Electronic tracker follows stolen vehicles

by ALASTAIR SLOANE

Thieves beware! Tamper with these cars and you'll soon find yourself in the lockup.

Security specialist Chubb has built a "black box" for car owners. It won't record conversations, instability at high-speed or tight turns, but it will allow the company's ground control people in Auckland to keep track of a vehicle at all times.

The system is called Tracknet. A similar system in the United States is forcing thieves to ditch stolen cars if they fear they are armed with the tracking device.

The thieves return later to case the joint: If the car is still where they left it, then it probably wasn't armed. If it's gone, it was armed and is back with the owner.

Electronic devices can identify systems like Tracknet, but the time taken to remove the system means the law is very likely to turn up.

Tracknet, made in Australia, works much the same global positioning systems (GPS) on yachts, or the electronic bracelets used to keep track of inmates on home leave.

But it is no big-brother spying on drivers. Chubb Protective Services operations manager Brian Nickerson says: "The use of Tracknet can only be authorised by the vehicle owner's password or in the event of an unauthorised intrusion."

Tracknet costs $1500 to install and $1 a day to use. The box is about the size of a videotape containing a cellular system and global positioning antenna linked to a satellite and digitised map of New Zealand. A hands-free phone and a back-up power source are included.

It can be fitted out of sight to any vehicle or boat and is accurate to within a few metres. Tracknet can tell Chubb Protective Services where a vehicle is anywhere in New Zealand.

Nickerson and his monitoring staff can zoom in on the progress of a stolen vehicle on a city street or zoom out and track it on a back road through the King Country.

It also has a "duress" button, usually fitted on the dashboard, to summon help in the event of a breakdown and an add-on called Geo-fence, a constant electronic surveillance system - like a radar forcefield - which surrounds the car.

For example, businessmen who leave their cars at the airport could activate Geo-fence. As soon as the electronic field is breached and the car entered unlawfully, Chubb staff are alerted.

"Sexy," the technicians call it.

Once Tracknet is activated, the satellite updates the vehicle's progress every few seconds.

"We guarantee a response to pre-agreed instructions," Nickerson says. These details might allow the operator to tell Tracknet to lock or unlock the car's doors, or immobilise the engine.

For fleet operators it can reveal a vehicle's immediate or average speed, direction, location, whether the doors are open or closed, the vehicle's laden or unladen weight, engine management information and so on.

A touch-sensitive screen linked to Tracknet and fitted to the dashboard can be used to send and receive faxes, access yellow pages on-line or, with the help of street maps, help a driver find his way.

"This is the only country in the world where Chubb has the Tracknet technology," says company sales manager Philip Walsh. "It's another New Zealand first as far as Chubb is concerned.

"We are working out a marketing plan now. It's difficult to gauge the market exactly, but inside about 12 months we should have 600 users, or sales of 50 units a month."

Chubb calls the present Tracknet unit Pack One. The next one is Pack Two, a smaller "wet" unit for things like jetskis. After that, Tracknet will likely be smaller again, inaccessible to all but Chubb technicians.