Ituran’s all-in-one approach changes the game on vehicle theft
Recent global auto theft rates are mixed, with increases in areas like Latin America and stabilization in the United States. While this crime isn’t going away anytime soon, one company’s technology is giving drivers and fleet managers more peace of mind. Ituran, a telematics/connected-car solutions company with hardware and software, has increased stolen-vehicle recovery rates for 2.6 million worldwide subscribers.
Autoblog spoke with Ituran co-CEO Eyal Sheratzky about how his company is serving as a unified stolen-vehicle recovery solution amid competitors offering partial services, how his organization is meeting modern demands, and more. Ituran has 24/7 control centers in every country where it operates, along with its own enforcement and intelligence units and technology. Many of Ituran’s competitors have technology but rely on third parties for enforcement and vehicle recovery.
Ituran
Sheratzky expanded on how Ituran differs from vehicle manufacturers’ embedded telematics: “We are looking for a long relationship with our customers. They see us as a service provider. Somebody needs to provide a service to answer the customer to recover the car. Ituran has a dual solution for this. One, we’ll provide hardware and services, and if the hardware isn’t needed, we integrate our services with the car and units.”
The numbers show that Ituran’s efforts are paying off
According to Sheratzky, Ituran has an almost 85% recovery rate within 30 to 60 minutes — totaling $3 billion in vehicle value — while police generally succeed in fewer than 10% of cases. Ituran’s success rate is also over four times the global average without specialist tracking. Ituran is the leading original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service provider in its niche in Latin America, with Nissan as a major customer. Companies like Nissan, General Motors, and others have incorporated Ituran’s technology into their plans and production lines, and this week, Ituran signed a three-year service agreement with Renault across at least four countries in Latin America. Ituran will deliver its advanced SVR and telematics solutions to Renault vehicles across key Latin America countries, with potential for expansion to additional markets and extended service periods.
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Ituran is also expanding into racing, as in March, the company was selected by the Porsche Cup to analyze data. Sheratzky said: “This started as a technology we brought from the street to the Porsche Cup, one of the most famous touring car categories in the world. At the start of the project, Microsoft had a digital transformation challenge for the Porsche Cup Brazil. Then Microsoft approached us, and through our technology, we were able to capture the data from the Porsche cars. We sent it in real time to the Microsoft Cloud, and this data is then processed and presented right there for the engineering team. So we can get this data from the car, from high temperatures, from low oil pressure, or even a tire that’s leaking a little bit of air. We can see all of this in advance.”
How Ituran adapts to today’s thieves while leveraging AI
When asked how automotive thieves are operating in recent years, Sheratzky replied: “So they [criminals] always have to, in order to keep their industry alive, find more solutions. For example, today they’re coming with jammers. They’re coming with alternative car computers so they can try to convert [and override a car’s original computer system].” In addition to increasing stolen-vehicle recovery rates, Ituran’s service helps police apprehend thieves, reducing repeat offenses.
Ituran
With artificial intelligence (AI) technology becoming increasingly prevalent, Sheratzky told Autoblog how Ituran is using AI to optimize its service: “I think, the most useful thing that we’ve done recently [with AI] is that our system learns the habits of the anonymous drivers.” The Ituran CEO gave an example: the company’s system recognizes a driver’s habits, and if a thief tries to jam the driver’s unit while the driver is sleeping, it’s easier to identify the event as illegal.
Final thoughts
Sheratzky shared his thoughts on what lies ahead for Ituran, highlighting the car rental market, leveraging AI and big data, and carbon cash credits as three key areas of focus. The company’s app, IturanMob USA, provides a shared all-in-one mobility management service for small-to-medium car rental parties to remotely control vehicle doors, send secure links to clients for vehicle access, access detailed data reports, and more.
The Ituran co-CEO said: “Small companies that trade [rent] cars have a lot of expenses, and they need customer satisfaction. So, by providing them with [IturanMob USA] technology, they can do it remotely with confidence and reliability. I think that this is something that we can do in the US because we found that there is not really sufficient technology, and those rental companies have strong means.”
Ituran plans to leverage AI and big data to benefit customers, including road operators, cities and municipalities, and retail stores. Telematics data from Ituran helps electric vehicle (EV) drivers receive carbon credits that can translate into cash incentives for reducing emissions.
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