IT majors to benefit from regulatory push for telematics

Posted On: 18-02-2020

Chennai: IT majors and telecom companies in India are best poised to capitalize on the latest regulatory push towards telematics. With the government mandating public vehicles with more than six-seater capacity to have vehicle tracking devices, IT majors Cognizant, Wipro and Infosys, already have the know-it-all given that they have been providing telematics solutions to foreign insurers like AIG, Allianz, AXA and Munich Re for close to a decade.

From black box devices in cars to mobile apps, IOT SIM cards, telematics in India will reach $301.23 million by 2021, according to 6Wresearch. With market research firm Technavio pegs commercial vehicle telematics market growth in India at a CAGR of 16% over the next four years, there should be no dearth of orders for Indian IT and telecom players.

Initially, telematics was meant to locate vehicle and track routes. But today, a telematics solution - which can be any device transmitting real-time data - to track vehicle location, provide geo-fencing, car driving pattern, alert emergency services in case of accidents, call for towing and give engine/battery health indicators, etc. For our crowded intra-city roads, road analytics, live-streaming of traffic data can prove really beneficial for emergency services like fire, ambulances. Many a time, when fire trucks get stuck trying to enter narrow lanes or dense traffic turns - alternative route mapping is possible like in the case of Mapmyindia's work with Kolkata fire department

With 5,000 enterprise customers, Mapmyindia offers telematics solutions to a range of clients from Ola, Safexpress, schools, and municipal corporations. "We have two products - one which is deep installed in the vehicle and a plug and play device. From merely tracking, our device can give information like temperature, whether the doors were opened, driving habits, etc," said Rohan Verma, executive director, Mapmyindia. For taxi aggregators, fleet owners it solves a major pain point by letting them track their drivers' behavior, including driving patterns, head-on collisions, possible sexual assault on passengers.

Cognizant and Infosys are currently working with global insurers around driving behaviors, driver safety, fleet management, and usage-based insurance. "It is an end-to-end telematics solution comprising data collection, data management, insurer solutions, and customer applications," said Muthu Kumaran, global practice head, insurance, Cognizant. Technology has also come a long way from the cumbersome black boxes that were deployed earlier. When Liberty Videocon General Insurance launched a project in 2013, it did not take off as most dealers, automakers, and customers were reluctant to insert a device into their car and risk losing their warranty, besides raising privacy concerns. Liberty Videocon is now looking at a mobile-based telematics app. Vodafone India for instance has partnered with agriculture equipment maker JCB for the usage of its IoT SIM cards in all its machines. "The telematics solution has made it easier to manage working-versus-idle time, fuel usage, and identify small problems before they cause unscheduled downtime. The IoT platform has also helped them identify maintenance areas in advance, save additional overheads, offer better customer service, and manage business better," said Satish Mitral, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Vodafone business services.

And it's not just about the vehicle, Infosys for instance has been working on an Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) enabled services for ensuring safety on the road. "We have a solution for detecting driver fatigue using facial analysis. Facial analysis software detects eye blinks, yawning, and facial expressions and triggers a notification either through haptic (vibration) alert on the smartwatch or beeps on the head unit panel," said Sudip Singh, SVP and global head of engineering services, Infosys in an earlier interview with TOI.

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Media Courtesy : Timesofindia Indiatimes