What can IoT learn from vehicle telematics ?

Date: Saturday September 19, 2015

It seems that one cannot get through the day without a new article about IoT. The UK government is fully behind it. Deals are being done, new businesses are created every day. For me though, it’s still a little more ‘sizzle’ than ‘steak’.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the opportunities that are opening up with combining controls (remote heating controller for instance) with data analytics but I’m not sure if the industry has settled on the right business model yet. There should be some million dollar business being built out there already – if only the model works.

In telematics (cars), life is simpler. There are hundreds of Telematics Services Providers (TSPs) worldwide serving fleets of all kinds with value added ‘small’ data and controls. They have a well established charging model with an upfront fee and then monthly subscriptions -simples. BUT the technology is usually WAY behind the sort of things that IoT companies are talking about – especially when it comes to the tips and insights / data analytics.

The ideal would be a combination of IoT and vehicle telematics, comprising:

  • Reliable largely commoditised hardware solution,
  • High quality secure firmware,
  • Powerful data insights
  • Robust charging model.

It’s supposed to be the ‘connected car’ but getting consumers to pay for data and controls is the ‘connected challenge’.

TBC here

Author: Alexandra Willard, car data expert