MapmyIndia has launched Rover Bike, an IoT device that connects to bikes and provides users with the bike’s location, maintenance and compliance alerts, safety and security alerts and location sharing via Android, iOS and Windows Phone apps. According to the company, Rover Bike is ‘inconspicuous and easy to install’, although it doesn’t really specify how it connects to the bike. The device has a quad band GSM module, a dedicated ignition input, GPS and SM antennas, a built-in lithium ion battery, a digital output for immobilization and weighs around 85 grams. Rover will cost Rs 3,990 including the device and SIM charges, with service for subsequent years costing Rs 2,400 per year. For SMSes, users will have to buy a separate plan, as the base price only includes app updates. The app: The device by itself is quite useless without MapmyIndia’s app, which lets users upload documents like driving license, bike registration certificate, insurance documents, PUC certificate, service documents, and other information like name of the bike, make, model, year of manufacturing etc., online. The app then displays information including distance covered, total duration of the drive, average speed, start and end location of the drive, full history of a particular day etc. Users can also receive email updates instead, or select SMS packages, to get these updates. Connected vehicles focus: This is MapmyIndia’s fourth IoT product for vehicles. The company had launched a solution for cars called DriveMate with similar functions in May last year, after partnering with Avis car rentals to…
