The telematics industry stands poised for tremendous growth will be one of the most lucrative segments of the intelligent transportation systems business, according to a new study from Allied Business Intelligence (ABI).

The global in-vehicle information system (IVIS) market for personal vehicles will rise from $1 billion in 2000 to more than $8 billion by 2005, according to the findings of "Intelligent Transportation Systems: A Strategic Analysis of Global In-Vehicle Information, Navigation, Communications and Roadside Technologies."

According to ABI analyst Frank Viquez, the author of the report, new systems such as hands-free speech recognition, satellite radio and Web-based services such as weather, news and stock quotes and truncated Websites will be introduced next year. "2001 will be seen as the year that IVIS takes off," Viquez said.

With a projected 1 million combined subscribers between OnStar and ATX Technologies by the end of 2000, a viable market has been established, according to Viquez. Starting in 2001, new entrants such as LoJack Corporation, the American Automobile Association (AAA) and Wingcast (a partnership between Qualcomm and Ford Motor Company) will roll out IVIS services.