According to the GOI report, national and state highways in India are nearly 5% of total road length but accounts for almost 61% of all accident-related deaths. Millions of vehicles ply on these roads daily, either to manage the movement of goods worth billions of dollars or serve sectors such as mining, construction, transportation and even public services. Can we leave them at the mercy of their fate? A big ‘NO’ is obvious. 

Easy access to modern technology - from managing day-to-day operations to vehicle tracking and maintenance - can ensure the safety of drivers and assets, and improve business efficiency. To that end, both Shridhar Gupta and Vidit Jain, Co-Founders at LocoNav are working towards democratising access to cutting-edge technology for safe and efficient commercial fleet management. 

“Our IoT-based & AI-driven fleet management solution helps in digitally transforming the tedious manual operations and is also central to video telematics which can be utilised to supervise, maintain, and achieve the most efficient operation of the fleet,” said Shridhar. 

AI to manage fleet 

“Our solutions are based on on-ground insights rather than just being industry-standard workflows for fleet management” - Vidit Jain 

With an aim to bring enormous amounts of data generated from the vehicle onto a single platform, the startup installs different kinds of sensors onto the vehicle, which then collect data and transfer it directly to their cloud servers. The startup offers further solutions such as,  

• AI/ML is employed to create visibility for the vehicle movement via location tracking and geofencing. 
• LocoNav ADAS: AI-driven Advanced Video Telematics & driver safety solution bundled with hardware into a one-stop offering to lower operational costs, prevent and protect against false claims, and ensure safety for drivers, fleet and the business.   
• LocoNav’s Fuel Monitoring Systems: Customers can detect fuel wastage and provide comprehensive reports on fuel consumption trends. This helps the fleet owners and drivers to be mindful of fuel wastage. 
• LocoNav’s fleet management solutions: Customers can use real-time data and insights to reduce unnecessary day-to-day operational costs by eliminating human errors, preventing liability risk with digital video recordings, avoiding untoward incidents. 
• On-board diagnostics help in tracking and measuring vehicle health indicators such as engine temperature, battery levels and more.  

Adding on, fleet owners and operators get real-time alerts, rich analytics, customised reports, and more, in an easy-to-use interface that is available in over 10 languages such as English, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic, Spanish, etc. 

The purpose 

In developed economies, the fleet management industry has become very large over the past decade and several players offer sophisticated tech catering to drivers and fleet owners who are tech-savvy and enjoy better roads and networks.  

Contrary to this, Vidit points out that in emerging countries/economies, there aren’t many large players. “We aim to be the first mover in these high-growth emerging markets”  

“What we aim to address in these markets that are extremely price-sensitive and have diverse realities of telecom connectivity, is access to affordable hardware and our easy-to-use software,” added Vidit 

Fleet industry is growing in India 

Smart vehicles have replaced the conventional older vehicles and cellular communications technologies are used for transmitting the information. Some of the key factors responsible for the growth of the fleet management market include: 

• increased government regulations 
• need for optimisation of fleet operating expenses 
• cost benefits gained from the decreasing hardware and software costs  
• the increasing demand for interoperable efficiency among fleet owners 

“As of today, fleet owners and operators in the Indian market are slowly understanding the importance of AI-driven fleet management solutions.”, states Shridhar. He believes that India’s digital transformation initiatives will be a catalyst for this shift. Further, the Government’s progressive push for better connectivity and vehicle tracking through mandates will continue to drive the use of telematics devices and fleet management solutions.  

What comes next 

Today, the startup serves over 5 million vehicles worldwide with LocoNav’s products and services. One of its clients includes Dalmia Cement, a leading cement manufacturer. As next steps, “we are working towards replicating LocoNav’s success in India across global emerging markets by establishing a local presence in key geographies through building partnerships and channels, as well as making strategic acquisitions with worldwide impact,” said Vidit. 

To this, Shridhar added: “Post our recent funding, we have got experienced personnel on our team to help us expand and drive growth across our key geographies so as to ultimately realise our vision of democratising access to fleet technology in emerging markets. We are also strengthening our tech muscle by building technology and data science teams and doubling down on innovations.”