Can we imagine the current generation being part of a world where we have to search a directory for a taxi booking agency to book a cab to go to the office, search for an auto rickshaw by the roadside stand, and the driver shakes his head in negation when you tell the destination? Waiting endlessly without knowing where the bus you have to catch is stuck, thinking about how to make a parcel reach across the city which would take a day by courier, etc. If we speak to Gen Z, they don’t even know such a world existed. They are living in an era dominated by services like Ola, Uber, Rapido, Red Bus, Porter, Swiggy, and Amazon. We can’t imagine existing without them. What made life so easy for us with such facilities? Telematics. Just basic telematics of track and trace. This is just a hint of how telematics has become an inseparable part of our lives and how it’s making life so much more comfortable.
It’s a general feeling that telematics is just track and trace, but in reality, it’s way beyond that. Starting from location, we can know the speed, the way the driver is driving, whether the brakes are applied harshly if the driver is safe in curves if there is sudden acceleration, if the driver is taking a detour, if there is fuel theft, if the tyre pressure is correct… and so much more. Think about the ease and real safety telematics has brought to the world.
The next level of telematics includes Driver Management System (DMS) and Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS), which sense whether the driver is fatigued if he or she is not in the right frame of mind to drive, a buzzer alerting the driver, co-passengers, and a possible accident is avoided. A moment of distraction, and you are within a short distance of hitting the vehicle in front of you; vehicle brakes are applied automatically, and an accident is averted. This is what telematics can do.
All new vehicles have ports through which we check vehicle diagnostics and, in simpler terms, vehicle health. Think of checking your vehicle’s health remotely through a telematics device. Imagine an expert sitting in a remote place assisting a field technician in doing the necessary repairs. Think of necessary software updates that happen on your phones also happening in your vehicle through a telematics device (V-FOTA: Vehicle Firmware Over The Air), all becoming possible with advanced telematics.
With the proposed GPS-based tolling system, telematics is making a grand entry into road user tolling economics, avoiding large queues at toll booths, negating chances of toll payment cheating, and ensuring the user pays for the length they have driven on toll roads. Telematics, which is currently mandatory only for public vehicles, will foray into the entire automobile industry, with every vehicle hitting the road fitted with a telematics device.
By becoming a natural ally in the safety of you, your loved ones, vehicle safety, road safety, saving human lives, asset management, vehicle insurance in the near future, and road tolling economics, telematics has arrived, will stay, and is going to take the world by storm.
Raveendraraj Nadagoud
President – Business Operations
iTriangle Infotech