How connected vehicles drive business value

Going beyond basic data points

Nowadays, every vehicle is required by law to come equipped with a CAN bus system, which enables microcontrollers and sensors to communicate with each other. These controllers measure parameters associated with engine control, transmission, braking, steering, battery and more, enabling better safety, efficiency and convenience for the operator.

The most modern CAN bus systems are sophisticated, but even the most basic can yield important information not just about the performance of the vehicle but about the environment in which it operates. Even more, the low cost of these systems makes them ideal for use in a wide range of industrial environments. You can sign up for our CIO Connect newsletter to stay informed.

Bringing it all together

New analytics techniques and dashboarding capabilities mean that there is a wealth of useful data being generated by cars and other vehicles that can now be unlocked and used to generate business value.

“Bringing all of this standard data together and applying advanced analytics techniques to it reveals a wide range of useful insights,” explains Bruno Mommens, IoT and M2M solution lead and project manager at delaware. “Performance can be monitored in extreme detail and tweaked in real time, predictive maintenance algorithms can be set up and traffic heat maps can be generated to boost safety.”

Taking land-based vehicles into the cloud

Two ongoing delaware projects help illustrate the business value of connected vehicle solutions: AVR’s connected tractor solution and the Gillet connected race car.

“For both of these projects, delaware made it possible for data and signals generated by CAN bus systems to be uploaded to the cloud, opening up web and mobile applications. The information is then visualized via an intuitive online dashboard,” explains Bruno.

“In the case of AVR, an MS Azure-based platform, the information generated by these connected tractors is used in crop and agricultural field management, ultimately aiming to provide continuous cultivation advice to the farmer. With Gillet, a Belgian motorsports company, the goal is quite different. While the performance of their connected race car, the Vertigo, can be tuned using track data, the data can also be displayed in real time for the benefit of the audience – features that are sure to give Gillet an edge during the upcoming race at Pikes Peak.”

Partner with us to add value through vehicles

Independent of whether the machinery in question is a race car, a tractor or a manufacturing plant, delaware has the expertise needed to offer an end-to-end solution that connects machines to add value.

“We have numerous and varied industrial partners and we’ve seen a wide range of situations,” Bruno adds. “We can have a proof of concept ready in a couple of weeks, after which we validate the business value of the solution and even explore ways of industrializing it – always taking the return on investment into consideration.”

Fascinated by the potential of connected vehicles? Read our case writeups for AVR and Gillet for more details, or get in touch with one of our experts.get in touch with one of our experts