The increasing connectivity possible between vehicles can be fascinating but at the same time it fires up the imagination of skeptics, for example in the case of the eCall function. But this data exchange between and with vehicles primarily opens up a whole wealth of new opportunities and options. Such chances should be used and, after all, it is not only automobile manufacturers who can receive data from vehicles in order to exploit this information for their own purposes. With the aim of strengthening competitiveness especially for independent workshops, Hella Gutmann Solutions is now intensively studying the subject of “over-the-air vehicle data.” “We are exploring the concept of decrypting and assessing additional vehicle information for the benefit of workshops,” explains Hella Gutmann Solutions Managing Director Rolf Kunold.
Provided that they have their customers’ consent, workshops can telematically receive vehicle data via Hella Gutmann dongles (radio transmitters) that permanently remain in the OBD interfaces of customer vehicles. This opens up the new opportunity of being able to proactively approach customers in order to inform them of necessary measures to be taken. This would mean then that time and cost for a repair job and its economic efficiency could be estimated “over the air”, i.e. remotely. In this way, an economically oriented business leader is given new possibilities to regulate and manage workshop capacities and sales – by way of appointment allocation.
The workshop customer also profits from this as the Hella Gutmann dongle in the car provides extra safety: it means that the customer’s trusted workshop then always has access to the vehicle data and will contact him whenever its mechanics realize that there is need for certain action. This kind of action could entail pumping up tires, carrying out an oil change, topping up AdBlue, replacing a battery in good time or rectifying any other malfunctions that make their presence felt.
The profitable networking of customer vehicles is performed via the browser-based dongle solution by the North American company CarForce, in which HELLA has acquired a stake. Both, the software and the dongle are being further developed for workshop applications. Thus, it is quite conceivable that later connection with the mega macs functions will be an option.
Experience HELLA and Hella Gutmann at the Automechanika 2018 (Hall 9, Stand A88).
HELLA press conference: Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 3 – 3:30 pm (local time) at HELLA fair stand.