New Delhi: The Netherlands-based mapping and location data provider, Here Technologies, is working on various fronts in India, including transportation, logistics and fleet management. The company offers end-to-end solutions for connected vehicles, in-vehicle infotainment, and autonomous driving for the automotive and smart mobility sector.
“We are constantly looking to expand our association with automakers and spatial technology partners in India to drive the country’s broader adoption of smart mobility solutions. Some of these key solutions include better navigation through high definition mapping and probe data, route optimisation and road safety,” Nikhil Kumar, country head, Here Technologies India, told ETAuto in an exclusive interview.
A recent Deloitte report says that the future of connected vehicle technology is bright. But at about 5% penetration of vehicle infotainment systems and digital cockpits, India is at an early stage compared to a global average of 30% and 90% in Japan. This is primarily because connectivity is largely restricted to smartphones and in-car infotainment devices in urban and metro cities.
Another big challenge for India is its linguistic diversity and the restricted use of Lidar that can slow the process of data collection- something on which the whole ecosystem of connected vehicle technology depends, he said.
With over 4,000 employees, India drives a substantial part of our global R&D initiatives and helps us create products locally for a global audience.Nikhil Kumar, country head, Here Technologies India
“In order to address these concerns, it is important for the government, organisations and technology players to work together and help inform people’s understanding of privacy, and how their data is being used so that they can make informed choices about their data and protect it from potential mischief-makers,” Kumar said.
Several OEMs have started collaborating with technology and telecom service providers in the country to offer connected software solutions with their new portfolio and address these concerns. “We also believe that as India moves closer to 5G, especially with the much-anticipated roll-out of India’s home-grown 5G network infrastructure, India is likely to see a strong uptick by customers for vehicles with connected software,” he said.
India is important
Kumar said that India is a key market for Here, both in terms of product innovation and business opportunities. “With over 4,000 employees, India drives a substantial part of our global R&D initiatives and helps us create products locally for a global audience. Besides this, strategic partnerships are extremely crucial for us to drive our business growth.
We are always looking to explore strategic partnerships which enable us to expand our global and regional footprint, through their expertise and local market-oriented insights,” Kumar said.
“From a talent perspective, to promote geospatial engineering and innovation, we are committed to providing the right platforms for budding Indian developers and spatial technologists where they can learn more and build fulfilling careers. In 2019, we collaborated with Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics to further spatial analytics in India,” he said.
In March this year Here signed an MoU with the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge, a state government entity formed to converge efforts of the Telangana government, academia, and industry players to train and upskill the youth.
In the wake of COVID-19, the Indian industries, the public sector, governance and supply chain are essential areas of focus for Here. The company has recently partnered with UNL (a smart addressing platform for navigation & location-based services) to provide a solution, Human Care App, which provides the infrastructure for a tech-driven shift to a new normal by accelerating the information flow and collaboration between people, governments, NGOs, and businesses to co-create safer public environments powered by location and data.
“We have end-to-end solutions for the automotive and smart mobility sector for connected vehicles, in-vehicle infotainment, and autonomous driving.
The markets having a higher demand for the digital transformation of businesses, such as transportation, logistics, and fleet management, will also be areas of growth for us,” he said.
Building partnerships
Partnerships allow companies to scale and co-develop joint solutions to address industry and domain-specific use cases.
“We have strategic partnerships with leading Indian Salesforce System Integrators (Sis) including TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro in Travel & Leisure (T&L), Manufacturing/Supply chain, Telco, and Utilities. We also have technology partnerships with SAP and Oracle. We actively work with specialised Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in fleet telematics, supply chain management (SCM) and transportation management system (TMS) solutions. Through these partnerships, we build joint solutions, Google Tag Manager (GTM) models and establish a governance scorecard and process,” Kumar said.
As India moves closer to 5G, India is likely to see a strong uptick by customers for vehicles with connected software.Kumar
Some of the leading Sis have established Here Centers of Excellence (COEs) with dedicated Here solution architects and delivery people to help implement Here services at their clients, he said.
Here has partnered with TCS on its Digifleet solution to help clients build more efficiencies and cost optimisation in their current fleet operations. Kumar said that TCS has taken Here location services, routing, traffic, and fleet telematics APIs and has developed fleet/driver UX dashboards and analytics as an E2E fleet management solution. “We have similar solutions in intelligent transportation networks, smart metering, and location-driven network planning by partnering with leading Sis and ISVs,” he said.
Trends under the new normal
The new normal and environment have created a shift in trends across industries, Kumar said. While some have seen disruption, especially within the logistics sector, on the flip side, other essential services related to delivery services have grown tremendously, he said.
“Online to Offline (O2O) platforms have taken off, solving the problem of last-mile delivery for medication, parcels, groceries, and food. Location technology will be vital to connect carriers to the consumer and play an important role in shaping the future of retail and logistics industries. That is the same in India. We have seen new technologies providing key results in critical challenges and issues in healthcare, food, security, education, and supply chain within India’s manufacturing space. Technology platforms play a crucial role as they provide the ability for the enterprises to scale up,” Kumar said.
