that could appear routine. But replenishing the navigation network is vital to the military forces, civilian consumers and the blossoming commercial marketplace that have come to depend on GPS every day.

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High Fuel Costs Compel City Fleets to Go Green and Use GPS Tracking

Faced with the impact of rising fuel costs on the city budget, local leaders are realizing the importance of “going green” and utilizing a fleet GPS tracking system.

Dozens of cities across America are facing the same challenge: the effects of rising fuel costs. In Albany, NY the cost of keeping the city government’s fleet of vehicles on the road during the next fiscal year will increase by nearly $2 million because of rising fuel costs, officials recently said. That figure is up from the $1.6 million the city spent this last calendar year on fuel for its vehicles.

Albany Mayor Willie Adams used the fuel discussion to reiterate his position that every city vehicle needs to have some sort of Global Positioning System, or GPS tracking system, to monitor their whereabouts to ensure they aren’t traveling when they aren’t supposed to be.

“Nearly every corporation in the country has some kind of GPS or AVL (automatic vehicle location) device,” Adams said. “We’re a corporation and we need to keep track of our vehicles. That’s something I’d like to see on all of our vehicles.”

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Parkhouse Tire Selects FieldLogix To Improve Fleet Maintenance

Parkhouse Tire Uses FieldLogix To Improve Fleet Maintenance and Enhance Employee Supervision

For the past two years, Parkhouse Tire has been successfully using FieldLogix, an industry leading GPS fleet tracking system. The company has been expanding their fleet and recently doubled the number of FieldLogix devices installed in their vehicles.

Parkhouse Tire Fleet Manager, Joe Guerrero, said “I like the ability to see where vehicles are, where they have been, and how many miles each vehicle has been driven… I’ve been given ‘bologna’ by past employees who claimed to have started their day at a certain time but actually started later. Monitoring employees makes them more accountable.”

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GPS System Advocates Unite Against LightSquared

This week the GPS industry challenged LightSquared’s credibility in a response to the company’s new plan for a hybrid satellite and LTE mobile network. LightSquared either knew or should have known about apparent interference between its proposed LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network and receivers for GPS (Global Positioning System) before it requested a waiver from the […]

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LightSquared Fighting an Uphill Battle Against GPS System Coalition

LightSquared is in fight or flight mode. The company has publicly been on attack against the GPS industry, which has expressed grave concerns regarding the potential of interference to its operations from LightSquared’s proposed network.

In a press release LightSquared said that the GPS community is responsible for this mess, because it had the opportunity over the last several years to install filters “that cost as little as five cents each” that would have mitigated any interference issues. LightSquared said that its new plan for deploying its fledgling nationwide wholesale wireless broadband solves interference for “about 99.5% of commercial GPS devices, including 100% of the 300 million GPS-enabled cell phones.”

The new plan calls for LightSquared to use only the lower portion of its L-band spectrum, and not the upper portion, the latter of which abuts the spectrum band used for GPS system services. It also will reduce the maximum power of its base stations by more than 50%. Theoretically, these tactics in concert will lessen the chance that interference to GPS operations will occur.

The Coalition to Save Our GPS doesn’t think much of LightSquared’s latest plan, calling it a “Hail Mary solution,” and a “non-starter.” The Save Our GPS Coalition has dozens of hig profile members including major GPS players such as Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) and TomTom, as well as Delta Airlines, FedEx, UPS, Caterpillar, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

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LightSquared Fails GPS System Interference Tests

Yesterday LightSquared and the FCC-mandated Technical Working Group, made up of members from both GPS-dependant industries and LightSquared, submitted final arguments for and against LightSquared’s $7 billion dollar proposal.

LightSquared’s network interferes with global positioning system (GPS) signals, according to tests the company and the GPS industry submitted to the FCC yesterday.

But that’s where their agreement ends.

The report says that the LightSquared network still has “potential for widespread GPS system interference” according to a group called the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing – a federal organization that advises and coordinates among federal agencies that rely on GPS system technology.

Other tests showed that wireless signals from LightSquared’s planned network interfered with GPS receivers used by the Coast Guard and NASA and caused Federal Aviation Administration GPS system receivers to stop functioning altogether.

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FBI Denies Any Wrongdoing in Warrantless GPS Tracking Lawsuit

A 20-year-old college student is suing Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller, after the FBI secretly placed a GPS tracking device under his car without a warrant. The student, Yasir Afifi of San Jose, says the FBI had no reason to consider him a suspect for any type of illegal behavior.

The lawsuit says this was a violation of his civil rights. Afifi, an Egyptian-American, filed the lawsuit in March. He says he’s never done anything to attract law enforcement attention.

The GPS tracking device was found by a mechanic during a routine oil change. Not knowing exactly what the black box was or who had put it there, a friend of Afifi’s posted images of the GPS tracking device on the internet. Two days later, 6 FBI agents showed up at Afifi’s house, demanding their property back. The FBI insisted he immediately return the GPS tracking device.

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FedEx Joins GPS System Coalition, LightSquared Inks Deal With NetTalk

LightSquared announced yesterday they have signed a deal with NetTalk.com. Under the agreement, NetTalk.com would use LightSquared’s proposed, multi-billion dollar 4G LTE network, which still needs to pass one final layer of approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

NetTalk, which sells an inexpensive alternative to landline phone service using VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), will resell access to LightSquared’s LTE (Long-Term Evolution) mobile network under its own branded service.

Meanwhile, several more critics of the LightSquared network continued to line up, including FedEx (NYSE: FDX) and the NYC Fire Department. Virtually every industry or company that uses the global positioning system (GPS system) has lobbied against the Lightsquared network because the network currently interferes with GPS system signals.

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FieldLogix Launches Innovative Fleet GPS Financing Program

FieldLogix is proud to offer the shortest term and lowest cost financing program on the market today.

Maximize ROI and Cashflow

If you only save one gallon of fuel a day, your system can pay for itself in less than 6 months.

Financing your fleet GPS system is a great way to maximize your return on investment.

Financing your fleet management system gives you flexibility to conserve capital and keep cash flowing.

The best purchase program in the industry

Lowest Cost:

The FieldLogix purchase program is 40%-50% lower in total costs than most 36 month programs.

Shortest Term:

The FieldLogix purchase program is short-term, only for 12 months, so you are not locked in to a long term commitment.

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Police Find Stolen Truck With GPS Tracking System

Corpus Christi police used a GPS tracking system to locate a man who had stolen a truck loaded up with building supplies.

Police say employees at the construction business arrived at work and realized a chain link fence behind the business had been run over and a truck that was loaded with shingles was missing.

Police officers were able to find the stolen vehicle using the GPS tracking system installed inside the truck. Police said they found the truck parked on a local street. Someone had painted over the construction business logo to disguise the stolen truck.

Apparently, the thieves did not realize the vehicle was equipped with a GPS tracking device.

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FCC Blocked From Spending Money on LightSquared’s GPS Testing

Lawmakers in a US House of Representatives committee passed a bill last week that would block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from spending any money granting LightSquared permission to move forward with its proposed network.

Lawmakers were referring to the fact that the FCC had waived certain rules affecting LightSquared’s network plans earlier this year, allowing the company to build a hybrid satellite and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network – as long as it tested for and solved interference with GPS system signals. Since then, members of the GPS industry and some lawmakers have attacked the plan and the consider the FCC’s waiver hazardous to the GPS system.

During the meeting before Congress, representatives of federal agencies and industry groups testified that LightSquared’s current network plan would hobble GPS receivers used for aviation, navigation, agriculture, defense and many other purposes. The U.S. Coast Guard and departments of Defense and Transportation reported that tests showed LightSquared’s current approach caused unacceptable interference with GPS, endangering a system vital to national defense and commerce.

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High Gas Prices Cause IRS to Increase Mileage Deduction Rates

Gas prices have caused the IRS to make an unusual mid-year hike to the standard mileage rate used to deduct the cost of business-related driving. The mileage hike, linked to rising fuel prices, will begin July 1 and increases to 55.5 cents a mile. The current reimbursement rate is 51 cents a mile.

“This year’s increased gas prices are having a major impact on individual Americans. The IRS is adjusting the standard mileage rates to better reflect the recent increase in gas prices,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a press release. “We are taking this step so the reimbursement rate will be fair to taxpayers.”

The standard mileage deduction is limited to companies using four or fewer vehicles. For larger companies ineligible to take the deduction, the IRS standard mileage figure is widely used as a benchmark in setting reimbursement rates for employees’ driving expenses.

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GPS System Interference Threatens 3 Million U.S. Jobs

GPS System Interference Caused By LightSquared’s Network Threatens 3.3 Million U.S. Jobs and $96 Billion in Annual Direct Economic Benefits Are at Risk

According to an economic study released this week, over 3.3 million American jobs depend heavily on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The economic study by Dr. Nam D. Pham of the Washington, D.C.-based NDP Consulting Group warns of “serious economic repercussions for the U.S. economy” if the GPS system is disrupted by interference, referring to a new network being built by Lightsquared.

LightSquared’s plans, according to the report, could cause serious economic consequences. “The commercial stakes are high. The downstream industries that rely on professional and high precision GPS technology for their own business operations would face serious disruption to their operations should interference occur, and U.S. leadership and innovation would suffer.”

The report, which traces the development of GPS from its U.S. military origins to today’s widespread commercial and consumer use of GPS, states that “the economic benefits of GPS to the U.S. economy are substantial. GPS manufacturers create employment, provide earnings, add value, and generate tax revenues for governments. Importantly, GPS technology improves productivity and produces cost-savings for end-users.”

The disruption of interference with GPS posed by LightSquared’s planned deployment of 40,000 ground stations threatens direct economic costs of up to $96 billion to U.S. commercial GPS users and manufacturers, according to an economic study released today. The study says that the $96 billion economic figure represents the equivalent of 0.7 percent of the U.S. economy.

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Future of LightSquared Network Remains Uncertain

LightSquared has been under major scrutiny after FCC tests concluded that the company’s high-speed broadband wireless LTE network was interfering with the global positioning system (GPS). LightSquared has now agreed to change their original plans and will use a different block of spectrum to avoid interfering with GPS system signals in space and on the ground.

The company told reporters that their new plan is expected to reduce the risk of interference to 99.5 percent of GPS devices.

However, some members of the GPS industry are still concerned that the LightSquared interference issues will continue. They believe that testing should continue to ensure public safety, as the GPS system affects thousands of applications that people depend on everyday.

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New Law Protects Privacy Rights – Ends Warrantless GPS Tracking

In today’s world, technological innovations are created at a light speed pace, which – generally speaking – is a good thing. But Smartphone technology and other mobile devices are developed  so quickly and intelligently that lawmakers have struggled to keep up with the implications of modern technology. This has become a big problem for society. […]

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