By Jerry Maldonado –VP of Automation, Customer Lifecycle Solutions
From the Ramblings of an Automation Mad Man (A Blog Series), the Connected Car Catch-up is a mini series that focuses on the advancement of cars and technology.
Have you heard the entire buzz lately about connected cars? Here are some headlines just to name a few -
From GM fitting their cars with Wi-Fi connectivity to sensor manufacturers, Microsoft, and even Blackberry is jumping into the game. With billions on the line, there are big concerns out there on what a connected car will look like; how it will function, and can the different technology platforms in them co-exist and work together? I really hope this isn’t the beginning of another technology war. How can we forget VHS vs. Beta, Windows vs. os2, or David vs. Goliath? Will the standards emerge? Better yet, which of the big platform vendors like IBM, HP, CA will jump into the feeding frenzy that is the connected car?
For some, they may have already been playing in the background, take CA for example who have been helping the McLaren Racing team for years to fine tune and monitor their race cars. For others, it may be a wait and see what pops kind of play. Being the Mad Man, I have my own ideas for the connected car. Ideas broken down into different areas that can benefit many current automakers as well as some nicely funded startups. Let me share some of these with you over the next couple of blogs. You might be amazed at the possibilities and power that of a connected car.
The first idea is around improving Fleet Management. This is an area of big importance to lots of companies around the world. Maintaining fleets of vehicles used for deliver, fire and rescue, services, and beyond is important. The fleet is the company’s backbone and in order to execute flawlessly, they need to make sure their fleet meets the following requirements -
- Keep a well running fleet
- Reduce downtime of the vehicles
- Recycle fleet
- Reduce accidents
- Reduce driver fatigue
- Security
- Accountability
There are systems in place today that help monitor a car’s locations, provide communication, and even provide reduced accident navigation, like the no left turn policies of some delivery companies which help reduce fuel consumption and accidents. But there is so much more to be done with driver health monitoring and vehicle analytics to provide predictive failure analysis, decrease fuel consumption with integrated GPS, and align with traffic and road condition algorithms.
Fleet management can also be leveraged to inventory spare parts from vehicles involved in accidents as well as provide analytical data to help organizations reduce the premiums placed on them by insurance companies.
Fleet management solutions could use real time video with links to central station so a driver can be reviewed while on the job in a more frequent manner thereby ascertaining and maintaining quality of service. Video can help determine causes of accidents and provide education on issues to avoid while decreasing insurance premiums.
This technology isn’t new as real time data is used in police vehicles and as well in fire and rescue vehicles. In addition, larger scale delivery companies also have this technology as we’ve seen when packages are delivered and available in real time. The great thing about this technology is that it allows operations to update customers as well as suggests route changes in navigation due to inclement weather or traffic patterns to meet high demand seasons. Ever use the social GPS app Waze? It’s the same idea! Companies can also provide updates on refueling stations and the price of gas at those locations, by leveraging apps like Gas Buddy.
Take these same cars and couple them with sensors to monitor more of the vehicle and its surroundings and now the car becomes a big data hubs. This new stream of big data is available to now provide data as a service ( a mad man first). This information could be invaluable for determining specs for new vehicles for use in the fleet . The data models and detailed simulations could be constructed to test out cars, trucks and other vehicles for use based against supplied real data. This information could help determine if a new hybrid vehicle could be a money saver for say a NYC taxi cab company. These models could provide insight into fuel cost, maintenance numbers, viability of vehicle for use in certain situations and more. They can also be leveraged to address driver patterns and best practices for example the right turn algorithms of some logistic companies for reducing fuel consumption at stopped lights.
In terms of fleet management , the connected car could be an invaluable asset in the coming years . In some of my next blogs we will explore communications , entertainment , and other areas that will bode well for the connected car . These areas will provide other enhancements to fleet management in the coming years
Follow the Ramblings from an Automation Mad Man every Wednesday. Did you miss last Week’s post? Read it here: Shopping in an automated world digitally