Smart diagnostic device set to take entry-level cars into whole new league

The system captures errors on a dashboard every week and the information helps the user understand the vehicle's condition

Picture this. You are on a highway when your car develops a sudden glitch and is about to break down. You are beginning to panic, and then your phone rings. The caller tells you what’s wrong with your vehicle and reassures you that a support team would be with you shortly to fix the problem.  

Connected cars equipped with all sorts of infotainment, predictive maintenance and on-ground support features are not exactly new. But most of these belong to the high-end luxury segment. But what if some of these features were available in mass market cars too, say, a hatchback like Maruti Alto? That may soon become a reality, thanks to an innovation by TVS Automobile Solutions (TAS), a unit of the $8.5 billion home-grown automaker, the TVS Group.

The Chennai-based company has developed a diagnostic device — a sort of a cloud-based “dongle” — which can be connected to the electronics control unit (ECU) of a car in order to monitor it in real time. The ECU, which is also called the engine control module (ECM), is the brain of the vehicle. With the help of a programmable computer chip and input sensors, it tracks the performance of various parts of the car such as the engine, the body, the air conditioning, the lights and so on. 

Once connected to the ECU, the dongle’s inbuilt SIM gathers information and error reports from different parts of the vehicle and sends the data to the cloud from where TAS’s Command Centre picks it up. The Command Centre, which is in operation 24X7, alerts the user at once and in case assistance is required, provides it by connecting him or her to the nearest TVS garage.

“In simple terms, we are telling our customers that we got your back covered,” says Srinivasa Raghavan, executive director at TAS. He adds that the dongle works irrespective of the brand or model or type of the car. It is also as secure as a bank account, he says, and the customer doesn’t have to worry about privacy or data breach.

Currently at a pilot stage, the dongle decodes the car’s health with predictive analyses and a 5000-point diagnostic check. This involves identifying the possible causes of a problem. For example, if the vehicle is experiencing a slow pick-up, it could be because of a leak in the tube or a problem with the turbo. Naturally, when the cause of a problem is quickly determined, it prevents further damage and minimises repair costs for the owner. The errors are captured on a dashboard every week and the information helps the user understand the vehicle’s condition and, if necessary, book a service appointment.

Called the Right Lane Club, the system comes at a price range starting from Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 per annum. One of its biggest advantages is that it is fully integrated with TVS’s roadside support teams. While low-level problems can be rectified by a support team, more complex issues are referred to service centres or to the more than 1,000 authorised garages of TVS Auto Assist.

At present, TAS is operating the system through a call centre with human intervention. But there are plans to automate the whole process using artificial intelligence. TAS is also using edge computing, and the three devices — the dongle, the computing device and the media entertainment system of the car — will converge, thereby eliminating the need for external assistance to communicate with the owner or driver of the vehicle.

The dongle tracks nearly 20 frequently encountered problems. From alerting the driver if he is braking too hard to telling him that he is over-speeding, it keeps tabs on nearly every aspect of the car’s functioning. It can even tell when the driver is too tired — an inference derived from the way he car is being handled — and alerts him accordingly. It also sends out alerts if someone tries to steal the car or if it deviates from its usual course.

“It is all about the intelligent use of the technology and integrating it with the offline world,” says Raghavan.

Moreover, the device’s predictive analysis-based vehicle usage patterns make for a comprehensive Vehicle Health Record, which in turn can help bring down maintenance costs and project the real-time valuation of car.  

The data collected has other potential uses. For example, it could be used to negotiate the terms of an insurance policy. A pilot in this regard is already underway with the support of Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India.