GPS tracking runs at Cannonball rally

In-car technology sends live updates from London to Zagreb race

The fifth Cannonball 8000 rally is piloting smart technology to boost spectator numbers and enable communication between competing cars.

Web developer and competitor Bit10 used GPS tracking and communication technologies to send live updates as it travelled from the UK to Croatia’s capital Zagreb at the weekend.

The company’s web site, www.team30.com, received 2,000 hits in the 72-hour race as web users followed its live progress.

Cannonball founder and organiser Conrad Wall says GPS tracking enables the audience to pinpoint a car’s exact location.

‘The main benefit is connecting to a larger audience, keeping everyone at the rally and watching online briefed,’ he said.

The Cannonball 8000 rally introduced mobile phone technology between drivers last year.

‘The mobile stuff is just a simple text between drivers where you enter a short code which goes through a central database that everyone can text in and out of,’ he said.

‘Next year we will be looking at streaming live video footage from the road over our web site.’

Ben King, one of Bit10’s founders and directors, co-piloted the only vehicle equipped with in-car technology in this year’s race.

‘Communicating through our blog, we could let other drivers using PDAs and laptops know if we had been stopped by the police, for example,’ he said.

‘It was a chance to use mobile GPS tracking on the cheap, because commercial solutions are quite expensive. We did it on a few quid and a bit of software development. All you need is a laptop with a basic GPS receiver.’

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