Blaupunkt Car Navigation System Keeps You From Getting Lost
29 December 1999
Blaupunkt Car Navigation System Keeps You From Getting LostBROADVIEW, Ill., Dec. 28 -- If you think a car navigation system isn't for you, think again. Car navigation is for anyone who has ever gotten totally lost in a car -- which is probably just about everyone who has ever had a driver's license. A car navigation system can keep you from being late for a business meeting, job interview, or your cousin's barbecue. It can also help you find the nearest motel when a blizzard is bearing down on your route, or a gas station when your gauge is on empty. Photo: (http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991228/NYTU057-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991228/NYTU057-b ) Upgrading your car with a navigation system has never been easier. Just replace your existing car stereo with Blaupunkt's new TravelPilot(TM) RNS 149 car stereo CD receiver. First, you will enjoy greatly improved radio reception with Blaupunkt's award winning DigiCeiver(R) true-digital FM/AM tuner and outstanding sound from the built-in CD player. Second, you will have the best navigation system on the market today ... the same TravelPilot technology and digital mapping used on top-of-the-line models from Mercedes and Audi. To best appreciate what a TravelPilot car navigation system can do, imagine the ideal human car navigator. Here is a person who always knows where the car is and how to use a map to get to any destination in the USA. Along the way, the navigator gives the driver precise turn-by-turn instructions, with adequate warning before each turn. When traffic or construction blocks the route, the navigator instantly checks the map and suggests an alternate route. When the driver is hungry or the car needs gas, the navigator checks his travel guide and routes the driver to the nearest restaurant or gas station. What's more, the ideal human navigator would never be indecisive, anxious, bored, or critical. This description exactly describes how the Blaupunkt RNS 149 TravelPilot navigation and route guidance system can keep you from ever being lost again. This remarkable device has an enhanced satellite navigation system that always knows exactly where you are. Tell it where you want to go, and it will tell you how to get there. Along the way, the RNS 149 TravelPilot provides spoken turn-by-turn directions supplemented by arrows and distance readouts on the radio display. Points of Interest This system can guide the driver to any town center, street address or intersection in the continental United States. The CD-ROM geographic data base includes all public roads and a list of specific points of interest, such as hospitals, police stations, airports, hotels, gas stations, restaurants, parks, historic sites, museums, etc. Just select the desired location and start driving. Compared to many competitive navigation systems, TravelPilot's more accurate positioning capabilities allow for quicker route calculation and rerouting around traffic and road closures. Like these other systems, TravelPilot uses GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite navigation. However, since GPS errors can be as great as 100 yards, GPS-only systems can be confused by closely-spaced turns. TravelPilot enhances the accuracy of GPS by using an electronic gyroscope and the vehicle's speed sensor to precisely track the direction and distance the vehicle has traveled. These data are analyzed by a sophisticated map matching program to find the car's exact location on a virtual digital map. As a result, the Blaupunkt RNS 149 usually knows its location to within one car length. Well-Mannered Technology Thanks to this high level of accuracy, the TravelPilot instantly knows when the driver has diverted from the suggested route. When construction or traffic blocks the preferred route, the RNS 149 quickly calculates a new route without the driver needing to pull over and wait for the processor to catch up. While some systems are slow to recalculate and even seem to scold the driver for going off route, TravelPilot assumes the driver had a good reason for the diversion; it quickly plots a new route and delivers new directions. Some day in the next 10 to 20 years there will hopefully be a nationwide system for real-time electronic data reports of traffic, emergency road repairs, accidents, or temporary turn restrictions. Such systems are now being introduced in Europe, and Blaupunkt TravelPilot systems used there can exploit these technologies. Until such systems are put into wide use in the US, car navigation systems will need to be flexible and to quickly provide drivers with route alternatives ... the way Blaupunkt TravelPilot does today. The Blaupunkt RNS 149 TravelPilot CD Receiver is now available at select Blaupunkt dealers nationwide. The manufacturer's suggested retail prices is: $1,799.95. Blaupunkt, the mobile electronics division of The Robert Bosch Corporation, designs and manufactures high quality and high performance products for sale worldwide. For Blaupunkt dealer locations and product information, call 1-800-950-BLAU (2528) or visit the company's web site at http://www.blaupunkt.com.