Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), in collaboration with Platform Science, a connected vehicle platform, have announced the launch of Virtual Vehicle, an open OEM platform that enables fleets to access telematics, software solutions, real-time vehicle data, and third-party applications directly from their vehicles. In addition, the platform provides the tools to manage those applications, connectivity, and the mobile devices drivers need to use them.

The system is enabled in Daimler trucks without the need for installing any additional telematics hardware, or the associated costs and loss of uptime, according to Sanjiv Khurana, head of the connected services group at Daimler Truck.

Virtual Vehicle offers nearly limitless software-enabled and ROI-enhancing applications. A combination of cloud, edge, and in-dash technology provide native in-vehicle mobile technology which enables customers to distribute, manage, and enable driver applications and connected vehicle services.

The platform gives fleets the flexibility to choose third-party apps, mix or match telematics service provider (TSP) applications, or bring their own. This allows truck buyers to customize their experiences down to an app-by-app and driver-by-driver level, and to create in-cab technology experiences that best suit their specific business objectives, then evolve them whenever they choose to do so. 

Through its developer toolkit, Virtual Vehicle allows for any number of third-party developers to create apps that can offer ROI for fleets and quality of life improvements for drivers. Virtual Vehicle provides the tools needed to manage the mobile devices that come and go from the vehicle, without ever having to install or change on-vehicle mobile gateways or telematics units.

The Virtual Vehicle platform offers many benefits to fleets, including:

• Productivity: With factory-installed telematics hardware, fleets can maximize uptime by avoiding installation delays and costs for complementary hardware.

• Flexibility: Virtual Vehicle allows fleets to create a software experience catered to individual business needs through a growing pipeline of developer-created innovations.

• Accessibility: Virtual Vehicle leverages edge, cloud, and in-dash data to optimize networks, keeping data available 24/7/365, even when fleets are offline.

• Cost-Effective: Users of participating applications on Virtual Vehicle benefit from usage-based billing.

Platform Science’s Virtual Vehicle is currently available on Freightliner Cascadias manufactured September 9, 2019 or later and will be available as a monthly subscription.