This paper, and the following five papers, were presented during the Telematics Automotive 99 Conference held at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, 13th to 15th April 1999. This first paper sets the scene for the more detailed technical aspects of the later papers. Copies of the full proceedings of Telematics Automotive 99 are available on loan from The Cundall Library.

Globalisation of both markets and supply has been nowhere more obvious than in motor cars. These vehicles create not only the most free economic pipeline known to man but also a revolution in personal freedom. They are unlikely to go away; we have to find ways of living with them by coping with the environmental problems and the many forms of traffic problem: congestion, driving and support skills and car crime. In other areas, notably manufacturing and commerce, automation and advanced communications have enabled radical improvements in quality, productivity and environmental impact. This effect has yet to reach road transport in volume; the environmental and traffic problems are growing at least as fast as the populations of vehicles grow. The risk with such an important enabler as telematics is that it is seen as a plaything for gadget-minded users, rather than a key enabler for ongoing use of the car in the face of unrelenting pressures of congestion and environmental damage.