Tata Motors announced its partnership with location technology provider what3words for a new addressing system. The manufacturer is the first in India to bring what3words addressing system in its cars – starting with the new Nexon that was launched yesterday. In a first for the Indian automotive industry, the partnership with Tata Motors and what3words will enable car-drivers to enter a what3words address by voice or text input, and then navigate to the accurate address within 3 meters of the destination location.
The feature will especially be handy for India where not all addresses are standardised making it difficult for last-mile navigation. The what3words app is available in 40 languages, including 8 Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
At launch, the feature will be available in English with South Asian languages to follow. Once the driver’s navigation app of choice has been pre-downloaded, the what3words integration will work entirely offline – a global first for an embedded infotainment system. Additionally, if a driver receives a message that includes a what3words address, this can be automatically recognized and navigated to by the Nexon’s infotainment system.
what3words- How does it work
Tata Nexon owners who have downloaded the ConnectNext app and connected their smartphone will be able to enter a what3words address by voice or text into their car’s head unit. They will also be able to type a what3words address into the ConnectNext app.
what3words works by dividing the map into 3mx3m squares and assigns each square a unique identifier – made of three random words. For example, Gateway of India can be found at ///holiday.surprises.design.
With the what3words technology, a what3words address can simply be entered into the car navigation system, manually or via speech recognition. To prevent errors, every what3words address is unique, and similar addresses are located far apart to avoid confusion. Additionally, the intelligent AutoSuggest feature helps drivers to spot and correct their mistakes immediately and effortlessly redirects them to the accurate address.
The latest version of what3words will be available in the 2020 Tata Nexon. Customers will be able to download the what3words application for free via iOS and Android platforms.
2020 Tata Nexon
The new Nexon will be available in 1.2L Revotron turbocharged petrol BS-VI engine and 1.5L Revotorq turbocharged diesel BS-VI engine at a starting price of Rs 6.95 lakh and Rs 8.45 lakh, respectively. The Nexon 2020 features Tata Motors’ ‘iRA Tech’ – a new connected car technology, which has been designed specifically for India. ‘iRA Tech’ consists of technologies such as What3Words, Connected Safety, Natural Voice system and the Tribes app. The Nexon 2020 will be offered in 6-speed manual and AMT options.
