For several years now the number of stolen vehicle remains fairly steady, despite constant efforts to enhance car security. In US, about one fifth of cars are eventually recovered, 30% of which are seriously damaged. These are dramatic consequences both for insurance companies, with an estimated cost of $6 billion; and Stolen Vehicle Recovery Companies (SVR) constantly face thieves devising new and sophisticated means of stealing vehicles.
SVR companies typically use cellular or legacy radiocommunication technologies to track vehicles. The communication link provides broad telematics information, and more importantly for recovery purpose, the means to geolocate assets. This is the case where GPS is on-boarded in devices that are hidden somewhere in vehicles.
This communication link is critical to tracking the vehicle: if it is broken, tracing vehicles becomes impossible. This too is where experienced thieves are having a field day using basic cellular jammers widely available on the Internet (GSM, 3G, …). Just use your favourite search engine too and you will see that nothing is simpler than purchasing a jammer.
Alternatives to public cellular networks have been implemented to mitigate this risk. Some SVR’s use private proprietary networks at 173MHz or 440MHz which are expensive to roll out, to operate and to maintain. Furthermore, operating network infrastructure is a far cry from their core business, which is focused on Vehicle Recovery Services.
… and this is where the Sigfox 0G network is changing the rules of the game…
- Sigfox 0G network is jammer resistant by design – SVR players can track anytime, anywhere, secured assets even when jamming is attempted
- Sigfox 0G network is public – No need to maintain an expensive private network, just buy connectivity subscriptions from a local Sigfox Operator and access your data from our Cloud platform
- Sigfox 0G network is global – Sigfox is a single global network, so no roaming roaming complications. You can track a vehicle from Cape Town to Calais to Christchurch
- Sigfox 0G network is cost efficient – Cost of connectivity, simplicity of hardware design and integration are key drivers of efficiency and are the basic principles of Sigfox 0G technology.
Sigfox also offers network-based geolocation as part of their Atlas suite and we can offer last mile recovery solutions. All integrated in a cost effective, small and jamming resistant tracking device.
Many security companies, including Securitas Direct, Fidelity ADT for Home Alert, Discovery Insurance Company for driver behaviour monitoring and Stolen Car Recovery and numerous others SVR companies are already implementing Sigfox at industrial scale, proving that Sigfox connectivity is indeed changing the rules of the game for them … and giving the good guys the competitive advantage. As a matter of comparison, Sigfox growth in SVR is +50% YoY, while the market is progressing +1,5% YoY.
By Stéphane Loiseau, Director of Sales & Marketing Operations at Sigfox
Discover more and gain total visibility on your Stolen Vehicle here.
