Nissan aims to take its smart car concept to other markets

Wednesday, Nov 11, 2015

Dubai: Nissan has become the first automobile company in the Middle East to offer a ‘smart car’ connectivity option in alliance with the telecom operator etisalat.

For a car to be connected, the car should come with an embedded 4G SIM right from the manufacturing stage. Etisalat is adding a 4G modem as an aftermarket solution to the car.

Many of the cars in the West and in some parts of the world have connected cars but it is not available in the region.

Features available in the region are for infotainment systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto where the smartphone has be linked to the system via cable.

Esmail Makhlouf, regional manager for cross carline and Corporate Marketing at Nissan Middle East, said that the new Nissan Maxima 2016 and the Nissan Patrol 16 will provide customers with convenience, control and security.

It will allow drivers to remotely lock or unlock their vehicles, control cooling and even instantly message the owner if the car is involved in a collision.

Makhlouf said Nissan Patrol models later than 2010 can also be fitted with this option and it costs $2,000 (Dh7,346) for three years but for the new models it will free.

He said that in future, Nissan will be adding a feature to check the health of the car and report it to the owner and service appointment can be done over the app without making a call.

After three years, the owner needs to pay around $25 monthly for the subscription but Nissan hasn’t fixed the prices yet.

Makhlouf said that Nissan has plans to take this option to other markets in the Middle East.

Etisalat is a member of the M2M (machine-to-machine) World Alliance, a coalition of companies that includes KPN, NTT DOCOMO, Rogers Communications, Singtel, Telefonica, Telenor Connexion, Telstra and Vimpelcom.

M2M, a term used for the exchange of data between machines and information technology infrastructure, has many industrial and commercial applications.

The industry expects more than two billion M2M connections by 2021.

Francisco Salcedo Montejo, senior vice-president for digital solutions at etisalat, said that the operator’s commitment to support the strategy in promoting digitisation initiatives and developing the connected ecosystem of the UAE, including transportation. Through planned investments in our advanced M2M and IoT platforms, “Etisalat is well-positioned to help the transportation industry realise their M2M strategies,” he said.

The app can be downloaded from the Apple and Google app stores.

By Naushad K Cherrayil Staff Reporter