KDDI Corporation Signs Agreement with Pioneer Corporation to Jointly Develop Car Navigation Systems Fitted with Communication Modules

KDDI Corporation Pioneer Corporation

KDDI Corporation Signs Agreement with Pioneer Corporation to Jointly
Develop Car Navigation Systems Fitted with Communication Modules

August 6, 2002 - KDDI Corporation and Pioneer Corporation have formed a business alliance to conduct joint research into car navigation systems fitted with CDMA2000 1x 3^rd-generation mobile communication modules and related services.

KDDI has been selling its new CDMA2000 1x 3^rd-generation mobile phone, capable of maximum data transmission speeds of 144kbps, since April of this year. The company is actively involved in the development of mobile Internet solutions business.

Pioneer, making use of its superlative technological assets and know-how in audio-visual markets, currently holds the top share of the commercial car electronics market. It is the leading company for car audio and car navigation systems.

Through incorporating a communications module compatible with KDDI's network specifications into a Pioneer car navigation system, the two companies have succeeded in creating a new client-server type system that provides access to latest information as and when necessary.

Pioneer will be responsible for manufacturing, selling and providing services relating to the new system, which is due to become commercially available before the end of the year. Pioneer also plans to release test products and details regarding related services in the middle of September.

An outline of the new system follows.

General-purpose mobile phone units have already been incorporated into car navigation systems to allow access to relevant information via onboard Internet connections. However, 2^nd-generation PDC system circuit-exchange mobile phones allow maximum data transmission speeds of only 9.6kbps, and communication costs spiral with long connection times.

The communication module-equipped car navigation system that KDDI and Pioneer are endeavoring to create is a client/server system that will incorporate mobile phone communication functions into the main body of existing car navigation systems.

Existing systems collect geographical information together onto storage media such as DVDs and CD-ROMs and install them directly into onboard systems. In contrast, KDDI and Pioneer's new offering will upload this data to servers, with communication modules then providing access to it via KDDI's CDMA2000 1x network. This setup allows users to download the very latest information as and when required.

The CDMA2000 1x-compatible communication module to be installed in the new system is also compatible with existing cdmaOne networks, and can therefore be used anywhere in Japan. The maximum data transmission speed of 144kbps makes the downloading of even large items of content simple. Furthermore, the packet data transmission systems adopted enable the time until downloading to be shortened considerably over the time required with circuit-exchange system. Service responses are therefore excellent.

Moving onto service provision, Pioneer will put to use its experience in the car navigation market in to create more pleasant motoring environments for its customers, delivering the kind of content only accessible through communication module systems.

For its part, KDDI will provide access to its CDMA2000 1x network, playing its part in the provision of a service of the very highest quality and reliability.