Research on telematics applications started in the eighties. The experts realized already at that time the need for appropriate means to reduce driver distraction. The European project Prometheus was the starting point for standardization activities both on national and international level.

On this basis, guidelines have been developed in Europe, Japan and the US. A team of experts tasked by the European Commission developed the European Statement of Principles (ESoP) which was published in the year 2000 and revised in 2006. In Japan, the Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association (JAMA) published their guideline in 1990 with revisions in 2000 and 2004. In US the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers (AAM) developed a guideline which was published in 2003 and revised in 2006. Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) in the US is also working on a guideline. The final document is not yet publically available.

All guidelines have similar goals and basic concepts to achieve the limitation of driver workload and to avoid risky behavior. The following are the most prominent:​ Mounting of displays and controls should not interfere with the primary driving task. Necessary information should be easily perceivable with short glances. Dialogs should have a clear structure that can be easily understood and that does not require timecritical input. Complex operation or information should be disabled while driving.

There are some differences between the regional guidelines. The main difference is the determination of the distraction potential. While the ESoP contains only a verbal description (visual information not related to driving that is likely to distract the driver significantly), the AAM guideline offers different objective methods including measurement of gaze behavior and driving performance. The JAMA guideline requires measurement of glance duration.

All these guidelines are voluntary, but only a part of the industry is committed to the guidelines. The driver workload induced by a telematics system depends on many factors. Different stakeholders are responsible for these factors like car manufacturers, device manufacturers, application developer, radio stations and service provider. The guidelines deal differently with this topic. The ESoP addresses all relevant stakeholders but only the car manufacturers which are represented by ACEA are committed to follow these guidelines. The AAM guideline addresses both OEM and nomadic devices but similar to Europe, only AAM members are committed. The JAMA guideline is binding only for JAMA members.

As mentioned above the guidelines are regularly revised by the respective organizations. Up to now, these guidelines have now been applied for a decade. The number of accidents caused by distraction due to the use of vehicle integrated devices is still small despite the increased use of these systems. This shows the effectiveness of the guidelines. Further improvement is only possible on the basis of new scientific data. Naturalistic driving data are a promising approach.