Tawfeeq Ahmad at iWave Systems, shares with Telematics Wire his thoughts on how the telematics industry will do in 2022 and eventually how the vehicle telematics industry he thinks will evolve over the coming years.
What is your view about the Vehicle Telematics market in India?
With a population of 1.38 billion, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The vehicle telematics market in India is an emerging industry and is poised to grow at a rapid pace. A survey from Tech Mahindra showed that 90% of four-wheeler consumers prefer buying a vehicle with telematics capabilities. More data driven use cases such as predictive maintenance and workshop appointment scheduling, asset productivity and fleet utilisation. Consumers and fleet owners are looking for more powerful insights on the edge, providing vehicle health and performance intelligence through the data.
Through the challenges faced due to the pandemic, automotive market in India have registered negative growth in sales of all vehicle categories in FY21. However, at present, there has been increased. Also, telematics market in more focused commercial vehicle applications such as forklifts, tractors and heavy-duty trucks promises to be an interesting proposition for TSPs in India.
Will the coming year be commercially exciting for TSPs?
A connected ecosystem is key to driving growth in the telematics market. The coming together of various stakeholders such as OEMs, cloud infrastructure providers, telecom operators and fleet owners is the foundation for a successful telematics program. In India, there is a growing focus on building the ecosystem which makes it commercially promising for the TSP.
Various government regulations such as AIS-140 and the need for tracking vehicles, is a bright path ahead for TSPs. With increased awareness and adoption rates, the Indian telematics market is full of growth. According to “Indian Connected Trucks Telematics Market”, telematics market in India is expected to grow at 25% rate over the years. The scope of commercial fleets ranges from transport and logistics, oil and gas, construction, utilities, service and maintenance, and retail and delivery, with transport, logistics, oil and gas segments offering highest growth. Mandates such as the ELD Mandate by the governments in North America and Canada, where the driving hours of commercial vehicles are regulated by a set of rules is an example of how government mandates increase the value for TSPs in the market.
A growth in the adoption of electric vehicles is an interesting opportunity for TSPs. Telematics is important in the EV industry, since there are key requirements:
- Charging Analytics and EV Energy Usage: Telematics can help monitoring the charge level, battery health and provide valuable data required to improve the vehicle algorithms. Continuous updates and advancements on charging time, battery size and weight are being taken up by EV manufacturers.
- Fleet Management and route mapping: A lot of last mile delivery trucks are now powered through batteries. Field service managers can work through an effective route management, benchmark vehicle utilization and measure whether their plans of reducing costs and emissions.
- Firmware Update: With continuous advancements on the charging algorithms and software of an electric vehicle, TSPs can provision for firmware updates of the EV Software .
In addition to legacy GPS Tracking, there are more attractive opportunities such as more data driven usage-based insurance (UBI), fleet maintenance, route scheduling of fleet and driver insights. This allows the TSPs to increase value of their offerings, thereby increasing their total market cap.
How long do you see the business for TSPs in vehicle telematics aftermarket?
Ever evolving use cases do not offer a stiff business timeline for the TSPs. However, it is important for TSPs to make a modular and agnostic platform which can be used in applications ranging from passenger vehicles tracking through monitoring efficiency of electric tractors.
TSP also need to work with various OEM on their telematics roadmap and build their value proposition. TSPs need to work with tandem in OEM on building their telematics product. Every OEM has their individual requirements based on the car architecture, privacy requirements, analytics, regional go-to-market strategies.
Vehicles are also transitioning more to a Software Defined Car, where new connectivity, automation, and personalization features will be increasingly implemented with software in the future. Therefore, our belief is that there is significant potential and value for the TSPs in the long term, provided TSPs are willing to rapidly evolve and adapt to new business models and opportunities.
Can you share something about your TCU?
TSPs focus on building analytics and dashboards, and iWave supports TSPs with rugged and reliable telematics hardware. We design and manufacture telematics control units, telematics gateway and V2X Connectivity Solutions to cater to the growing telematics applications.
The telematic gateway and telematics control unit is fit with 4 CAN Interfaces and a plethora of wired interfaces such as RS485, RS232 and analog inputs, finding a fit into different telematics and connected vehicle applications. With multiple wireless connectivity options such as 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the gateway can power advanced telematics applications while bringing intelligence to the edge.
The V2X Hub is designed to enable the connect between Smart Cities and Connected Mobility. Integrated with C-V2X and DSRC technologies, the hybrid V2X Connectivity hub can be positioned as an On-Board Unit within the vehicles, as well as a Road-Side Unit to fit into external infrastructure.
What’s the way forward for TSP?
Soon, we can expect car manufacturers to continue advancing vehicle connectivity by further integrating smart features into telematics systems and adding functions that improve safety like emergency services, location tracking and vehicle diagnostics.
As we become accustomed to using these services and place a high value on them, it may not be long before vehicle telematics becomes a major point of consideration when we are shopping for a new vehicle or monitoring an older one. All these applications require fast data transmission, analysis, and implementation which stretches the opportunities for telematics service providers (TSPs).
Though there has been a change in vehicle architecture, the telematics value and ecosystem is poised to play an important role in the software defined vehicle. Therefore, it is equally important for TSPs to play a prominent role in building the ecosystem, upgrade their offerings to evolving data driven use cases and adapt to the different business models.
Published in Telematics Wire
