Functionally, the 'Novanto' box is far from being revolutionary. It does what every navigation system does: It receives GPS data and computes the vehicle's position. And transmitting data via a GSM mobile radio transmitter is also something that has been seen before. What makes the Novato box innovative (and relevant from the perspective of data privacy) is the fact that Novanto feeds the position data into the GSM transmitter and makes these data available (via an encrypted connection) to a number of entities, ranging from the car owner to insurance companies or police authorities, enabling them to localize the vehicle everywhere in the world where GSM coverage is available. Continental points out that in some geographies such systems are already compulsory for luxury or vintage cars.

The Novanto box also is equipped with a back channel. Through this channel, the car can be remotely deactivated. This option aims at the 'stolen car' use case. For this use case, the 'stolen' mode can be activated by a range of options – an automatic alarm system, an emergency button inside the car or a motion sensor. The box however can be programmed to enable remote stations to initiate the position information retrieval.

Another use case is fleet insurance tariff arrangements – the system enables insurers to establish 'pay-as-you-drive' tariffs which are already common in Italy. a third group of use cases aims at fleet management and accounting for transportation services.

The Novanto box features the size of a pocket book. It is available as original equipment for OEMs as well as for aftermarket channels.