Mahindra and Mahindra have launched a new platform for connecting Mahindra vehicles and equipment with their owners. The mobile/web based platform starts off with commercial vehicles, farm and construction equipment and will trickle down to passenger cars in future. The DigiSense unit will be offered as a factory-fitted feature on certain variants as of now.
Connected cars is the way ahead and being an OEM, Mahindra has taken a step ahead into building its own infrastructure in partnership with Bosch for the device technology, Tech Mahindra for software and Vodafone as their network partners. The DigiSense unit will be built in and cannot be retrofitted as of now.
DigiSense will help the owner to connect with the machine and get alerts about vehicle health, usage and maintenance. Features like geo-fencing and theft alert work as security features while remote diagnostics, breakdown alert, distress calling feature help in ensuring the fastest turnaround times for commercial vehicles. Features like service alerts and preventive maintenance tips will help avoiding breakdowns along with vehicular tracking and driving pattern analysis will be interesting for personal vehicles as well.
The cloud-based platform will include the latest internet of things technology and will come at a cost for Mahindra buyers ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 depending upon the services availed and the vehicle it is offered with. While the intelligence services will be free for the first year, Mahindra has worked out a yearly subscription model for further usage.
