Green telematics: The eco-driving opportunity

31 Jan 2011

Susan Kuchinskas from Telematics Update reported that eco-driving apps seems to be more feel-good gimmicks than delivering real value.

"A Glass of Water" is a new iPhone app offered by Toyota Sweden and developed by ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi Sweden, that aims to help drivers go lighter on the gas pedal. If the drivers go smoothly enough that a glass of water on the dashboard will never spill, they are likely to drive fuel-efficient. The app additionally lets users analyse their drive and compare it to other users on the Toyota website. If all drivers in Sweden avoid spilling the glass, they would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2 million tons a year, according to Toyota.

There are two categories of eco-driving apps: Those who aim at changing fuel-wasting driver behaviour and those, who help finding the best route to reduce unnecessary mileage and idling in traffic. Kuchinskas therefore states a déjà-vu for those familiar with auto telematics.

According to Joe Berry, founder of JBJ Advisors, everybody tries to invent an eco routing application, because that sounds cool and friendly. He proposes: "Wouldn't it be better if you concentrated on giving me a car that got better mileage, rather than giving me the same routing information and packaging it to be eco-friendly?"

Greener fleets

GreenDriver, a fleet solution that combines in-vehicle hardware with a cellular connection and online training and certification, is among the newest entrants on the fleet management side providing score cards for a whole fleet as well as individual drivers along with analyzing tools.

A European provider of fleet tracking and telematics services, Cybit, recently launched Sustainability+, which combines drivers performance management software with GPS-enabled fleet tracking. Real-time measurement of driving behavior results in an ecoScore, which is configurable to the individual business and measures driving styles, road types, conditions, and distances driven by calculating points-per-mile for each driver. Compiling the information into a individual driver report, allows a month-by-month comparison of performance and trends. According to David Alexander, principal analyst for automotive technology at ABI Research, a 15 percent savings on fuel costs is a good return on investment for a fleet manager, although how much any particular company might save depends on how efficient the drivers were before.

Private consumers

Eco-routing for non-professional drivers is for example covered by Total Traffic HD Plus, a Clear Channel Radio's Total Traffic Network and Inrix service giving drivers real-time traffic flow information on highways and major metropolitan routes as well as predictive traffic flow, enabling them to avoid traffic snarls. There already exist many other applications for consumers to check their fuel efficiency, according to Alexander.

For decades BMW's MPG meter has been standard while adaptive cruise control and automatic start-stop are other examples of features already in the market that can provide eco benefits. Fiat's eco:Drive application is found to reduce drivers' fuel consumption and emissions by 6 percent on average. By plugging in a USB key containing eco:Drive in the car's infotainment system, the solution is allowed to record information about driving style. Later, users plug the key into a computer to see analyzed data on their style and who they can improve. But Alexander notes that there are many drivers who don't care about fuel economy.

Future prospects

"For Fiat, I can see it helping to build brand loyalty with a portion of its customer base," Alexander says. "The idea of an online eco-driver community makes it more than just an individual driving tutorial. By creating similar apps to the Fiat eco:Drive, OEMs can attract customers who want to be seen as good environmentalists or who simply want to save money on fuel." According to Alexander, there's no huge business opportunity because for him, it seems to be unlikely that consumers will pay for eco-driving apps, but if more OEMs could be persuaded to make the journey data available in the same format, there might be potential for a broader online community.