Tata partners with Thai start-up for smart fleet networking

Tata Communications has partnered with Thailand-based start-up DRVR for providing fleet management services. The company says smart fleet management application will allow users to achieve up to 10 percent cost saving benefits along with a focus on fuel reduction, route management and driver behaviour. All put together, this will lead to more efficient and eco-friendly commercial fleet control.

In an intimation to the BSE, Tata Communications said it has been selected as the global IoT connectivity partner by DRVR, a international fleet management application provider.

The partnership will leverage Tata Communications’ mobility solution MOVE and DRVR will be able to convert information collected from vehicles across Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia into actionable insights that will help drive efficiencies and improve cost savings through smarter fleet management.

The advent of connected vehicles has led to an exponential increase in consumption and creation of human to machine interface applications and solutions. According to a Forrester report on the Internet of Things (IoT), fleet management and its applications in transportation and logistics across retail and wholesale will be the hottest areas for IoT growth. Also, the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market is expected to reach a value of US$ 15,248 million (Rs 96,321 crore) by 2020 at an estimated CAGR of 11.6 percent during the forecast period.

The fleet vehicles that use DRVR technology employ Tata Communications’ MOVE-IOT Connect SIM technology. The sensors transmit data collected in real-time using MOVE which connects services using the best available local cellular network. The DRVR application then processes and analyses this data, turning it into actionable intelligence further illustrating fleet performance metrics on any device, mobile or laptop.

This will help take faster and better informed decisions that can be made as fleet managers will get a more holistic view of everything that is happening across the fleet, communicating updates in real time on a highly secure infrastructure that will ultimately lead to more effective and robust operations on the ground.

David Henderson, co-founder and CEO, DRVR said: “Our partnership with Tata Communications enables us to overcome two major challenges in our quest to create smarter fleets across our entire geographical footprint. First, rather than negotiate multiple contracts with individual service providers, our entire international IoT network is managed through Tata Communications. As a result, we get valuable visibility of data collected across borders so that we can realise the benefits of smarter fleet management. Second, it allows us a holistic view on a singular dashboard allowing us to respond with improved accuracy and eliminating downtime almost entirely.”

Anthony Bartolo, chief product officer, Collaboration, Mobility and IoT, Tata Communications, added: “DRVR’s ambition is to revolutionise international fleet management by making it smarter, borderless and seamless. With Tata Communications MOVE, it only needs to deal with one service provider that takes care of multiple deployments across international borders. Our product portfolio gives any business with a network of assets better control over their costs, reduces time spent on supplier management and enables actionable data to be derived from operational IoT data. All in all, it is an intuitive solution for improving fleet management operations thereby enhancing business performance and success.”