Vehicle Tracking in India

VEHICLE TRACKING SYSTEM  or Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVL) is now one of the most popular technological changes in all over the world that is going to make our personal and business life lot easier. As the term suggests, it enables one to track or monitor the location of vehicle in instant time. Primarily, the system functions with the help of different technologies like the Global Positioning System (GPS), traditional cellular network such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and other radio frequency medium. But GPS is more effective and accurate in this field. As far as vehicle tracking in India is concerned, its uses and market are expected to increase within a couple of years.

Vehicle tracking system in India is mainly used in transport industry that keeps a real-time track of all vehicles in the fleet. The tracking system consists of GPS device that brings together GPS and GSM technology using tracking software. The attached GPS unit in the vehicle sends periodic updates of its location to the route station through the server of the cellular network that can be displayed on a digital map. The location details are later transferred to users via SMS, e-mail or other form of data transfers.

There are various GPS software and hardware developing companies in India working for tracking solutions. However, its application is not that much of popular as in other countries like USA, which regulates the whole GPS network. In India it is mostly used in Indian transport and logistics industry and not much personal vehicle tracking. But with better awareness and promotion the market will increase. Lets have a look at its current application in India using vehicle tracking though in less volume.

Freight forwarding

Logistic service providers are now increasingly adopting vehicle-tracking system for better fleet management and timely service. The system can continuously monitor shipment location and so can direct the drivers directly in case of any change of plan. Fleet managers can keep an eye on all activities of workers, vehicle over speed, route deviation etc. The driver in turn can access emergency service incase of sickness, accident or vehicle breakdown. All in turn supports money and time management, resulting better customer service.

Call centers

In commercial vehicle segments the taxi operators of various call centers are now using vehicle-tracking system for better information access.

However, its application is in its infant stage in India and if adequate steps are taken in bringing the cost of hardware and software low then it can be used for tracking personal vehicle, farming (tractor), tourist buses, security and emergency vehicle etc. Again Government needs to cut down the restriction imposed upon the availability of digital maps for commercial use and this will encourage software industry in developing cost-effective tracking solutions. Though, sales of both commercial and passenger vehicles are growing but price of tracking service is very high and this is the key issue in Indian market. Hence, it’s important for market participants to reduce prices of GPS chips and other products in order to attract more and more users.

As far as Indian vehicle tracking and navigation market is concerned the recent association of India with Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) will act as a catalyst in the improvement of vehicle tracking system. This will give an advantage in managing traffic, roadways and ports and also as an important tool for police and security agency to track stolen vehicles. Hence, in near future there is large prospect for the utility of vehicle tracking system in India, which can revolutionize the way we are communicating.