TMC-Traffic Message Channel
The Radio Data System (RDS) has been considerably expanded by a new generation in the transmission of traffic information: TMC.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Blaupunkt already developed and delivered the terminal equipment and receiver-related equipment for an RDS-TMC pilot project in North-Rhine-Westphalia.

TMC is based on a news system. Traffic information is recorded continually this is done automatically by sensors on the motorways and by the police. This information is then forwarded to the radio stations without delay. It is digitally coded, differentiated according to routes and driving directions and transmitted inaudibly. The car radio then uses speech synthesis to convert the data telegram into a message. Because standardised codes are used across Europe, this can be done in the driver's own native language. The car radio selects the traffic information by driving route and traffic areas. TMC reports the event, the location and the type of traffic congestion. The message is then stored in the Blaupunkt TMC receiver and can be retrieved at the touch of a button: "Tailback after accident on the M25 travelling towards Heathrow after the junction at Leatherhead, tailback 8 m long".