Traffic is a problem. It costs money and causes stress and irritation. There is a lot that governments can do about it, but we can help by providing drivers with better information to plan their journeys. We can redirect drivers to less-congested roads and that saves time and helps to offload some of the traffic. Overall congestion declines as a result

We want to challenge conventional wisdom that traffic is something you can't do anything about. There has already been lots of research done to show that this technology works. On an academic and research level it is understood that it will work. But the general public doesn't accept it. We want to tell consumers they can do something about traffic.

On average in congested areas drivers can save up to 15 per cent of their travel time. If 10 per cent of drivers used these dynamic guidance systems, then overall congestion would be reduced by five per cent.

Some taxi drivers take a dim view of this technology because we are making information more widely available. If lots of drivers are using this technology you get a better spread of traffic. That's bad for taxi drivers because the secret short cuts enter the public domain. People using information systems become traffic probes themselves and generate information that gives the systems more accuracy.

Everyone has an opinion about satellite navigation. When we started the business in 2004, the industry was young. People thought it was great. Initially they were used as "don't get lost" devices. If people knew where they were going they would take a different route to the one suggested. We've tackled that and have more knowledge about the road network. The routing is significantly better.

I joined Psion at an early stage and spent 10 years with the company. I also had a software company, and when I left Psion I focused on software. In 2002, we had a good navigation system for mobile phones and PDAs, and people liked it and found it useful. But it was geeky and not easy to use and we realised that to make it bigger we had to go into hardware, build a brand and go worldwide.

We were lucky in that we had pioneered a lot of small devices and we knew a lot about maps already. We started doing map applications in 1996, so we knew the potential. We were lucky in that it was seen as an automotive play and not a consumer play. We turned it into a consumer proposal.

The history of the name TomTom is not as romantic as people would like. We had to figure out a name for our products and services, and our company. We spent two days coming up with ideas and at the end we didn't have anything, except Tom. We couldn't protect it or get the URL. Tom was meant to be the embodiment of your guide round a city, someone who knows where to go. Then someone said "TomTom" and it clicked. We knew it would work.

Governments have spent billions on traffic management technology, but it was based on roadside cameras and induction loops. It doesn't give you the accuracy or granularity that you need. This seemed like science fiction a few years ago. Everyone said it would take decades and then all of a sudden it's here.