Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SMASH (SMASH, SMArt SHaring device for mobility)

Teaser

Many prospect customers, in the market segments of smart mobility, are confirming their interest for the product SMASH. The interest for adopting SMASH comes from the scooter-sharing operator SCOOME, with fleets in Monaco and Koln, in rapid expansion in Germany. For scooters...

Summary

Many prospect customers, in the market segments of smart mobility, are confirming their interest for the product SMASH. The interest for adopting SMASH comes from the scooter-sharing operator SCOOME, with fleets in Monaco and Koln, in rapid expansion in Germany. For scooters and small vehicles, the SMASH winning characteristics are the reduced size and low absorption, compared to similar devices for cars. The e-Mobility operators Wunjoo and e-Gap are interested in field trials in Munich, Starnberg, and Garmisch. Expressions of interest also come from insurances. The company UNIPOL declares that the device can enable new insurance models, thanks to the user authentication via proximity technology, and the association of identity, position and driving parameters of the vehicle. Innovative vehicle manufacturers and distributors are interested to adopt SMASH in their production, for the features and added value that this provide for the end user. Multiple market opportunities are opening, relying on the same device with high level of scalability. SMASH, including on-board device, web services and applets, enables also inter-operable access among different vehicle sharing schemes. For what concerns the M2M connectivity, essential characteristic of the device, Greenspider signed strategic partnerships with mobile operators interested to deploy Data SIM cards inside SMASH. The connectivity cost is optimized thanks to the adoption of large pool of SIM cards; this permits to apply a convenient monthly price for the end user, embedding the cost for the connectivity and for the service. The feasibility also permitted to specify a fully automated production process, keeping the cost of the device very competitive. The enabling technology of SMASH is concentrated in the Glue Logic running in the device microcontroller. The innovative authentication method implemented by the device, including identity and positioning parameters, is protected by an EU Patent application, which Greenspider is currently extending to a PCT.
For the large scale distribution, Greenspider is establishing partnership with developers of fleet management platforms, willing to integrate SMASH in their cloud, and implement a revenue sharing generated by the monthly fee for each SMASH unit delivered.
All the components are ready for proceeding to the next phase, and plan an ambitious market launch in the near future.

Work performed

This section includes the outcome of the planned market analysis for the positions of SMASH in the field of Smart Mobility and Usage Based Insurance, the progress with the customer engagement, the elaboration of the key technical characteristics, the IPR strategy, the description of the partnerships established, and the main achievements.
In the feasibility period, from May to September 2015, Greenspider developed several relations with prospect customers representing the different segments addressed by SMASH proposition, and several expression of interest for SMAH arrived from several companies in Europe and outside. Some expression of interest were collected thanks to the promotion of Greenspider in international business networks, like EEN (European Enterprise Network). Other relations were established approaching directly the customer.
Greenspider established direct business relation with vehicle manufacturers, distributor of electric cars and electric bikes, willing to adopt the product SMASH to facilitate their rental service.
The vehicle sharing schemes are in general in expanding phase, and after the successful example of car sharing, now it’s the momentum for the explosion of schemes of smaller vehicles, often deployed in “free floating” scheme. The small vehicles, both electric or with thermic motorization, are the preferred target for SMASH installation. A concrete interest for SMASH comes from the segment of the scooter-sharing. The scooter-sharing operator SCOOME, with fleets in Monaco and Koln, in rapid expansion in Germany, formalized the interest for a pilot project, finalized to the adoption of the system.
The winning requirements of SMASH in this segment are the reduced footprint and absorption compared to similar devices for cars, and the possibility to plugin additional sensor.
The german eMobility operator Wunjoo and eGap are interested to support field trials in Munich, Starnberg and Garmisch. In this case the system SMASH provides access to a fleet of eBike in sharing scheme, that are parked in boxes accessible only by registered users that can access in mobile mode. The mobile authentication supported by SMASH is considered a key success factor.
The engagement of customers also includes Car Rental companies, corporate car sharing. For railcar operators the low power absorption of SMASH is a key characteristic.
Another category of customers that Greenspider is engaging is represented by the Charging Point Operators for eMobility, and Charging Station manufacturers. It is recognized that, embedding SMASH in the charging point, they will support self-positioning capability and proximity interaction that may transform a simple station in a smart, active point of interest.
The market analysis focused also on Usage Based Insurance, and permitted to collect the preferred requirements coming from this market segment. The company UNIPOL declares in its Expression of Interest, not only that the device can enable new insurance models, “but may also introduce flexibility and efficiency in already existing insurance options for end user”
The adoption of the embedded SIM in the SMASH Device is confirmed to be an important feature for the competiveness of the product, and guarantee the possibility to deploy the product everywhere in the world, with Over-the-air configuration. The Italian brand Piaggio declares its interest embed in their eBike the solution with the characteristics of SMASH, with special attention for the SIM over-the-air, which permits to produce a “Connected eBike” with full interoperability.
For the development of the web services and the applet to be distributed Greenspider finalized partnerships with companies specialized in cloud services for fleet management, willing to integrate SMASH in their cloud.
The commercial offer includes a fixed initial Price (covering the unitary production cost of the device), and the monthly fee per unit applied to the end-user, generating a reven

Final results

\"Many EU initiatives are promoting sustainable mobility, electric vehicles and sharing scheme. An example is the EU project eBRIDGE: \"\"Empowering e-fleets for business and private purposes in cities\"\". In this new paradigm of share economy, our smart cities are going to be populated of fleets of innovative vehicles in sharing schemes, as well as other mobility resources, like charging stations, parking spots, which must be accessible in an easy, secure, and mobile mode. The SMASH proposal aims to contribute to this vision.
The SMASH device allows the user to interact with vehicles using this technologies, and share credentials, status, usage parameter, and capabilities. In practice it allows the people to use their smartphone as an access key, to lock and unlock vehicles, switch engine, open gates, in a secure and authenticated mode, also enabling reliable pay-per-use model.
Greenspider was created in 2013 to operate on global scale, addressing especially the markets with high focus and potential for the diffusion of new mobility and light vehicles, Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs).
Now it is time to deploy Smart Sharing in field, and radically change the user access to mobility scheme, enabling interactivity, mobile payment, and decentralized access solution.
In this respect SMASH fully accomplishes the principles of Industry 4.0, in particular deploying modular services for mobility, enabled by smart nearable objects, and smart data sharing.
Real-Time capability and decentralized processing are key features of SMASH device.
One of the biggest limitation of the vehicle sharing schemes deployed so far, is the lack of inter-operability. The installation of SMASH device, also in existing vehicle sharing already embedding proprietary access solution, can enable inter-operabile access, giving to the end-user multiple choice, and contributing to more efficent and integrated schemes. This represents one of the most important challenge for the deployment of the next generation of vehicle sharing, even more successful than the ones deployed so far.
The Advanced Fleet Management Services enabled by SMASH includes the Real-time localization of fleets and Point of Interest on a map, with their usage status and user access capabilities, the update on the cloud of Usage and driving parameters of different kind of mobility resources. The provisioning of this open data for statistics, driving profile and Risk assessment parameters.
The ambition is to establish SMASH Device as a leading technology solution in the market of fleet management, and deploy Millions of Units in field. The revenue model is then based on the monthly fee, including the cost of the connectivity, and the pricing of the service profile. For implementing this model innovative parternships are in progress, between big operator willing to integrate small smart objects in horizontal connectivity platforms, and opening new vertical markets thanks to this integration.
In order to maximize the impact, the company is planning several pilots for evidencing the scalability across the different segments.
In conclusion, an innovative product like SMASH, embedding in a single device satellite tracking, mobile and proximity communication, confirms a disruptive potential, that is expected to overtake the traditional solution requiring RFID cards for user identification and access, and the traditional fleet management device with no open data sharing capability and proximity interaction.
The big challenge is to improve reliability, resiliency and responsiveness in machine-to-machine communication (M2M), involving the human factor.
The age of the smartphone and the age of M2M are converging to the new paradigm of \"\"Internet of People and things\"\", and Greenspider, with SMASH proposal, aims to play his role in this global change.\"

Website & more info

More info: http://www.greenspider.eu.