Vehicle Data Quality: 3 Reasons to Choose Manufacturer Data
When managing a corporate fleet, the quality of the data transmitted by vehicles to the system is no small matter. It’s difficult to generate reliable reports, detect abnormal usage, or make informed decisions about your fleet when relying on approximate data regarding speed, mileage, or driving behavior. When managing hundreds or even thousands of vehicles, a simple error of just a few percentage points in a single parameter can have massive consequences, potentially resulting in colossal losses of time and money.
Inconsistent data, tangible risks
To illustrate this point, let’s look at a concrete example: a fleet of 100 vehicles, each traveling 20,000 km per year, covers a total of 2 million kilometers annually. If the fleet manager chooses a management tool that underestimates the distance traveled by 5%, that’s potentially 100,000 km that could be “missing” from the total reported by the solution, with multiple consequences. Among these is an overestimation of the vehicles’ average fuel consumption, if it is calculated by comparing the erroneous distance with the fuel consumption data reported by the fuel card. If the manager then launches a program to replace the fleet with more fuel-efficient vehicles, the disappointment could be significant in the end!
Nevertheless, many providers of fleet management tools and solutions claim to be able to accurately measure a wide range of parameters using aftermarket devices. Admittedly, some can 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 using an onboard accelerometer. From this limited data, the provider then estimates all the parameters necessary for fleet management: distances, speeds, fuel consumption, etc.
Manufacturer data: a guarantee of accuracy
In 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. In addition to eliminating the need to purchase, install, and remove devices, this solution also ensures data that is far more precise and accurate than that provided by aftermarket devices. Here are three reasons why.
- Manufacturer data: an exact measurement rather than an estimate. Most aftermarket devices are, in reality, simply GPS-based geolocation systems, sometimes supplemented by mobile network triangulation. Based on the vehicle’s GPS position (which is itself accurate to within only 20 meters), time, and sometimes acceleration, the system then estimates speed and distance approximately. From this approximate distance, service providers sometimes propose calculating estimated fuel consumption using average values entered into the system. Needless to say, accuracy is not guaranteed. In contrast, the manufacturer data collected by Echoes relies on sensors built into the vehicle. Starting with the odometer, whose presence and accuracy are mandated by Article R.78 of the Highway Code.
- Manufacturer data reflects the dashboard. All information transmitted by the vehicle to the manufacturer is based on the vehicle’s sensors and reflects the parameters displayed on the dashboard in the form of gauges, indicator lights, or alerts: speed, mileage, tire pressure, fuel or battery level, etc. Under these conditions, a sensor malfunction would be hard to miss: for example, a low-tire-pressure warning light that comes on unexpectedly, or a fuel gauge that doesn’t move, would naturally prompt the driver to notice the problem and take the vehicle to a repair shop. In contrast, a retrofitted control unit offers no safeguards in the event of a malfunction: a defective unit can remain installed in the vehicle and transmit false data for years!
- Manufacturer data: zero defects, zero maintenance. There are many reasons why a GPS unit might malfunction: even before it begins transmitting, it may be poorly designed, incorrectly configured, improperly mounted, poorly connected, or unsuitable for the vehicle. Over its lifetime, it may break down, fall out of its housing, be removed, or stolen. In contrast, manufacturer data relies on onboard telematics that undergo factory quality control in accordance with the manufacturer’s standards. This makes the risks of malfunction and inaccurate data even more negligible.
While installing connected devices can certainly serve as a first step in a vehicle fleet monitoring and management strategy, only Echoes’ solutions guarantee the accuracy and detail of the data required for optimal and rigorous fleet management.