In this humungous market size, fuel is the largest operational cost followed by tyre management. Procurement of new tyres for each vehicle has an approximate annual cost of Rs 1 to 1.50 lakhs.
Looking at this and the market size, Dinesh Wakale, an alumnus of S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, and Brijesh Shukla, an alumnus of Said Business School founded Tyre Express in November 2015.
The B2B startup lets fleet operators track and monitor the performance of tyres in real-time.
“Fluctuations in pressure and temperature can have a dramatic effect on the life span of a tyre. Tyre pressure varies across vehicles depending on the model, size, etc., depending on whether one travels on a light or fully loaded vehicle. Fleet operators recognize this issue of tyre management and are seeking a solution that balances the value offered,” said Brijesh to ETtech on a call.
Explaining how it works, he says that sensors are installed on the valve of the tyre. These sensors can either be installed inside or outside the tyre valve. Once installed on the valve, the sensors are activated and it then starts capturing the data of pressure and temperature.
The sensors then send the data to the main hub device from where it is transmitted to Microsoft’s Azure IoT Hub. The Stream Analytics casts the data to appropriate data types and sends it to Power BI for a visual demo and to a SQL database.
He further says, “Additionally, there are other features that we are developing which will be integrated along with the pressure and temperature information.”
Brijesh goes on to explain that currently the market is dominated with tube tyres which makes it challenging for them. “As of now, for tube tyres there are sensors installed outside the tyre valves. We are also working further to process the sensor installation inside the tube tyres.”
Narendra Bhandari, General Manager - Developer Experience and Evangelism, Microsoft India, said, “Tyre performance tracking can control premature tyre failure in vehicles, a direct impact to fleet productivity, costs and ontime performance. Microsoft and Tyre Express have combined the power of IoT and Analytics for this innovative and game changing offering for the commercial vehicle industry.”
The company is also supported by Microsoft BizSpark, a programme that supports software entrepreneurs.
Tyre Express had raised an undisclosed funding earlier this earlier and plans to launch its full fledged operations by this year. It is currently in talks with fleet operators and tyre OEMs in the commercial vehicle space. “Our current solution is primarily targeted for commercial vehicles. We are also exploring a similar solution for passenger cars.”
Although over the years tyre management has become a common practice in developed nations, India is yet to see potential in this market.
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