Table for two, please

A satellite navigation system being developed by Citroen has almost limitless possibilities, ALASTAIR SLOANE finds.

This story is being written on a computer publishing system. it's spell check recognises only what it has been programmed to recognise. It likes "programme" but reads the American "program" as two words.

Ask it to check Holden and it comes up with "olden." Similarly, it reads Citroen as "citron," a tree which bears lemon-like fruit.

It flatly refuses to have anything to do with "Stacad," the name of a sat-nav system being trialled in France. This is because Stacad is a French acronym for "telematic system for driver and travel assistance" and the spell-check
doesn't like acronyms, French or otherwise. It doesn't like telematic either, reading it as "tendencies."

Stacad is like many other sat-nav systems up and running in Europe. Each one gets you from A to B with a minimum of fuss. But technology being what it is, yesterday's sat-nav system can quickly be overtaken.

This is why Citroen is looking at developing the system further, to the point where it is more than a road map or emergency service.

It all started in 1995, when the French Ministry of Industry asked the country's carmakers to develop a system with which a vehicle involved in an accident could make an emergency call.

Something a little like the Argos beacons used by competitors in long-distance yacht races, so that they can be located if they get into difficulties. Mercedes-Benz is using a similar system in Germany.

The system is based on two electronic chips incorporating two complementary processes. The first, GSM - a standard used for mobile phones - sends and receives information. The second, GPS - Global Positioning System - gives the precise longitude and latitude of the vehicle's location.

If a problem arises the driver presses a button to send a distress signal and contact the nearest call centre.

But in an emergency, like a crash, the signal is sent automatically by the action of the airbag inflating.

The system offers a number of advantages. Motorists who have taken out maintenance or service contracts with Citroen assistance will be able to use Stacad if they are involved in an accident. Moreover, at a time when urban violence is a subject of increasing concern worldwide, the system will be of considerable use to public transport operators.

In addition to the in-vehicle unit, the system requires extensive infrastructure, sophisticated equipment and many phone operators.

The message must be picked up quickly, the coordinates transferred to a plan or road map of the city or country area to quickly establish the position of the vehicle to within a few metres, and a link made with service teams. The system must function around the clock, seven days a week.

Emergency services alone are not sufficient to make the system profitable, however. Citroen is working on a number of complementary services.

The first - travel assistance - is already part of the system's name. With Stacad, motorists can contact the call centre for help if they get lost, find a good restaurant and reserve a table, or get the address of the nearest dealer in the event of a mechanical problem, for example.

But when a car can both automatically send and receive information, then anything is possible. Sensors could be installed at strategic points, for example, to warn the driver of a mechanical problem.

They could also be used to remind the driver of a forthcoming service check or warn that minor repairs are required. It will also be easy to send a proposal for extending the vehicle warranty at the end of the statutory period.

In short, Stacad will set up an ongoing dialogue between the customer and the network. Citroen says this will bring benefits such as setting up marketing initiatives tailored to meet the needs of individuals; and a challenge to make the system workable in other European Union countries.

For example, the service must take into account not only differences in language - a French motorist travelling in Germany must be able to make himself understood - but also differences in behaviour. Which is something the spell-check system will always have problems with.