Nissan to Introduce CARWINGS Telematics Service to Monitor and Analyze Individual Vehicle Fuel-Efficiency
23 January 2007
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| CARWINGS web display of a driver’s average fuel efficiency and ranking. Click to enlarge. |
Nissan Motor Co. will introduce a new telematics service it calls CARWINGS specifically designed to educate and raise awareness amongst drivers on the impact of day-to-day driving habits on their vehicle’s fuel consumption average.
The new service will provide drivers with data on their average fuel-consumption according to day-to-day driving habits, and allows drivers to track and monitor improvements to their eco-driving skills over a period of time. CARWINGS is currently available only in Japan.
The system can calculate the average fuel efficiency performance of each vehicle equipped with CARWINGS through data sent directly to the CARWINGS Center, where the data can be retrieved on the member’s personalized webpage.
CARWINGS is designed to challenge the driver to improve on their eco-driving skills through a monthly fuel-efficiency ranking. Reminding the driver to drive in a more environment-friendly manner the system provides information on their past monthly averages, as well as weekly performance indicators.
CARWINGS members gain category rankings based on their average fuel efficiency in the previous month. Their average score can be compared with the average of other CARWINGS members of the same vehicle model, as shown in an easy-to-understand graph.
The Website indicates fuel efficiency for the previous week compared with the average from the previous month, with weekly tips on how to achieve higher efficiency. The site also provides a graph that maps distance traveled against fuel consumption over the previous 30 days to help members to improve fuel efficiency.
The service will be available on factory-installed optional DVD navigation systems offered on the Fuga, Tiida, Latio, Serena, Lafesta, Wingroad, Note, Sylphy, Presage (after May 2006 refresh). For factory-installed optional HDD navigation systems, introduction is scheduled in mid-2007.
Brilliant! Turn the whole thing into a game! The interesting thing is that more fuel efficient driving habits are also "safer" driving habits.
Posted by: John | 23 January 2007 at 07:56 AM
Sounds like a very good idea, provided the identities of the contributing drivers are hidden from one another and by default, from the service as well.
In addition to analysis of a driving style wrt speed and acceleration/braking, such a system should perhaps keep track of the distribution of distances driven between cold engine starts. This lets the driver track if he/she is really getting any better at consolidating short trips. More prosaically, it permits more accurate estimates of fuel dilution of the engine oil and when it needs to be changed.
The report could also periodically produce a checklist of basic fuel economy actions, such as maintaining tire inflation incl. spare (if any), removing unneccessary items from the trunk, removing roof racks etc. With an approriate Internet protocol, service stations could register the maintenance actions they perform with the service using the vehicle VIN number, automatically updating the service record and therefore, increasing the resale value. This might seem far-fetched until you see how sophisticated Japanese service stations are.
A more sophisticated version of the service could even integrate timestamped route information obtained from a navigation system, if present. The anonymous statistics collected would give manufacturers more objective data to estimate if their customers would benefit from any given fuel economy feature, e.g. idle stop or cylinder deactivation.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 23 January 2007 at 07:59 AM
Everybody hates "big brother", but perhaps sharing this data with your auto insurance provider, and provide discounts for fuel efficient (safe) drivers.
Posted by: David | 23 January 2007 at 08:00 AM
Instantaneous fuel mileage guages have been around for over 10 years. This announcement smacks of PR, especially from the company that has recently given the world
monster trucks that consume fuel at amazing rates.
Posted by: kent beuchert | 23 January 2007 at 08:16 AM
Cool. Continuous, consistent feedback is a great way to change behavior, and the competitive element (how can I do better than last month? how do I compare with others?) helps with motivation.
Posted by: Nick | 23 January 2007 at 08:53 AM
Should be a no-brainer for GM to do something similar with its OnStar system. If I recall, it is web enabled for personalized maintenance information.
Posted by: djc | 23 January 2007 at 09:09 AM
David -
drivers SHOULD be able to disclose identity info to selected third parties but only if they explicitly choose to do so. The default should be anonymous operation.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 23 January 2007 at 09:51 AM