Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicles manufacturer, and Microlise, one of Europe’s leading telematics and fleet management solutions providers, have announced their partnership to bring in the latest global fleet telematics solutions to the Indian market. The agreement, signed for an initial period of five years, envisages both partners utilising their core strengths to deliver fleet management services of unprecedented quality, reliability and range to the Indian transport industry through the Tata Fleetman platform. While Microlise will provide the technology and solutions, Tata Motors will integrate them in its commercial vehicles and utilise its vast experience and reach for service delivery. The services will be marketed through OE fitment as well as through the aftermarket route.
Tata Motors launched the Tata Fleetman Telematics and Fleet Management services brand in India two years ago, in response to growing market needs for better fleet control and greater fleet utilisation. However, as the market leader, Tata Motors recognised that while basic services have served transporters well, it needed the right partner to meet customers’ needs for more sophisticated and technologically complex applications like Fleet Productivity Improvement, Fuel Management, Driving assessment and Safety. Along with the introduction of service products in these areas, the partnership with Microlise will also undertake ongoing development of the new Tata Fleetman system, to address the anticipated future needs of the logistics and transportation industry.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said: “As the leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in India, we have been spearheading the change in the Indian transport industry for many years now. We as Tata Motors wish to lead the shift towards electronic control of drivelines and other vehicle systems. We also wish to harness the power and potential of such a digital approach by introducing advanced telematics and fleet management services. Tata FleetMan’s partnership with Microlise is a step in that direction. We firmly believe that this association has the potential to transform the way commercial vehicle fleets are managed in India.”
Mr. Nadeem Raza, Managing Director, Microlise Ltd., said: “Microlise is extremely proud and excited to be working with Tata Motors. The cultural fit between the two organizations and a very clear shared vision has meant that both companies have been able to develop the new Tata FleetMan system, ensuring that it will not only address the requirements of Indian transport companies today, but will continue to deliver future features and functions, to meet ever increasing demands that will be placed on transport operations as the exciting growth story in the Indian economy continues. The new Tata FleetMan system will be based on the market leading Microlise platform that is currently installed in over 1,50,000 vehicles around the world and used by some of the biggest transport and logistics companies like DHL, Tesco and Carrefour for significant cost savings and efficiency improvements.”
Some of the advanced Fleet Telematics applications and services planned for introduction by the partnership are:
Emergency SOS: A panic button will be provided in the vehicles through which the driver can send an SOS message to the transport owner in an emergency.
Trip Management: A versatile tool to track and evaluate individual vehicle trips in real time against a standard in a multi-level, multi-user framework. Trip Management helps achieve significant improvements in fleet utilisation and reduction in communication costs and idle times.
Driving assessment: Since drivers are the most important resource factor of transport operations, the driving assessment solution continuously evaluates drivers on a range of parameters impacting safety and economy. Suitable consultancy and retraining is then employed to improve overall fleet economy and safety record.
Vehicle health management: A solution which can only be deployed in the new age electronically-driven vehicles, vehicle health management helps in remote monitoring of a vehicle’s health, including quick fault detection and rectification before it can lead to consequential failures. It also generates information on maintenance and fault trends which is invaluable for product planning and warranty cost reduction measures.