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Johannesburg - Vehicle recovery company Tracker is using data from over one million telematic tracking units embedded in vehicles - which transfer 40 million messages per day - to analyse the behaviour of drivers to create better products and services.
Tracker’s product and marketing executive, Michael du Preez told Fin24 that the company’s units in vehicles offer it data that can be used locate accidents, help families locate one another and keep drivers safer.
“We want to prove to our active community that their safety is our biggest concern. At Tracker we are passionate about protecting our customers and their loved ones and this is our way of demonstrating this,” du Preez said.
The company shares the information - after making it anonymous - with other companies like Google for GPS applications, Google Maps and Waze.
Du Preez said that Tracker currently exceeds 40 million "packets of information per day" in real time, which includes traffic feeds and traffic incidents that are used daily by various companies to help drivers have safer journeys.
He said company has put a vast amount into creating machine learning algorithms over the past two years, including for customer profiling, road anomaly detection and road conditions.
Du Preez said that all data collected becomes anonymised information,and partner companies cannot identify who the customers.
“This information can be used by companies to know what kind of products and services to build into a petrol station for example, such as which ATMs to include in which locations,” du Preez said.
Tracker recently announced TrackerActive, a personal active tracking device with 24-hour access to the Tracker national emergency centre.
The device fits into the palm of the hand and is similar to its telematics tracking unit in vehicles. It is aimed at people who run or cycle outdoors.
The device owner is also able to view and follow a list of approved friends while training, from a built-in GPS receiver that can pinpoint another user to within 2.5 meters of his or her location.
Earlier this year, Tracker launched its MySafekidz app for parents to monitor the location of a school bus to within five metres of its location.
