IBM and International Truck and Engine Corp. have announced that they will jointly develop a series of wireless information services and products that could be built into all types of International trucks.
The first product will capture operating information from the vehicle data bus and send it wirelessly to a back-end server, where it can be accessed by fleets via a web portal. The new optional data service will be released late next year, according to Jeff Bannister, International's director of truck electronics.
The second release for the project, which will carry the International brand name, will be a driver interface, Bannister told FLEET OWNER. Such an interface might extend the system into messaging as well as automated drivers logs and fuel-tax reporting and other services.
Eventually the partnership is expected to develop “a suite of applications” that would include remote diagnostics and prognostics, as well as vehicle monitoring and other telematics services, says James S. Ruthven, program director for IBM Telematics Solutions.
Ruthven said IBM was involved in a separate joint project with Celestica to develop a low-cost black box device intended for light-duty vehicles. Called eDevice, it is based on industry supported open standards such as Java and OSGi, and communicates over the cellular telephone wireless network.
