News

  Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 6770; President & CEO: Toshihiro Kuriyama) has developed a Location Monitoring System, packaging together a vehicle positioning application, mobile devices containing the application and a location management console to enable deployment of centralized fleet management at low cost. Alps Alpine is teaming up with group company in charge of aftermarket automotive infotainment system sales, Alpine Electronics Marketing, Inc., to launch sales to car rental operators in October 2020.

  According to a survey¹ conducted by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, more than 12,000 rental car operators were in business nationwide as of March 2018, roughly twice as many as a decade earlier. The combined rental fleet came to around 750,000 vehicles, again almost twice the 2008 figure, an indication of just how much the car rental market has grown. More people than before are using rental services as fewer households own a car, particularly younger age groups. There are other reasons, too, such as avoidance of public transport due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and further market growth is predicted.

  But although the market is expected to keep growing, car rental operators today frequently have to deal with vehicles being returned late without notice or, in some cases, not being returned at all². A car not returned on time impedes preparations to receive it, while an unreturned vehicle requires investigation, coordination with waiting customers, and other adjustments, affecting operational efficiency. Rental fleets are growing due to an expanding market and will need to be managed with even greater efficiency, but there is concern the issues will only worsen.

  The Location Monitoring System newly developed by Alps Alpine makes use of a special-purpose mobile device equipped with a vehicle positioning application that is lent to the user along with the car. Rental operators can check the real-time location of multiple cars currently in use within a map view on an Alps Alpine-developed location management console. Input the scheduled return time and the console will display pop-up notifications both before and at the scheduled time to remind administrators that preparations must be made for the vehicle’s return. Meanwhile, to help prevent late returns, an automated message will be sent to the mobile device in the user’s possession urging them to return to the rental outlet, having calculated from the car’s current location the time required to reach the outlet by the designated hour.

  Alps Alpine offers not only the vehicle positioning function, but the whole package, including mobile devices lent to users, the application on those devices, and a location management console used to locate vehicles. The solution reduces the costs that customers incur to introduce such a system and it can be deployed immediately after purchase. Navigation app “ALPINE SmartX,” also to be launched in October, is a standard inclusion in the package.

  Moving forward, Alps Alpine looks to make progress on new service proposals revolving around data analysis, such as reporting on vehicle operation and identification of relevant topics utilizing vehicle location data and linked time and schedule information. Alps Alpine will also explore other areas, including automation of maintenance features making use of a variety of data from sensors fitted to vehicles.