GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS

TURKISH CAR RENTAL COMPANIES TO BENEFIT FROM DRAMATIC CHANGES - Interview with Suha Ülgen
Q: Mr. Ülgen, we've heard a lot about "GPS" but what does this have to do with rental car companies?
A: Let met give you an example: Shortly after arriving in Istanbul from Munich, a well-dressed man steps upto a car rental counter in Istanbul. He presents his credit card as he fills out some forms. He books a luxury car for one day and indicates that he intends to drive in and around Istanbul. He is directed to a green Mercedes. The next day, the car is not returned. Several days later it is found smashed up against a tree alongside an obscure dusty country road near the southern border. Its front end has been smashed and the engine is damaged. The renter had not opted for the insurance. The customer refuses to pay for the damage. Such incidents are about to become a thing of the past as car rental fleets become equipped with space-age technology that can optimize operations on a multiple of levels and result in a significant increase in profitability. For the first time in Turkey, using GPS technology, car rental companies will be able to electronically track the whereabouts of their vehicles on a continuous around-the-clock basis. Today we can install and recover a "black box" from the vehicle, much like the ones recovered from airplane wrecks, which has recorded the automobile's route, time, location and speeds. This evidence can be used to resolve any dispute. But more importantly it's presence in the car serves a tremendous prevention value.
Q: What is the scope of how GPS technology is being used by car rental companies in other countries?
A: Car rental companies are operations that are poised to reap the benefits of this new technology. In the United States rental giants like Hertz and Avis are already realizing a quantum leap in efficiency installing GPS. It's easiest to understand this in terms of two basic functions: One is automatic vehicle locating (AVL) or vehicle tracking. The other is personal car navigation. In the case of AVL, cars whereabouts are tracked and recorded so that you can find out where a car has been when it returns. Or, where good wireless communication systems are in place this is also available on a real-time basis. A central monitoring station can either pick up information about a vehicle in trouble (running low on fuel, exceeding the speed limit, etc.) or it can be available to provide either emergency-only or full-service assistance to the customer in the form of dynamic route guidance and information on traffic conditions (using sophisticated software and digital maps licensed to the car rental company). AVL also allows fleet leasors to track where company cars have been. Secondly there is personal car navigation. In this case an in-car computer or after-market devices is mounted in the car and the driver can key in destination information. The driver is provided with turn-by-turn directions to get to the destination. Some systems include a voice that alerts the drive to when a turn is coming up and whether it should be right or left. If the driver fails to make the turn, the voice will suggest a U-turn to get back on the prescribed shortest route. The voice even announces when the car has arrived.
Q: What is the significance of this for fleet management?
A: Fleet management benefits in several ways immediately:
#1. Being aware of the location of all the mobile stock is particularly critical to the car renting business. Idle time between rentals wastes precious resources. Knowing where a car is allows staff to gauage when it will be returned and can be readied for the next customer .
#2. With the ability to monitor speed and location, the staff at rental offices can determine if the vehicle is being operated within legal safety requirements. If the rental company stipulates that the automobile must remain with proscribed geographical limits, any infraction of this agreement can be determined. Customers tend to treat the rental vehicle more respectfully when they know that their driving is being monitored and recorded. This reduces the number of problem customers.
#3. Breakdowns and the need for roadside assistance can be addressed quickly.
#4. Theft recovery is simplified.
#5. Customers can be provided with accurate route guidance, from the head office using mobile telephones.
#6. Companies that provide cars for their employees (and even parents letting their children use the car) can be sure that the car is being driven safely and used for intended purposes only. All this means maximizing of the deployment and retrieval of fleet vehicles. Cars spend less time at the rental lot and more time on the road, earning money.
Q: Is this only for luxury cars?
A: Not at all. Although many luxury cars now have the hardware for AVL and personal car navigation built in, there are newer low cost devices that can be installed in older and more modestly priced cars very inexpensively. Customers of all kinds will increasingly choose the companies that provide the best range of these services.
Q: And how does the "GPS" thing work?
A: GPS is an outgrowth of a United States Defense Department's development of a global navigation system that utilizes a network of 24 satellites in six different geosynchronous orbits, transmitting precise times in passing over any given point in earth. A GPS receiver takes signals from four or more satellites. From this data, the receiver can determine its own position anywhere on land, sea or in the air in three dimensional terms. This permits instantaneous readings of latitude, longitude and altitude. Today the GPS system is operated jointly by the Defense Department and the U.S. Department of Transportation. As the system is constituted, the most precise geographical data is reserved for the Defense Department. Civilian GPS signals are accurate only to within 100 meters. While this level of precision is acceptable for driving on and open highway, it is not sufficiently refined for application in a dense city like Istanbul with its close-packed structures and numerous short streets and alleys. To overcome this, civilian costomers subscribe to a differential GPS (dGPS) correction service which is accurate to within less than a meter. Hertz, Avis and other U.S. rental companies are finding GPS indispensable, not only for the management and control of their mobile stock, but also because more and more of their customers are demanding the GPS feature. Each car is equipped with a black box containing both a GPS receiver and a dGPS receiver, a processor, an antenna and a mobile phone or trunk radio. The base station, outfitted with a computer and modem and with a license to use the proprietary software,also has an accurate digital base map. The excitement and the convenience of "real time dynamic route guidance" system help explain the growing popularity of GPS with rental customers.
Q: Now, what is your company and what does it provide?
A: Teknolojik Egitmsel Danismanlik ve Dis Ticaret, Ltd. (TED) TED is the exclusive Turkish representative of IMAGINS of the United States. IMAGINS is an acronym for INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS. Based in California, IMAGINS specializes in the sales and service of location-aware hardware and software for both commercial and consumer applications. It's focus is on the transfer of various Geographhic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technologies to Turkey and the Turkic Republics of Central Asia. We provide consulting. We sell high quality GPS units that work in dense urban conditions. We provide real-time dGPS subscription services in Istanbul. We cooperate with any and all system-integrators . In addition we are developing our own state-of-the -art low-cost turnkey solutions with high quality maps geared to the needs of rental car companies
Q: What does all of this cost?
A: For an individual privately-owned automobile, the estimated cost of a full-feature Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system is around $2,000. To subscribe to dGPS services in the Turkey the range of annual fees is between $400 and $1,000, depending on the accuracy desired. Full implementation of real-time features will be dependent on the rapidly developing wireless communication network in Turkey.
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