Eco-friendly navigation devices to boom, suggests report

(Pincasso)

By 2020, over a third of cars will have eco-friendly navigation systems, according to a report released this month.

Market research firm iSuppli suggests that green navigation devices are set to boom over the next ten years, with 36.2 percent of cars sold worldwide being fitted with them by 2020.

Today, only 0.7 percent of cars offer the equipment, which includes functionality such as eco-routing, which allows drivers to select the greenest route as well as the shortest or the fastest.

"Governments, suppliers and consumers for many years have been concerned about the environmental impact of cars and now are turning to eco-assist technology to achieve greater fuel efficiency and environmental consciousness," said Jeremy Carlson, automotive industry researcher for iSuppli.

Eco-friendly navigation systems combine routing data with information on congestion and average speeds to provide the most efficient route.

Earlier in April, US car giant Ford announced that it is to include information on economical driving as standard on its MyFord Touch in-car navigation system from next summer.

Last year, GPS manufacturer Garmin provided a free update to its GPS mapping devices to calculate the most fuel-efficient routes.

http://www.isuppli.com