Coming Soon to Your Car’s Dashboard: Advertisements a/k/a Car Spam

car spam in car advertising
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Telenav, the company behind the intelligent navigation and Advanced Driver Assistance Solutions (ADAS) found in many cars, and whose products are used in cars made by, among others, Ford, GM, and Toyota, is poised to bring yet another “solution” to your car’s in-dash nav and media screen: Car Spam or, as they call it, In-Car Advertising.

It was, of course, only a matter of time before someone figured out how to put mobile ads in your, well, automobile.

Telenav touts that their location platform already powers “personalized navigation, mapping, big data intelligence, {and} social driving”. Location-based mobile advertising is a natural next step.

Didja notice that “big data intelligence” there?

And, if you don’t know what the heck ‘social driving’ means, don’t worry, you’re not alone. According to the IEEE (which stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), “The concept behind the Social Driving is to create such a service by integrating connected cars into a social context, in order to help the users to be a better driver and to utilize the car sensor data in the level of urban society. …The base idea is that drivers can monitor different parameters of their cars and driving style, such as fuel consumption and CO2 emission, furthermore, they can compare these values with other drivers using similar cars and similar engine types. The solution creates different statistics and as a rewarding system motivates people to use their cars more efficiently.”

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Anyways, back to this advertising that Telenav is going to push – quite literally – to your vehicle.

According to Telenav’s announcement, Telenav is “Leveraging deep expertise in location-based mobile advertising and automotive navigation software, Telenav’s In-Car Advertising Platform delivers an end-to-end offering to OEM partners—from ad targeting to ad sales and campaign management. As the only company with expertise across the entire in-car advertising value chain, Telenav is the ideal advertising platform partner for OEMs. With minimal investment, OEMs can participate in advertising revenue opportunities.”

Oh, and remember that big data intelligence?

Says Telenav, in their [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead], “The In-Car Advertising Platform is powered by Telenav’s… cloud-based intelligent targeting platform. The platform’s focus on safety, context, and value makes it an ideal in-car ad solution for both drivers and OEMs.” (OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer.)

An idea solution for drivers? We’re pretty sure there was no driver-side problem looking for a solution that includes having ads show up in their car.

Talk about a captive audience.

Telenav promises to take driver safety into account. “To ensure driver safety, ads only appear when the vehicle is stopped, such as at car startup, traffic lights and upon arrival. The ads automatically disappear whenever the car is in motion or when users interact with other in-dash functions such as music or phone calls.”

Well, that’s a relief.

They go on to explain “From a context and value perspective, relevant ads such as coupons and recommendations are delivered to customers based on information from the vehicle, including frequently traveled routes, destinations, and time of the day.”

Not feeling any better here.

As Car & Driver points out, “At this point, this type of programming appears to be inevitable, and it will eventually get even more specific once smartphones, computers, smart homes, and smart vehicles are all connected in one cloud.”

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2 thoughts on “Coming Soon to Your Car’s Dashboard: Advertisements a/k/a Car Spam

  1. Spamvertisements when stopped at a traffic light can be a dangerous distraction. The driver needs to be paying attention to his surroundings even if he’s just wanting for a green light.

  2. I do *NOT* like this article. It’s horrible. I am not looking forward to a distopian world.

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