GPS based vehicle tracking and fleet management technology is in use across the world for over a decade, despite the wide use of technology only small percentage of transportation and logistics vehicles within India have used this technology. Technology moved further with Autonomous Driving technologies, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and Driver Monitoring Systems to improve safety but millions of vehicles continue to use LBS based technology which is not a great use as the position of these vehicles could be miles away from its actual location. LBS technology uses Cell Tower locations instead of GPS.
India’s rapid growth over last 2 decades has put massive pressure on the infrastructure and it requires massive planning and organizing the traffic and infrastructure development to meet today’s demand require innovation and technology help to collect information and real time monitoring. Such requirement enabled Govt. of India to mandate AIS-140 (Automotive Industry Standard – 140) with the help of Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). The AIS-140 mandates that GPS based vehicle tracking device and with SOS (Emergency) Panic button to install on all commercial and public service transport vehicles.
The recommendation is definitely the right direction to India’s growing logistics and transportation industries, however managing millions of vehicles nationwide comes with logistical and technical challenges. Government targets have failed and required a revised thinking and regulation of software and hardware is required. The costs of certifying the devices with ARAI is proven to be too expensive for MSME organisations to enter into the market. The cost of getting a device approval / certification costs in excess of 10,000 USD. ARAI must reconsider the costs as these costs will be passed onto the vehicle operators to recover the investment.
Millions of small and independent owners are reluctant to comply with the recommendation due to their limited technical skills operating applications and associated costs. Govt of India should consider subsiding the costs and run workshops across India.
Customers considering AIS-140 compliance devices installations are asked to check with their software provider where would they store the data and how scalable the infrastructure is. Most GPS Tracking companies appears to be using China based technology. Basically, India is giving away its vehicle movement data to China free of cost. This market requires to curb on devices which store data outside India.
Anyone requires an advise on Vehicle Tracking, AIS-140 Compliance rules or Advance technology such as ADAS, DMS or Implementation consulting contact Fleetly.
