Vehicle Data Quality: 3 Reasons to Choose Manufacturer Data.

When managing a corporate fleet, the quality of the data transmitted by the vehicles on the road is no small matter. It is hard to produce reliable reports, detect abnormal usage or make informed decisions about your fleet when speed, mileage or driving data is only approximate. Across hundreds or even thousands of vehicles, a simple error of a few percentage points on a single parameter can take on gigantic proportions — with potentially colossal losses of time and money.

Inconsistent data, tangible risks

To illustrate, let’s look at a concrete example: a fleet of 100 vehicles, each traveling 20,000 km a year, covers a total of 2 million kilometers annually. If the manager chooses a tool that underestimates distance by 5%, that’s potentially 100,000 km “missing” from the total the solution reports. The first consequence: an overestimated average consumption, once you compare that erroneous distance with the fuel-card volumes. Launch a program to replace the fleet with more fuel-efficient vehicles on that basis, and the disappointment could be significant!

Yet many providers of fleet-management tools claim to accurately measure a wide range of parameters using aftermarket devices. Admittedly, some connect to the vehicle’s OBD port and record the distance traveled. But in most cases, these devices measure only the GPS position, and sometimes the vehicle’s movements via an onboard accelerometer. From this scant data, the provider then estimates every parameter needed for fleet management: distances, speeds, consumption, and so on.

Manufacturer data: a guarantee of accuracy

By contrast, Echoes’ solutions rely on data generated natively by the vehicle’s onboard sensors and transmitted to the manufacturer in real time via a GSM connection. Beyond avoiding the purchase, installation and removal of devices, this approach also guarantees data that is far more precise and accurate than that of aftermarket devices. Here are three reasons why:

1. An exact measurement rather than an estimate. Most aftermarket devices are, in reality, simply GPS geolocation systems, sometimes assisted by mobile-network triangulation. From the GPS position (itself accurate to within only 20 m), time and sometimes acceleration, the system estimates speed and distance approximately — and sometimes derives consumption from average values entered by hand. Needless to say, accuracy is not guaranteed. The manufacturer data collected by Echoes, on the other hand, relies on the vehicle’s built-in sensors, starting with the odometer, whose presence and accuracy are mandated by Article R.78 of the French Highway Code.
2. An exact reflection of the dashboard. All the information the vehicle transmits to the manufacturer is based on its sensors and mirrors the parameters shown on the dashboard — gauges, indicator lights, alerts: speed, mileage, tire pressure, fuel or battery level, and so on. As a result, a sensor malfunction can hardly go unnoticed: a low-pressure warning light coming on unexpectedly, or a frozen fuel gauge, naturally prompts the driver to notice and have the vehicle repaired. An aftermarket device, by contrast, offers no safeguard: faulty, it can stay in place and transmit false data for years!
3. Zero defects, zero maintenance. A GPS device can malfunction for countless reasons: even before it transmits, it may be poorly designed, misconfigured, badly mounted, poorly connected or unsuited to the vehicle; over time, it may break down, fall out of its housing, be removed or stolen. Manufacturer data, conversely, relies on built-in telematics subject to factory quality control that meets the manufacturer’s standards — making the risks of malfunction and bad data far more negligible.

Installing connected devices can certainly be a first step in a fleet-monitoring and management strategy. Even so, only Echoes’ solutions guarantee the precision and sharpness of the data required for optimal, rigorous fleet management.