Source: Telematics Update

The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Technology (CERT), the commercial arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology, will launch the UAE’s first home-grown technology solution for the management of traffic.

Developed to address safety in transportation and logistics issues, CERT Falcon aims to lead the market for vehicle telematics and fleet management solutions, now estimated to be worth US$5 billion globally.
Developed over the last two years at CERT Telematics Labs in Abu Dhabi, at a cost of several million US dollars, CERT Falcon is the culmination of a research and development agreement between CERT Innovations and IBM Engineering & Technology Services, to expand and enhance patented IBM technology.

CERT’s real-time fleet management system combines full telematics data services with flexible open-voice communication between dispatchers, drivers and customers to significantly reduce delivery times, fuel consumption and insurance costs, while optimising fleet management.

Customised fleet management software affords rapid response to urgent requests, delivery delays, traffic congestion, accidents and mechanical problems. Real-time displays pinpoint vehicle position, destination and route, aiding management visibility within readily adjustable geographic areas.

It also offers fleet dispatching and scheduling, continuous fleet tracking, fleet optimisation and management reports, traffic monitoring, route planning, real-time delivery information and customer service. In practice, this means drivers can be instructed instantly to alter delivery schedules, quantities or destinations.

Additional features include a back-office software interface, automatically generated insurance reports and text message display.

CERT vice chairman Dr Tayeb Kamali said: “CERT Falcon is a next-generation customised telematics solution that can offer companies ‘certain’ knowledge to enable best practice to increase productivity, reduce risk, improve safety, streamline processes and reduce costs. It is geared towards fleet management, but, due to its flexibility, it can be applied to a host of disciplines.”

According to Dr Kamali, businesses should typically achieve a return on investment within six to eighteen months.