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Global Positioning System coming to Indian cars

Car owners in India would soon have the option to get GPS systems installed in their cars. By the end of this month, the first such consumer navigation system designed and built here would have the maps of whole country available for usage on GPS systems.

Global Positioning System (GPS) are powered by small dashboard devices, which are connected to roof-mounted satellite antenna. This helps the driver to get directions while going from one place to another.

The system displays a scrolling map display and a synthesized human voice to guide the driver stay on the correct path. These have been in use in the American and European countries since a long time and for a change, Indian consumer would have access to this age-old technology.

SatNav Technologies is the company working on bringing access to this technology to car owners in India. They are using technology imported from Taiwan in sub assemblies and built the navigation software to run on what is essentially a mass consumer-computing device.

SatNav’s CEO, Amit Kishore Prasad said in a statement on their plans to launch this device in the local market: “We are selling the SatGuide navigation system for what is almost the price of the hardware alone — Rs. 37,990. We hope to bring down the price to around Rs. 30,000, once we sell in numbers.”