“X” Marks the Spot

The XPRIZE Foundation has kicked off another prize. This time it is sponsored by Progressive Automotive Insurance [ http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/ ].

“The goal is to inspire a new generation of viable, safe, affordable and super fuel efficient vehicles that people want to buy.”

By super efficient they mean to exceed 100 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent). What is at stake is $10 million USD in prizes, to be awarded to the winner that can demonstrate a vehicle that is:

• Able to achieve 100 MPGe
• Production ready, not concept only vehicles
• Practical
• Sustainable both in technology and operation

Tall order, and believe me when I tell you no small task. The teams participating have a significant effort on their hands. Many variables to control, and much data to both prove and substantiate claims for meeting the requirements. Currently the EPA performs or requires performance testing in a strictly controlled environment…which is fine for the current standard vehicles…not so great for the very innovative designs potentially being brought about. Not to mention the rigorous conditions that are being set to measure “non-standard metrics”. How then do we ensure compliance in real time under real test conditions? Even better how do we empirically “level the playing field” so that all data is collected under similar conditions and normalized accordingly?

To that, the Morey Corporation has been charged (no pun intended) with providing the Morey MT-30 telematics system for the events. Referred to as the DAS (data acquisition system) for the competition, the system will collect multiple sensory data and performance parameters in real time and both securely store the data on board the DAS device as well as forward the data via wireless cellular technology to a remote server. Either way only authorized judges will have access to the raw data, but the status of each vehicle will be made available on-line [http://www.fuelourfuturenow.com/team.cfm ]. I am not sure when that will be available but if you visit the main site I am sure they will be able to give you more.

I am often asked by friends and family my opinion on the topic of  “global warming” and whether or not fossil fuels are or are not to blame. My answer? The same…I don’t know, how can anyone really? But should how/if/why global warming does or doesn’t exist be the real issue? I don’t think so, what I believe is that we are all charged, during our life time, to be good stewards of our world.

I recall a time when people threw garbage out of their car window as they rolled down the highway. I also recall back in the seventies those Saturday morning cartoon commercials telling us to “give a hoot don’t pollute”. I ask you , today if you saw someone throw out their garbage out of their car window would you be okay with it? I think not. So I guess it doesn’t matter what I or anyone of us believes, it does however matter what we each do. I’m energized (sorry), and proud to be part of the Progressive Insurance Automotive XPRIZE competition because they are doing the right thing.

I give a “hoot” and so should you.

See you on the other side. …73.

Telematics Adoption Issues in 2010

A few weeks ago I was asked to make a bold prediction for 2010 for telematics. So I said “Consumer telematics will not take off in 2010”. Now I would say that’s pretty bold coming from a guy who is heavily involved in telematics, wouldn’t you agree? Anyways, a short time ago (and after my prediction) I was brought an article from ABI Research entitled “What’s not going to happen in technology markets in 2010?” One of these top 10 predictions was that major adoption issues will continue to hamper consumer telematics in 2010. You want to know what I was thinking. I was thinking I should have bought a lottery ticket.

It is a pretty telling statement, and one I obviously agree with. Overall telematics has strong momentum in the commercial space, and as I mentioned in an earlier blog, successful companies are beginning to see the competitive advantages of the technology. On the other side of the coin however, there still remains many facets to adoption. Here are a few points on why that is:

• Telematics is not a household word. While the commercial side of things is becoming better versed on the topic, most consumers struggle with identifying what telematics is. While they have most likely heard of GM’s excellent telematics system “OnStar”, the tipping point will be when people not in the business can identify the technology. Ask around with friends and family and see if anyone can give you a rough approximation of what telematics is or does, then ask about iPod/iPhone products.
• “Our drivers don’t want big brother watching over them, it makes them less productive.” Many owners/managers still want their employees to have the “illusion of autonomy”…this is gone the instant they install telematics devices and state it as a pure tracking device. Although that is in fact a real use case for it, it is not however where the real power and benefit will come from. The way it should be presented is as a “vehicle maintenance and performance” tool. It is a means for a company to become more efficient and profitable, which in turn means job security, and profitability (pay raises/profit share?).
• “We need to breakeven in less than a month.” It is crucial that any company seeking to use the technology fully investigate how they will use it and what they will measure to gauge such. The ROI is then clear and quantifiable, and not left up to unrealistic expectations or opinions.
• “We need to get all of our various units on the same system, without changing anything.” Telematics is still a relatively young technology; here innovation trumps standardization…if a company waits for a single, universal (does everything for everyone) technology platform, they will be waiting for a while. Currently there are several initiatives to standardize various components. It is part of our planning to closely monitor those initiatives and seek the best solutions for our customers.
• There used to be an axiom in business, “big eats small”. Fact is its “fast eats slow”. The momentum has to shift from seeking technologies that don’t exist (Unobtainium) in order to satisfy the last 5% of wants and focus more on the 95% that meets the needs. This typically happens is a breakdown in understanding the value proposition occurs, and thus a ghost technology is needed to make the sale. Where did I put that easy button?
• “How hard can it be, I can make it myself.” This is a common scenario…never mind the fact that when someone says “I can make it myself” they usual are misunderstanding what “it” is. This severe underestimation of effort is the number one issue in the same genre of “we tried that once, and it didn’t work”. The technology curve is steep and constantly changing. The best strategy is to focus more on the overall requirements and less on the internal specifics. What is your core business? If it isn’t on the design and manufacturing of the technology then it would be wiser to seek “best in class” for that part of your strategy…our sales and marketing team is ready to assist you by the way.

I wish I could say I made these up. Truth is these are more or less actual customer/end user statements. So in the end while it may seem counter intuitive to highlight the issues surrounding telematics adoption in 2010, it is actually an advantage to look up, look around, and address them head on.

To better help our customers, we have to be prepared with the answers. It means being pro-active in designing products that both address the technical as well as the business side of things. Technology for technology sake is a big mistake; we plan everything with purpose and a business use case in mind from the onset.

Either way I’m heading to the convenience store; I hear the lotto is up to $144M.

73,

Emad

Emad Isaac is Chief Technology Officer for MOREY. He is the author of “TechKnowledge”, a MOREY blog dedicated to market-relevant technologies, trends and product innovations in the electronics industry.

The Value of Telematics in a “Post Throw-Away” Economy

I guess starting sometime around the early eighties, we in the western world (mostly) had developed a knack for throwing things out when they either broke, or we perceived them as obsolete. This behavior was mostly fed by the rate at which new, cheaper and more feature rich products were introduced in to the market. It seems that “throw away and replace” attitude percolated into our business actions. We replaced needs with wants, and we became more likely to take a time/cost/feature approach towards capital expenditure and assets.

Before 2009, companies with many assets to track were generally focused on the bottom line, and maybe not so much on the efficiencies of their organizations and operations. Most of those companies would have a difficult time stating precisely where, and under what conditions their assets were at any given moment, even though the Sarbanes-Oxley act put into legislation that publicly traded companies must provide visibility to all their assets at any given time.

Tracking large volumes of fixed and mobile assets is a considerable challenge, ignoring the costs associated with operating those assets; well that’s basically saying “I know I could spend less, but I just don’t have time for it right now”. At least that’s the way it was over a year ago. But now, times are different. Welcome to the “Post Throw-Away” economy.

These days the big questions are: Where are my assets? Is it where it should be? What is the condition of my asset? Does that asset even exist? The first two should be obvious; the last two need a little more explaining. “Knowing the condition” means more than is it working or not. It means is it operating sub-optimally, such as wasting fuel by idling unnecessarily, or is it due for maintenance and I need to start planning for when and where that will take place. It means I’m being proactive and not reacting when, not if, something goes wrong. And believe me something always goes wrong, usually at the worst possible time.

This last year was real wake up call for many corporations, the effects of the “great recession” left no industry untouched. To that end all eyes turned inwards, and many were in fact scrambling to do more with less. I would argue that it was the reverse; we started to re-learn how to be more efficient and effective with what we have. Now more than ever, greater attention is being paid on maximizing the utility of our assets. It is no longer acceptable to just replace or ignore it.

Think about that for a moment, would you be okay with paying car insurance on every car you have ever owned, even after you sold them? What about if every time you forgot where you parked your car, you went out and bought a new one? Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Unfortunately that is precisely what is going on with shipping containers and railcars. I’m not even going to go into the cost of contents of those vessels and the amount of lost revenue, or on the impact to customer relations. It’s happening right now, and sadly for some it will keep on happening. The scary thing is we have the technology, it exists today and it is called “Telematics”. It’s not the “silver bullet”, and it won’t solve the financial crisis, but it works wonderfully and for those who have embraced it, it has paid off handsomely. In some cases even generated a significant profit.

So I guess the big question is who are going to be the guys who connect the dots and realize the tremendous potential and cost savings by adapting telematics, and who will be left behind wondering where they went wrong. Either way, whoever figures it out first will reap the rewards and gain a significant advantage over their competition. It’s not a question of if but when. Where do you want to be?

More later…

73,

Emad Isaac is Chief Technology Officer for MOREY. He is the author of “TechKnowledge”, a MOREY blog dedicated to market-relevant technologies, trends and product innovations in the electronics industry.