Category

Telematics

Jul 11
Mack Trucks

Mack GuardDog Connect

By Automotive, Telematics No Comments

Telematics as a Service

Last October, Mack Trucks launched Mack GuardDog Connect, a telematics service based on Mack’s GuardDog onboard diagnostics (OBD) monitoring system. The service has been in operation now for over 6 months, and I thought it would be a good time to revisit the project team and discuss with them the business benefits as Mack sees them.

Mack Trucks’ GuardDog Connect is a telematic system that monitors the truck’s OBD fault codes and alerts the driver via the Mack Copilot display on the dash. It then transmits the information to GuardDog Connect’s 24×7 customer care center, which advises the driver if the truck can continue operating and have the issue repaired at its next scheduled service interval, or, if an immediate repair is needed, it schedules the repair to be performed at the nearest service location and orders the necessary parts if they are not on hand.

Many conversations and predictions about connected cars and telematics turn too quickly to the promises of proactive and predictive maintenance, whereby a maintenance activity is scheduled in advance, before an actual failure has occurred and observed.

“Predictive diagnostics” is far easier to describe than to implement reliably and economically. The behavior of complex engineered equipment like a truck – both during normal operation and when a subsystem failure occurs – is not static: it’s constantly changing throughout the truck’s life due to normal wear and tear, operating patterns, modifications, maintenance practices, and numerous other factors. Consequently, any predictive diagnostic system true to its name must take into account the configuration and the state of the specific equipment being monitored, and failure information and statistical models have to be updated continually – manually or programmatically – throughout the life of the truck. Consequently, deploying a commercially viable predictive maintenance system is extremely challenging.

By combining real time OBD information and a live contact center, Mack is able to offer truck owners and operators a pragmatic telematics service. Currently, nearly 5,000 Mack trucks are registered in the program that cost from $200 to $600, depending on the length of the commitment.

Success Metrics

Mack’s goal for GuardDog was simple: improve trucks’ uptime and reduce business disruption through early notification and proactive repair scheduling. For dealers, GuardDog streamlines service throughput and boosts customer satisfaction.

Mack reported the following benefits experienced since GuardDog Connect was first put in service:

  • 70% reduction in diagnostic time
  • 25% improvement in overall repair time
  • First Time Fix better than 90%
  • Uptime improvement of 1 day per service event

Although Mack did not measure the potential impact on warranty repair costs, the improved diagnostic accuracy and First Time Fix (FTF) rate achieved by this service are strong indications that in the long run GuardDog Connect will contribute to reduction in warranty expenses.

Mack sees additional value in using information from GuardDog Connect to inform product improvement activities, driving ongoing improvement in diagnostic accuracy and service efficiency, and improve the OBD software.

 

Nov 14

Survey: Are Drivers Ready to Trust Driverless Cars?

By Automotive, Autonomous, Connected, Electric, Shared Vehicles, Telematics No Comments

A recent study commissioned by carInsurance.com found that most Americans would not give up Driverless Cars Survey 1driving even if autonomous cars were available today. While one fifth of the 2,000 licensed drivers surveyed said they would gladly turn over the keys, most still have concerns about the skills and capabilities of a computerized chauffeur.

The distrust in autonomous driving technology does not seem to waver despite the frequent headlines that showcase Google’s self-driving cars and Tesla’s highly computerized electric cars. The drivers responding to this survey prefer to be sitting in a driverless car made by one of the traditional OEMs like Ford, GM or Toyota: with or without a human drive, it’s still a motor vehicle.Driverless Cars Survey 2

These data points show that even if driverless cars were available today, the convenience of autonomous driving isn’t going to be enough to overcome the technological concerns of the general public. However, when presented with the option of significantly lower insurance rates for autonomous – and safer – cars, those surveyed had a change of heart. More than a third of drivers said an 80% discount on car insurance rates would make purchase of an autonomous vehicle “very likely,” and 90% said they would at least consider the idea.

Now the question is: what will those ex-drivers do with the additional free time? Not, much, it seems. Driverless Cars Survey 3More than a quarter will text or talk with friends and 10% will just sleep.  Only 7% will use the time to work.

 

 

Oct 18

Connected Cars: Conduit vs. Content

By Automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), Telematics 3 Comments

In the Oct.-Nov. issue of Connected World Magazine, Dorothy Glancy of Santa Clara Law offers a point of view regarding potential privacy concerns related to connected cars.

With the hype and the hope surrounding connected cars technologies and the autonomous driving, the author is correct in identifying potential privacy and data usage issues concerning vehicle operational data and vehicle location information, other observations are hardly clear-cut and are lost in technical particulars, not all of them accurate.

In order to understand potential data privacy risks and devise appropriate remedies, we need to differentiate between data acquisition (sensors), data storage (EDR), data transmission (vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication and some telematics) and services (more telematics and location-based services). The potential for exposing private information increases as we progress in this process. Read More