The Ford Research Center Aachen is the European corporate research facility of Ford Motor Company. The Telematics research section within this research organization is an acknowledged partner in a range of Ford Motor Company internal as well as publicly co-funded telematics research projects both in Germany as well as in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss innovative in-vehicle access strategies for information that is provided from outside the vehicle. These strategies have been developed and evaluated within the framework of the stadtinfokln (City Information Cologne) research project. The main objective of "stadtinfokln" is to manage increasing traffic levels in conurbations, while reducing problems created by inner-city traffic. There are significant benefits to be gained for the community and environment: One goal is to achieve a reduction in the level of traffic searching for a parking place, which will reduce congestion, emissions and noise levels, thus leading to a better quality of life in conurbations. stadtinfokln is supported by 15 industrial and academic partners. The principle aim of the stadtinfokln project is to develop a range of novel telematics services in order to ease mobility in conurbations. Services include, for example, inner-city dynamic route guidance, parking information for park garages as well as roadside parking, electronic payment for parking as well as the opportunity to reserve a specific parking spot. All of these services are available on a range of devices such as vehicle end terminals, Internet, smart phones/PDAs. The stadtinfokln consortium is co-funded by the German ministry of education and research (bmb+f). The ITS world congress in Chicago is seen to be an appropriate forum not only to present centrally provided innovative telematics services that Ford has been developed in cooperation with partners within the 'stadtinfokln' context, but also to introduce innovative concepts to make in-vehicle service access as safe and effortless as possible.
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