USING IoT TO MAKE URBAN MOBILITY A REALITY

KPMG reports 50% of car owners will no longer want to own a vehicle by 2025 and Research & Markets claims four out of ten car journeys will be via car share.

The concept of urban mobility is constantly evolving. As millennials and Gen Z become the dominant force in the consumer market, sharing models are firmly integrating into their everyday lives. Udrive, as a dedicated pay-per-minute car rental platform, operates next-generation hardware devices that interface with the vehicle CAN-Control and OnBoard Diagnostics systems allowing for 2-way communication and control.

This live stream communication to its middleware allows the Udrive team to digitise the vehicle and customer experience.

Udrive works with regional cloud providers to communicate to its fleet, which includes IoT SIM cards from leading telecommunications companies, virtual machines and containers for our custom

NICHOLAS WATSON

and CEO, Udrive.

Key Takeaways

l The concept of urban mobility is constantly evolving.

l As millennials and Gen Z become the dominant force in the consumer market, sharing models are firmly integrating into their everyday lives.

l Udrive operates nextgeneration hardware devices that interface with the vehicle CAN-Control and On-Board Diagnostics systems.

l Live stream communication to middleware allows the Udrive team to digitise the vehicle and customer experience.

l Udrive works with regional cloud providers to communicate to its fleet, which includes IoT SIM cards, virtual machines and containers.

l Udrive operates its infrastructure on scalable computing systems so that it can handle peak demand during the week and holiday periods.

l The infrastructure also allows Udrive to scale across cities and countries.

l The challenge of deployment around IoT is physical installation of the IoT devices, which is the most timeconsuming process.

l The IoT installation team needs to interface with several different brands and their interpretation of CAN-Control.

l Udrive has nearly 1,000 cars in its fleet in UAE and recently expanded into Saudi Arabia.

application services and mobile app experiences. Udrive operates its infrastructure on scalable computing systems so that it can handle peak demand during the week and holiday periods. This infrastructure also allows Udrive to scale across cities and countries.

The challenge of deployment around IoT is that physical installation of the IoT devices is the most time-consuming process as the team needs to interface with several different brands and their interpretation of CAN-Control.

Other than this, the rest is relatively simple and with Udrive’s in-house experience, it can control and operate all interfaces and systems.

Anywhere that it is possible to digitise human activity and automate communication and decision-making that boosts customer experience efficiently can gain from IoT smart city solutions.

For example, unlocking the door of a rented car with the click of a mobile app. Traditionally, a member of the rental company goes to a house and gives them the key, which is eventually used to open the car and drive it. As human interaction is involved, it can hours for them to show up. With Udrive, users can find a car, book it and open it within 10 seconds.

The first piece of advice would be to invest in more asset sharing. Ideally, utilising a single asset amongst many users will lead to fewer of those assets needing to exist to serve the same audience.

This results in multiple benefits for the user, as they are more economical and sustainable. There are fewer vehicles manufactured, and the number of traffic jams reduces as there are fewer cars on the street, free parking, and less wastage both financially and in carbon footprint.

There are 380,000 registered users and a total of 2 mn trips since its launch in 2016.

KPMG reports almost 50% of car owners today will no longer want to own a vehicle by 2025 and Research&Markets claim four out of every 10 car journeys will be via car share. Udrive car-sharing is also in line with Dubai’s 2040 Urban Plan’s bid to build a 20-minute city by reducing the strain of moving across the city and improving connectivity for passengers across the Emirates while promoting a circular economy, a cornerstone of sustainability.

Udrive has nearly 1,000 cars in its fleet in the UAE and has recently expanded into Saudi Arabia as well. There are 380,000 registered users and a total of 2 million trips since its launch in 2016. Udrive serves on average over 100 customers per car per month. And if that is around 50 unique customers, there are potentially 50 fewer cars on the road or required to be on the road. n