Hubbry Logo
Automotive navigation systemAutomotive navigation systemMain
Open search
Automotive navigation system
Community hub
Automotive navigation system
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Automotive navigation system
Automotive navigation system
Automotive navigation system
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia
Navigation with Gosmore, an open source routing software, on a personal navigation assistant with free map data from OpenStreetMap

An automotive navigation system is part of the automobile controls or a third party add-on used to find direction in an automobile. It typically uses a satellite navigation device to get its position data which is then correlated to a position on a road. When directions are needed routing can be calculated. On the fly traffic information (road closures, congestion) can be used to adjust the route.

Dead reckoning using distance data from sensors attached to the drivetrain, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer can be used for greater reliability, as GNSS signal loss and/or multipath can occur due to urban canyons or tunnels.

Mathematically, automotive navigation is based on the shortest path problem, within graph theory, which examines how to identify the path that best meets some criteria (shortest, cheapest, fastest, etc.) between two points in a large network.

Automotive navigation systems are crucial for the development of self-driving cars.[1]

History

[edit]

Automotive navigation systems represent a convergence of a number of diverse technologies, many of which have been available for many years, but were too costly or inaccessible. Limitations such as batteries, display, and processing power had to be overcome before the product became commercially viable.[2]

  • 1961: Hidetsugu Yagi designed a wireless-based navigation system. This design was still primitive and intended for military-use.
  • 1966: General Motors Research (GMR) was working on a non-satellite-based navigation and assistance system called DAIR (Driver Aid, Information & Routing). After initial tests GM found that it was not a scalable or practical way to provide navigation assistance. Decades later, however, the concept would be reborn as OnStar (founded 1996).[3]
  • 1971: Compact Cassette based navigation following pre-determined routes, instructions would be read followed by a tone that would tell a controller to continue the cassette after the distance (denoted by the tone) had been reached. [4]
  • 1973: Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and Fuji Heavy Industries sponsored CATC (Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control), a Japanese research project on automobile navigation systems.[5]
  • 1979: MITI established JSK (Association of Electronic Technology for Automobile Traffic and Driving) in Japan.[5]
  • 1980: Electronic Auto Compass with new mechanism on the Toyota Crown.
  • 1981: The earlier research of CATC led to the first generation of automobile navigation systems from Japanese companies Honda, Nissan and Toyota. They used dead reckoning technology.[5]
  • 1981: Honda's Electro Gyrocator was the first commercially available car navigation system. It used inertial navigation systems, which tracked the distance traveled, the start point, and direction headed.[6] It was also the first with a map display.[5]
  • 1981: Navigation computer on the Toyota Celica (NAVICOM).[7]
  • 1983: Etak was founded. It made an early system that used map-matching to improve on dead reckoning instrumentation. Digital map information was stored on standard cassette tapes.[8]
  • 1987: Toyota introduced the World's first CD-ROM-based navigation system on the Toyota Crown.[9]
  • 1989: Gregg Howe of Design Works USA applied Hunter Systems $40,000 navigational computer to the Magna Torrero Concept Car. Originally developed to locate hydrants for fire departments, this system utilized both satellite signals & dead reckoning improving overall system accuracy due to civilian GPS limitations. This system also boast a color raster scan monitor, rather than the monochromatic vector mapping displays used by predecessors.[10][11][12]
  • 1990: Mazda Eunos Cosmo became the first production car with built-in GPS-navigation system[13]
  • 1991: General Motors partnered with the American Automotive Association, Florida Department of Transportation, as well as the city of Orlando to create TravTek (short for Travel Technology) which was a computerized in-car navigation system. A fleet of 100 Oldsmobile Toronados were rolled out with the system with 75 available for rent through Avis' Orlando International Airport office, the other 25 were test-driven by local drivers. A computer system was installed in the trunk of the vehicle with a special antenna mounted in the back and was hooked up to the video screen in the Oldsmobile Toronado (an option in the standard Toronado) to display the navigation. TravTek covered a 12,000 square mile area in Orlando and its metro areas, as well as contained listings for restaurants, AAA-approved hotels and attractions.[14]
  • 1991: Toyota introduced GPS car navigation on the Toyota Soarer.
  • 1991: Mitsubishi introduced GPS car navigation on the Mitsubishi Debonair (MMCS: Mitsubishi Multi Communication System).[15]
  • 1992: Voice assisted GPS navigation system on the Toyota Celsior.
  • 1993: The Austrian channel ORF airs a presentation of the software company bitMAP and its head Werner Liebig's invention, an electronic city map including street names and house numbers, using a satellite-based navigation system. bitMAP attends Comdex in Las Vegas the same year, but doesn't manage to market itself properly.[16][17][18]
  • 1994: BMW 7 series E38 first European model featuring GPS navigation. The navigation system was developed in cooperation with Philips (Philips CARIN).[19]
  • 1995: Oldsmobile introduced the first GPS navigation system available in a United States production car, called GuideStar.[20] The navigation system was developed in cooperation with Zexel. Zexel partnered with Avis Car Rental to make the system widely available in rental cars. This provided many in the United States general public with their first opportunity to use car navigation.
  • 1995: Device called "Mobile Assistant" or short, MASS, produced by Munich-based company ComRoad AG, won the title "Best Product in Mobile Computing" on CeBit by magazine Byte. It offered turn-by-turn navigation via wireless internet connection, with both GPS and speed sensor in the car.
  • 1995: Acura introduced the first hard disk drive-based navigation system in the 1996 RL.[21]
  • 1997: Navigation system using Differential GPS developed as a factory-installed option on the Toyota Prius[22]
  • 1998: First DVD-based navigation system introduced on the Toyota Progres.
  • 2000: The United States made a more accurate GPS signal available for civilian use.[23]
  • 2003: Toyota introduced the first Hard disk drive-based navigation system and the industry's first DVD-based navigation system with a built-in Electronic throttle control
  • 2007: Toyota introduced Map on Demand, a technology for distributing map updates to car navigation systems, developed as the first of its kind in the world
  • 2008: World's first navigation system-linked brake assist function and Navigation system linked to Adaptive Variable Suspension System (NAVI/AI-AVS) on Toyota Crown
  • 2009: With a release of mobile navigation app from Sygic for iOS new era of a mobile device navigation systems had begun gaining in popularity since

Technology

[edit]
A GPS system designed by Philips in a 1995 Opel Omega vehicle

The road database is a vector map. Street names or numbers and house numbers, as well as points of interest (waypoints), are encoded as geographic coordinates. This enables users to find a desired destination by street address or as geographic coordinates. (See map database management.)

Map database formats are almost uniformly proprietary, with no industry standards for satellite navigation maps, although some companies are trying to address this with SDAL (Shared Data Access Library) and Navigation Data Standard (NDS). Map data vendors such as Tele Atlas and Navteq create the base map in a GDF (Geographic Data Files) format, but each electronics manufacturer compiles it in an optimized, usually proprietary manner. GDF is not a CD standard for car navigation systems. GDF is used and converted onto the CD-ROM in the internal format of the navigation system. CDF (CARiN Database Format) is a proprietary navigation map format created by Philips.

SDAL is a proprietary map format developed by Navteq, which was released royalty free in the hope that it would become an industry standard for digital navigation maps, has not been very widely adopted by the industry. Vendors who used this format include:

[edit]

The Navigation Data Standard (NDS) initiative, is an industry grouping of car manufacturers, navigation system suppliers and map data suppliers whose objective is the standardization of the data format used in car navigation systems, as well as allow a map update capability. The NDS effort began in 2004 and became a registered association in 2009.[24] Standardization would improve interoperability, specifically by allowing the same navigation maps to be used in navigation systems from 20 manufacturers.[25] Companies involved include BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, Renault, ADIT, Aisin AW, Alpine Electronics, Navigon, Navis-AMS, Bosch, DENSO, Mitsubishi, Harman International Industries, Panasonic, Preh Car Connect formerly TechniSat, PTV, Continental AG, Clarion, Navteq, Navinfo Archived 2020-08-01 at the Wayback Machine, TomTom and Zenrin.

Media

[edit]

The road database may be stored in solid state read-only memory (ROM), optical media (CD or DVD), solid state flash memory, magnetic media (hard disk), or a combination. A common scheme is to have a base map permanently stored in ROM that can be augmented with detailed information for a region the user is interested in. A ROM is always programmed at the factory; the other media may be preprogrammed, downloaded from a CD or DVD via a computer or network connection, or directly using a card reader.

Some navigation device makers provide free map updates for their customers. These updates are often obtained from the vendor's website, which is accessed by connecting the navigation device to a PC.

Real-time data

[edit]
Main article: Integration of traffic data with navigation systems

Some systems can receive and display information on traffic congestion using either TMC, RDS, or by GPRS/3G data transmission via mobile phones.

In practice, Google has updated Google Maps for Android and iOS to alert users when a faster route becomes available in 2014. This change helps integrate real-time data with information about the more distant parts of a route.[26]

Integration and other functions

[edit]

Original factory equipment

[edit]

Many vehicle manufacturers offer a satellite navigation device as an option in their vehicles. Customers whose vehicles did not ship with GNSS can therefore purchase and retrofit the original factory-supplied GNSS unit. In some cases this can be a straightforward "plug-and-play" installation if the required wiring harness is already present in the vehicle. However, with some manufacturers, new wiring is required, making the installation more complex.

The primary benefit of this approach is an integrated and factory-standard installation. Many original systems also contain a gyrocompass and/or an accelerometer and may accept input from the vehicle's speed sensors and reverse gear engagement signal output, thereby allowing them to navigate via dead reckoning when a GPS signal is temporarily unavailable.[27] However, the costs can be considerably higher than other options.

SMS

[edit]

Establishing points of interest in real-time and transmitting them via GSM cellular telephone networks using the Short Message Service (SMS) is referred to as Gps2sms. Some vehicles and vessels are equipped with hardware that is able to automatically send an SMS text message when a particular event happens, such as theft, anchor drift or breakdown. The receiving party (e.g., a tow truck) can store the waypoint in a computer system, draw a map indicating the location, or see it in an automotive navigation system.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Automotive navigation system

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
An automotive navigation system is an electronic device or integrated feature in vehicles that combines satellite-based positioning, digital mapping, and computational algorithms to determine the current location and deliver real-time, turn-by-turn directions to a specified destination, enhancing driver and efficiency. The origins of automotive trace back to the early with mechanical aids like the Jones Live-Map, which used an odometer-driven disk to display route instructions, and the ancient South Pointing Carriage from 200-300 AD that employed differential mechanisms for directional guidance. Modern electronic systems began in the 1980s, with introducing the world's first car system, the , in 1981 for the Accord model; it relied on a gas-rate with sensors to track direction and displayed routes on analog maps via a cathode-ray tube. By the 1990s, integration of the (GPS)—a U.S. network operational since 1995—revolutionized the technology, enabling precise positioning within 10 meters when augmented with and map matching. Core components of these systems include a GPS receiver and antenna that capture signals from at least four satellites to triangulate position, speed, and time; a digital map database, often sourced from providers like or , containing vector-based road networks and points of interest; a central computer processor running for route optimization; and a , typically a display or heads-up projector, for input and visualization. Additional sensors, such as gyroscopes and accelerometers, support in areas with poor satellite reception, while connectivity modules enable real-time traffic updates via services like FM RDS-TMC or cellular data. In contemporary vehicles as of 2025, automotive navigation has evolved into highly connected ecosystems supporting advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and partial , incorporating for enriched map data generation—such as MIT's RoadTagger achieving 93% accuracy in road type prediction—and high-definition (HD) maps crowdsourced from fleets like Mobileye's EyeQ-equipped vehicles. Trends include (AR) overlays on heads-up displays for intuitive guidance, digital twins of road infrastructure for traffic optimization, and hybrid online-offline data distribution via standards like NDS.Live, as adopted by Mercedes-Benz's MBUX system. These advancements, building on GPS alongside complementary networks like Europe's Galileo and Russia's , facilitate safer and pave the way for fully autonomous driving simulations and holographic interfaces.

History

Early Concepts and Prototypes

The earliest known electromechanical automotive navigation device emerged in 1930 with the Iter Avto, developed by the Italian Touring Club Italiano. This system utilized a mechanical linkage to the vehicle's to advance pre-printed paper map scrolls across a viewing window, employing pointers to indicate the current position along predetermined routes. Designed for major European highways, it represented a pioneering effort to automate route guidance without electronic components, though limited by the need for physical map cartridges and manual route selection. Post-World War II advancements shifted toward inertial navigation to address the limitations of mechanical systems. In 1966, developed the Driver Aid, Information, and Routing (DAIR) prototype, a magnet-based navigation concept tested on vehicles in that used buried magnets embedded in roads at major intersections for position correction and signal relay stations, marking an early non-satellite approach to automated guidance. Meanwhile, Japanese engineers pursued similar inertial concepts, culminating in the Electro Gyro-Cator's initial development during the late , which relied on a helium-gas and wheel sensors for without external signals. By 1981, this evolved into a functional prototype displayed on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen, overlaying vehicle position on a static map, though still constrained by analog computations. Parallel efforts in satellite-based positioning began in the under the U.S. Department of Defense, with early GPS experiments focusing on military applications for precise location determination. The first NAVSTAR GPS satellite launched on February 22, 1978, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, initiating a constellation designed for global coverage using from orbiting signals. These prototypes laid groundwork for future integration but remained experimental, with accuracy limited by selective availability for civilians. In the , advanced prototypes like the Navicar system, tested in concept vehicles such as the 1983 Buick Questor, which combined gyroscopes, odometers, and rudimentary digital maps to compute routes. Early systems faced significant challenges, including heavy reliance on inertial sensors prone to drift from cumulative errors in acceleration and rotation measurements, the absence of comprehensive digital map databases requiring manual inputs or , and prohibitive costs—often exceeding $1,000 in dollars—that confined prototypes to luxury or experimental vehicles. These limitations necessitated frequent recalibration and restricted until digital and technologies matured.

Commercial Adoption and Evolution

The commercial adoption of automotive navigation systems began in 1990 with Mazda's introduction of the Eunos Cosmo, the first production vehicle equipped with a built-in GPS-based navigation system using maps for digital routing. This pioneering implementation, developed in collaboration with Electric, marked the transition from experimental prototypes to market-ready technology, initially limited to luxury models due to high costs and the novelty of becoming publicly available after the U.S. Department of Defense deactivated selective availability in 2000. The saw a boom in adoption driven by falling hardware prices and the emergence of digital map providers, with systems integrated into vehicles from major manufacturers and aftermarket options gaining traction. launched GPS navigation in its Soarer model in 1991, featuring a color LCD screen and voice-assisted guidance, while introduced its on-board system in the 7 Series around 1994, emphasizing European market expansion. Pioneer contributed significantly to aftermarket units with the AVIC-1 in , the world's first consumer GPS car navigation device using CD-based maps, enabling broader accessibility beyond factory installations. Digital map integration accelerated through providers like , which shifted to automotive-focused digital mapping in the early , and Tele Atlas, which began delivering detailed road data for navigation applications by the mid-decade, supporting the growing ecosystem of compatible hardware. In the 2000s, navigation systems became widespread in mid-range vehicles, fueled by advancements in portability and user interfaces that enhanced driver safety and convenience. Voice guidance emerged as a key feature, with TomTom's software in the early 2000s providing turn-by-turn spoken instructions via portable devices, reducing the need for visual attention. The launch of Garmin's Nuvi series in 2005 revolutionized the market with compact, affordable portable GPS units offering intuitive touchscreens and lifetime map updates, contributing to rapid consumer uptake and integration into non-luxury models. By the end of the decade, these innovations had democratized , shifting it from a premium option to a standard expectation in many markets. From the 2010s to 2025, evolution focused on connectivity and integration with emerging technologies, propelled by smartphone proliferation and the rise of electric vehicles (EVs). Apple CarPlay, launched in 2014, enabled seamless smartphone-based navigation like on vehicle screens, allowing drivers to access cloud-computed routes with real-time data without dedicated hardware. This shift to cloud-based systems improved accuracy through over-the-air updates and dynamic rerouting, while EV-specific routing gained prominence, incorporating locations, battery range predictions, and energy-efficient paths in apps and built-in systems from providers like and . Key industry consolidation included the 2015 acquisition of Nokia's HERE mapping division by a consortium of German automakers (, , and Daimler) for €2.8 billion, bolstering high-definition maps for advanced driver assistance. reflecting near-ubiquitous adoption in developed markets, with 70-85% of mid- to high-end models in and featuring integrated solutions. Regulatory drivers, such as the European Union's 2018 mandate for emergency systems in all new M1 and N1 vehicles, further embedded GPS navigation for automatic location transmission during crashes, enhancing safety standards across the continent.

Core Components

Hardware Elements

Automotive navigation systems rely on a suite of hardware components to enable precise positioning, user interaction, and integration with functions. These elements include sensors for location determination, processing units for computation, displays for visualization, and connectivity interfaces for data exchange. The hardware has evolved to support higher accuracy, compactness, and seamless integration, particularly in modern electric vehicles (EVs). The GPS receiver serves as the primary sensor for satellite-based positioning in automotive navigation. It acquires signals from a constellation of (GPS) satellites to calculate the vehicle's location through . Automotive GPS receivers typically use antennas mounted on the vehicle roof or ; passive antennas capture signals without amplification, relying on the receiver's internal circuitry, while active antennas incorporate a (LNA) to enhance weak signals, improving reception in urban environments with multipath interference. To augment standard GPS accuracy, which can vary from 5-10 meters under ideal conditions, many systems integrate (WAAS) technology. WAAS uses ground reference stations and geostationary satellites to correct ionospheric errors and orbital inaccuracies, achieving position accuracy of 3 meters or better in supported regions. Complementing the GPS receiver, Inertial Measurement Units () provide capabilities in environments where satellite signals are unavailable, such as urban canyons or tunnels. An IMU consists of gyroscopes to measure angular rates and accelerometers to detect linear acceleration along three axes, allowing the system to estimate position changes based on vehicle motion. In automotive applications, IMUs enable continuous by integrating to track velocity, orientation, and displacement, bridging GPS outages that might last seconds to minutes in tunnels. This maintains positioning accuracy within 1-2% of distance traveled during short signal losses. User interfaces in automotive navigation systems primarily feature displays for map rendering and route guidance. Modern factory-installed systems use capacitive touchscreens ranging from 7 to 12 inches, integrated into the for intuitive interaction with navigation inputs and controls. These displays support high-resolution , often up to 1920x1080 pixels, to show real-time maps and 3D visualizations. Since the , heads-up displays (HUDs) have gained prominence, projecting navigation cues like turn arrows and speed onto the via a combiner or direct laser projection, reducing driver eye movement and enhancing safety. The first production automotive HUD was introduced by in 1988 for the , with adopting the technology in 2003 for the 5 Series; modern premium models now feature virtual display areas up to 20x10 inches. Processing hardware powers the computational demands of navigation, including route algorithms and map rendering. Embedded central processing units (CPUs), such as those in the Automotive Cockpit Platform, handle these tasks with multi-core architectures optimized for low power and high performance, often featuring AI accelerators for predictive routing. Memory for map storage has transitioned from optical media like CD-ROMs in early 1990s systems, which held limited regional data, to solid-state drives (SSDs) in contemporary units, providing up to 256 GB for global, high-definition maps with frequent updates. This shift enables faster data access and supports over-the-air (OTA) enhancements. Power supply and connectivity ensure reliable operation and data flow. Navigation hardware draws power from the vehicle's 12V electrical system, often through fused circuits to prevent overloads. Integration with the Controller Area Network ( allows navigation systems to access vehicle data like speed and heading for enhanced accuracy. Aftermarket units commonly connect via OBD-II ports, which provide diagnostic access and power without invasive wiring. Antennas for cellular connectivity (e.g., /) enable real-time traffic updates, while (DSRC) antennas facilitate vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) links for short-range data exchange, such as hazard warnings, operating in the 5.9 GHz band with ranges up to 300 meters. The evolution of navigation hardware reflects broader automotive trends toward and . In the , systems were bulky, standalone units with CRT displays and CD-based maps, occupying significant space and weighing several kilograms. By the 2010s, advancements in led to slimmer, embedded modules using LCD touchscreens and integrated GPS/IMU chips. In the , especially in EVs like those from Tesla and , hardware has become compact system-on-chips (SoCs) with modular designs, reducing size to palm-sized units while supporting advanced features like overlays. This progression has improved reliability, with exceeding 10,000 hours in current generations.

Software Architecture

The software architecture of automotive navigation systems is typically organized into modular layers to ensure reliability, , and integration with vehicle hardware. At the foundational level, a (RTOS) such as or OS provides the core platform, managing resource allocation, multitasking, and low-latency responses essential for safety-critical functions like turn-by-turn guidance. Middleware layers build upon this, handling from GPS, IMU, and wheel encoders to deliver accurate positioning data, often using frameworks like for standardized communication protocols. The then orchestrates user-facing features, including route planning and display rendering, with APIs facilitating seamless updates and third-party integrations. This layered approach promotes , allowing independent development and testing of components while minimizing system downtime. Database management in these systems relies on efficient data structures to store and query geographic information. Vector maps, preferred for their scalability and precision, represent roads as mathematical coordinates with attributes such as speed limits, turn restrictions, and elevation, enabling compact storage and dynamic querying compared to raster maps, which use pixel-based imagery suitable only for visual rendering but inefficient for computations. Topological models organize into nodes (intersections) and edges (road segments), incorporating metadata like traffic rules to support efficient without exhaustive spatial searches. These structures are often implemented in formats like OpenStreetMap's XML derivatives or standardized ones from bodies like the Navigation Data Standard (NDS), ensuring compatibility across vendors. User interface design emphasizes intuitive interaction in a driving context, integrating voice recognition powered by (NLP) techniques that emerged prominently in the for hands-free commands like "navigate to nearest ." Gesture controls, detected via cameras or touchscreens, allow swipe-based zooming or menu , while customizable themes adapt displays for day/night modes or accessibility needs, often leveraging graphics libraries like Qt for responsive rendering. These elements prioritize minimal distraction, adhering to guidelines from the (NHTSA) for glance-time limits under 2 seconds. Update mechanisms have evolved to support continuous improvement, with over-the-air (OTA) updates standardized post-2020 using 5G connectivity for faster, more reliable map and software revisions without service visits. Firmware versioning schemes, such as semantic versioning (e.g., MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH), track changes to ensure backward compatibility during map data refreshes, which occur quarterly for major providers to incorporate new road constructions or regulatory updates. This capability relies on cloud-based synchronization, reducing latency to under 10 minutes for full system upgrades in connected vehicles. Security features are integral to protect against vulnerabilities in connected environments, employing encryption standards like AES-256 for map data transmission and storage to prevent unauthorized access or tampering. Anti-hacking protocols, including secure boot processes that verify integrity at startup using digital signatures, mitigate risks from remote exploits, as outlined in ISO/SAE 21434 for automotive cybersecurity. These measures are particularly critical in systems integrated with vehicle CAN buses, where breaches could affect safety functions. Open-source influences have gained traction in aftermarket navigation software, with tools like the (OSRM) providing efficient, customizable routing engines based on for fast preprocessing of graph data. Adopted in systems from companies like , OSRM enables developers to build cost-effective alternatives to solutions, fostering innovation in portable devices while maintaining compatibility with standard map APIs.

Operational Principles

Positioning and Location Determination

Automotive navigation systems primarily rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) for positioning, which determines a vehicle's location through trilateration using pseudoranges measured from signals transmitted by at least four satellites. A pseudorange represents the apparent distance between the receiver and a satellite, calculated as the product of the speed of light cc and the time difference between signal transmission and reception, incorporating clock biases from both the satellite and receiver. The fundamental equation for the geometric distance ρ\rho to satellite ii at position (xi,yi,zi)(x_i, y_i, z_i) from the receiver at (x,y,z)(x, y, z) is (x−xi)2+(y−yi)2+(z−zi)2=c(t−ti)\sqrt{(x - x_i)^2 + (y - y_i)^2 + (z - z_i)^2} = c(t - t_i)
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.