Carspotter is a new Text Message service. You send the number plate details and receive details over the brand, the date of the number plate, the new value and an estimate of the current value. A second text message tells you more about the technical details of the car (number of cylinders, cylinder volume etc.). Carspotter also works for motorcycles, vans and trucks.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We are getting more on demand information about all sorts of things we come across in our environment. Now via Text Message, soon we will be able to get the information via our glasses just by looking at a random car that is recognised by its model. We will be able to say to our mobility coaching brand: ‘I like that car’. On the basis of this sort of mini conversations we will later be able to get tailor made advice. This initiative fits precisely into this trend.

Seatguru tells you exactly where to sit in the aeroplane. After selecting an airline the consumer receives information about the planes used by that airline and how the seating is configured.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We receive ever more advice from brands. Now it’s informal, extra information but soon it’ll be serious information available at the time of booking and at the airport. Your mobility coaching brand will give information via an ear piece to guide you to the right gate at the right moment, then you will hear: ‘You are entering the aircraft via the rear door, take the path towards the back of the plane, you will find your seat approximately 50 meters along on the left hand side. If you like I can provide you with information about your destination airport once you are seated’;. We are led by the hand. Lovely!

Thanks to a built-in compass the map in the Nokia 6210 now automatically turns when a pedestrian turns the phone (see the video). (mc, Dutch). Reading maps is a problem for lots of people, so this will solve lots of problems. In the future we won't have to read a map at all. Then we just say where we want to go, get instructions through our ear plugs, and even see a street view projected in our glasses, with arrows pointing at what we should look at. This makes today's complex world a little easier for everyone.

Dutch website for holiday homes and hotels WeekendjeWeg.nl ('A weekend away') provides directions for guests through a button 'Add to my TomTom' with every hotel. Soon it will be possible to add all hotels in one go (am, Dutch). Now we still have to actively transfer information, soon even our TomTom will be a (mobile) window to the virtual world. We then won't just have dialogues with the TomTom brand through this screen, but also with other brands. Like a Philips TV or a Dell monitor also provides access to the virtual world. Then the dialogue we started with WeekendjeWeg on a bigger screen will just continue on a smaller, mobile screen. Then we will be able to retrieve reviews and have them read to us on our mobile screen. And if we want to know how to get somewhere, TomTom's brand agent is there for us.

The Dutch Fietsersbond (cyclists' organization) makes it possible to plan routes through its bike route planner (ld, Dutch). In sports, in transport, in entertainment: brands will support us in all kinds of ways. We don't have to think ourselves any more, we only have to be. With brands as our coaches.

Auto site ZoMoTo now can directly determine the value of a second-hand car by putting in the license plate. The site also developed a very smart way to search in the complex supply of occasions, and besides offers the possibility to search for new cars. (em, Dutch). Now ZoMoTo still wants to earn money through advertising. As a developing mobility coaching brand ZoMoTo in the future will also help you when you are using your car, by answering questions like: Where is the cheapest gas station right now? Who can fix this damage the quickest and cheapest way? Or: should I just buy a new car? Every time, every couple of months, a little bit of extra value is added, so the service becomes better and more personal. At a certain point its added value becomes so obvious, that we are willing to pay for it. Then ZoMoTo doesn't just get a spot in our heads, but also - and especially - in our hearts.

Through the newest TomTom navigation systems with HD Traffic (High Density) motorists now can even see traffic jams on secondary roads. This way not only you can see if the A4 highway is jammed, but also if there is a lot of traffic in the Martin Luther King street (em, Dutch). Brands are starting to help us real time, anyplace. So that we know where our friends are, so we don't pass a showroom of a special design kitchen we always have wanted to see, or so we won't miss the ultimate photo occasion. This is a small step in that direction.

US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) yearly organizes a 100 kilometer race for robot cars. With a lot of extra computer power and big sensors these cars nowadays are pretty well capable of navigating themselves through the course. In theory, we could have this technology in our own cars. However, (unfortunately) it will take a long time before we won't need to get our drivers license any more, and can summon our car (or any other car) to pick us up and drive us home while we are drunk. In the end everything will move itself, so that we can save ourselves the energy, and do what we are better at ourselves. This will not happen until at least 2050.

Through auto.ilse.nl it is now possible to find all cars offered through Dutch magazines Autotrack, AutoTelegraaf, AutoTrader, AutoKopen and AutoScout. Marktplaats.nl and Speurders.nl are negotiated with. The reviews accompanying the search results come from car magazine Autoweek (em, Dutch). In the evolution of coaching brands in 2007 completeness is the most important factor: for example, give me all information on cars. The consumer likes to have one website with a complete overview, irrespective if you are talking about printers, insurance, jobs, internet providers, or cars. In a next step, extension to related categories will be more important. Starting next year we will see those developments.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

BMW now has a car which determines its own optimal directions, and keeps them, as part of a training for drivers. This is based on satellites. We earlier saw a BMW parking itself, a BMW driving into a garage by itself , and a Volkswagen which moves by itself (fc, Dutch).

Cars have become so cool that we almost forgot the basis need it fulfills: to get from A to B. It is just a way to fulfill the need of the free human, the human eternally looking for freedom of movement, freedom to go wherever he wants, and independence. In the future we will only have to whisper to our mobility coaching brand, and we are taken from point A to point B. Through all means available at that moment. Our own car, a bike, a metro, airplane or bedjak: nothing is excluded. And in the (very) long run we will only have to sit down, while the mobility coaching brand takes us where we want to go. The development we see here seems to be revolutionary, but before the wheel will completely disappear from the car, it will be 2050.

If you plan a route through Google Maps, you can now easily customize it by dragging and dropping points. See the video below for a demo (sc, Dutch). Thus brands start communicating more and more intuitively. By using visual elements instead of text. In the future we will be able to say: "I think I would like to drive along the coast", after which the "nicest route along the coast" is suggested, you will be able to see the views, and read what others liked about this route. This is another step in that direction.

Dutch realtor ERA organizes several Open House Tours a year. On that (Satur)day, people can see houses without an appointment. Starting this year, they can search for houses on the internet, and then download the addresses of their interest in their TomTom navigation system (em, Dutch). This way the dialogue with our home coaching brands also spread over several displays. In the future our home coaching brand will always be with us, and will help us to find great houses, to get the living comfort we like, to design the house the way we like it. Now we still need to download things, later just saying 'that's a great house' will be sufficient to get the home coaching brand going. Then we will photograph the house with our mobile phone, get a video presentation on TV, and get an interactive presentation in 3D through the PC. Everything connects to each other. The mobility coaching brand, TomTom in this case, will then make sure we get to our destination without a hassle.

The Dutch Ministry of Waterways and Public Workes uses special cameras to register cars (through license plate registration) using highway A9 at least 3 times a week. This is a group of 12,000 drivers. These people have all been asked if they were interested in a special 'A9 accessible' pass. Three thousand of them said they would like to obtain one (rb, Dutch). Brands, even the Dutch government, will monitor the use of their products (the infrastructure in this case) to optimize their service on a personal level. Now privacy is still an issue, but in the future we will be able to state on our personal web page: yes, help me optimize the use. Then privacy all of a sudden becomes much less important. As long as the information is not shared with other parties. Very slowly it goes this direction.

TomTom as a world premier makes it possible for motorists to improve their maps through its TomTom Map Share™ technology. All users of this system can change maps themselves, and at the same time take advantage of the changes made by others. This way they always have the most accurate maps (tt). People share their experiences with others, real time. Now for road maps, later for nice restaurants or new shops. We won't just see what people thought about it, but also what our friends thought about it. Coaching brands will assist us and will find solutions for the problems which then arise: a new shop that attracts so many people on its opening day, that it is too crowded to normally serve people. TomTom takes a step forward again in developing itself as a mobility coaching brand.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

TomTom in its newest navigation systems has added a Help Me button in the main menu, which provides direct access to information about safety and road services. Motorists this way get direct access to local road services, they can get First Aid information, and they can get extended information about for example the traffic rules per country. Even the closest garage, pharmacy or police station can be found quickly. The user can call the number shown on the screen, while the TomTom system shows where he or she is at that moment (tt). mobility coaching brands this way further develop: brands that (safely) get you from A to B. Now the user still has to contact the helpers himself, and tell the location he is at, in the future TomTom will automatically contact police, ambulance or road services when you are involved in an accident. Now just in the car, in the future also when you are on a train, a boat, walking, cycling or in a trishaw. When we think of transport, we think of our mobility coaching brand. This is a small step in that direction.

Cars.com helps consumer to find new and used cars through their cell phones. Furthermore, consumers can find dealers on the map, car reviews and blog content. We're mapping all information in the physical world. Currently we have to look for it, but soon we'll aim our cell at a license plate, it'll be automatically recognized, and we can see if it's for sale. And vice versa: if there are any used cars for sale in the neighborhood we'll see it directly on a map. And if we see a new car we can immediately find the nearest dealer to make a test drive. Mobility coaching brands will help us with that. Cars.com is taking a step in this direction.