JustRide's Yabber set to augment connected cars, data analysis on car driving skills

MUMBAI: In an ambitious effort to alter the way cars are driven in India, JustRide has introduced its cutting-edge Smart Vehicle technology (SVT). The in-house concept built to assess and rank customers based on their driving skills has been augmented to power JustRide’s latest innovation — Yabber. Yabber is a device that is based on the principles of Connected Cars, and JustRide says it is the first-of-its-kind in the Indian market. The concept will work where a connected car platform will enable vehicles to communicate with external devices.

One needs to download and install Yabber on his/her smartphone and install the device in the car’s on-board diagnostics (OBD) port which relays essential performance parameters, which help map how well the car is being driven. By processing the incoming data, the system is able to rate customers on a scale of 1 to 5. So, a good driver may get a discount on the rentals for subsequent trips while a poor or bad driver may even be rejected. This app will also help you connect with fellow drivers in the city and compare scores, and these score cards and achievements can be shared on social media. In short, the company is planning to gamify the entire driving experience by rewarding individuals who are good with the wheels and incentivizing them to improve further.

The technology allows car owners in locating their cars understand its performance, secure their vehicles, drive it safe and economically, pre-schedule maintenance with service stations and much more. Yabber was launched on the sidelines of the company expanding its operations in the Indian market. Drivers can also use various features such as keep checks of trip duration, average speed and mileage, real time notifications of over speeding, excessive breaking and acceleration which can stress engine, review trip history and much more. The app can rate each trip, keep track of cumulative score and also give tips to improve driving skills. In essence your cars lets communicates and lets you know what’s the best way to drive it.

Ashwarya Pratap Singh, CEO, JustRide, said, “With the advancement in technology, the sophisticated components and software will allow vehicles to seamlessly communicate with various external devices and servers via the internet which we believe is going to be the future in India. We are quite hopeful that we are on the right growth path considering the car rental market is poised to grow and touch INR 800 billion by 2019.”

During the launch Hemant Kumar Sah, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), JustRide said, “With digitization taking place at every nook and corner, we saw a need gap for a sustainable credible system to rate performance of drivers, driving rented cars. With our device, we not only have precise understanding of the car’s performance, but also the driver’s skills. Before this, the only perquisite to drive was to have a driving license. Once our device is out in the market, it will become a benchmark for others to follow suit. One can also Track the location of on one’s car on your cell phone in real time, create a virtual perimeter to know when the car leaves your premises, set places of interest and get notified when your car reaches the spot, set custom theft alarm when car is parked in an unsecure location, get notifications when ignition is switched on and also get alerts when device is plugged off from car.”

JustRide recently raised seed funding round led by India Angel Network Co-founder Alok Mittal, Niraj Singh of Outbox Ventures, Nikunj Jain of Frankly.me, ZishaanHayath of Toppr.com, PunitK Goyal from PLG Clean Energy Projects, Anirudh Damani from Artha India Ventures, Rohit Chokhani of White Unicorn Ventures, and Palaash Ventures. Justride is mentored both by Y Combinator and Google.