ERM Advanced Telematics set to expand its offering

International automotive technology provider ERM Advanced Telematics is set to expand its offering of products and services to vehicle manufacturers (OEMs) and importers over the coming year. ERM plans to expand its portfolio in order to provide vehicle manufacturers and importers tools to strengthen customer relations even after the expiration of the warranty. ERM's solutions will enable vehicle manufacturers and importers to offer their customers additional products and services during the vehicle's lifespan, obtain important real-time information about vehicle’s systems failure and accidents, and increase revenue from owners after the expiration of the vehicle's warranty. The solutions and technology for automobile manufacturers and importers will expand ERM's current offerings, which mainly target fleet management and stolen vehicle recovery service providers.

ERM Advanced Telematics is an international automotive technology vendor, whose products are installed in more than 1.5 million vehicles worldwide. ERM Advanced Telematics, founded in 1985, is headquartered in Israel and operates in over 65 countries in North, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The company's solutions are based on a range of wireless technologies, including cellular communications, RF, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. ERM offers a wide range of modular solutions that improve the protection, management, and diagnostics of vehicles, vehicle fleets, and valuable assets, reducing operating costs for both the service provider and the end customer.

Over the coming year, ERM intends to offer a series of solutions, which will include advanced analytics capabilities enabling automotive manufacturers and importers to predict upcoming expenses ('money events') over a vehicle's lifecycle and accordingly build customized proposals for vehicle owners and fleet managers. The broad range of ERM products will include products that integrate its CAN Engine technology, which the company developed to provide a full vehicle diagnostics solution, various wireless communication and diverse add-on sensors interfacing technologies. In combination with ERM StarLink technology for telematics applications products, this diagnostics solution retrieves and conducts smart analysis of the vehicle's operation in real time, and sends alerts of predefined events to a server. For example, the vehicle importer can obtain real-time information about an accident or malfunctions in the vehicle, contact the driver and offer immediate and targeted assistance as needed.

The StarLink technology, which is implemented in ERM's family of telematics products, is designed as modular solution, on which additional peripherals and technologies can easily be added at any time. The modularity makes it possible to add advanced features and services, including real-time vehicle diagnostics, driver behavior monitoring, real time accident detection, connectivity with various sensors, readings from the vehicle's different systems and additional features.

In addition to the diagnostics services, ERM is developing smart products that will allow automotive OEMs and importers to add value for drivers and vehicle and fleet owners,based on their use of the vehicle, whether private or commercial, following its purchase. These products will enable vehicle manufacturers and importers to become significant after-market service providers, strengthen relations with the vehicle and fleet owners, and create new long-term revenue channels throughout the vehicle's lifecycle.

As part of the diagnostic solution, ERM's telematics technology enables the reading and enquiring of data from the vehicle CAN bus and from the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) plug. This way it is possible to provide extensive information to the OEMs, which can be obtained from the insights about malfunctions and driver behavior under different situations.

"ERM offers vehicle manufacturers and importers direct communications with the customer following the purchase of the vehicle," said Eitan Kirshenboim, CMO of ERM Advanced Telematics. "This is a paradigm shift that will serve both the vehicle and fleet owners and the manufacturers and importers. Drivers will benefit from a dedicated application, which will show them real-time information about the vehicle and the quality of their driving. They will also be able to obtain real-time assistance from the manufacturers and importers to deal with malfunctions and accidents. For example, the vehicle manufacturers and importers can know when the vehicle's battery health is low, and offer the driver a reduced price or other benefits if he goes to their service center to buy a new original battery. The automobile manufacturers and importers can undertake similar steps for a wide range of parts and services that drivers routinely need. This way OEMs and automobile importers will establish relations which they did not have before with the buyers of the vehicles, generating revenue over years and boosting customer loyalty to the brand."

Kirshenboim concluded: "Telematics is the critical key to the realisation of the global industry's vision of the connected car and to the ability of the automotive manufacturers and importers to improve their revenue from customers after they have bought cars. The solutions which we will offer OEMs and importers will enable ERM to play an important part in this trend and contribute to turning the connected car to a business growth engine."