(Left) Russell Cohen, Grab’s head of regional operations; and Susumu Matsuda, president, Toyota Motor Asia Pacific
Grab and Toyota have signed an agreement to make use of Toyota’s in-car telematics systems in a bid to extend the life of ride-hailing vehicles, and enhance the driving experience for the end user.
Through Toyota’s Total-care Service, Grab can provide its driver-partners with “more cost-efficient and timely maintenance services”, they announced at a joint press conference on Tuesday.
Toyota’s Total-care Service was developed specially for ride-hailing companies. Together with ride-hailing firms like Grab, Toyota can leverage onboard telematics data through a shared information platform to provide services like fleet management, automotive insurance and vehicle maintenance packages.
The Toyota partnership will complement Grab’s analytical tools – rolled out last year – which let drivers understand how they drive and where they can improve. Grab driver-partners already receive reports on their driving patterns like speeding, acceleration and braking.
According to Grab, there has been a 50 percent reduction in speeding incidents and 20 percent reduction in hard braking and sudden acceleration after the analytics kit was rolled out, Grab’s press statement said.
Under Toyota’s Total-care Service, driving data is collected by Toyota’s in-vehicle data-transmission device – called TransLog – and sent to the Mobility Services Platform (MSPF), a Toyota-developed information infrastructure meant for vehicle connectivity.
Toyota’s Mobility Services Platform
Grab, Toyota and its local dealers will use the data collected to provide Grab’s driver-partners with support and advice for safety.
Also,Toyota’s affiliated insurance company Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance will offer telematics-based automotive insurance to GrabRentals, helping drivers lower their insurance premiums.
Toyota Motor Asia Pacific and Grab will offer this service to Grab-owned Toyota vehicles across South-east Asia in phases.
Both firms are gunning to increase the share of Toyota vehicles in Grab’s fleet in the region by 25 percent by 2020.
