About
CrowdSearch is a stolen vehicle recovery solution that uses a wireless device hidden within vehicles to connect with a “crowd” of smartphones to track stolen vehicles in real time and to relay the location for recovery purposes.
Innovation presentation
Vehicle theft and hijackings are a major concern in South Africa. Current available technology to track stolen vehicles is fast becoming less effective, because perpetrators can locate and disable tracking devices within minutes, as devices are traditionally hardwired into the vehicle to remain powered.
Discovery Insure offers car and home insurance with innovative and unique safety features and is readying the Crowdsearch solution in response to this crisis. Using a wireless device, Crowdsearch applies our wireless telematics sensor and smartphone technology to create homing beacons to find stolen cars. These beacons will be located by the smartphones of Discovery clients with the Discovery app, which has over 500 000 users as part of their short-term and other insurance. The reach this “crowd” of smartphones provides is wide enough to locate vehicles that have been stolen across roads in South Africa. The technology relays the location of stolen vehicles to Discovery Insure’s vehicle recovery teams to track vehicles in real time. The device itself is hidden in the vehicle and more difficult to locate than traditional tracking devices as it is not hardwired to the vehicle.
This innovation is a first in the insurance industry with the ability disrupt stolen-vehicle-recovery methods, by overcoming risks associated with current technology, such as removal of devices. The technology also incorporates the driving behaviour elements of the current telematics solution making for a potentially more robust recovery service with driver behaviour telematics in one device and solution at a much more manageable price point for insurers compared with traditional telematics devices on the market.
Uniqueness of the project
CrowdSearch is a first of its kind, and Discovery Insure, as a short-term insurer, will be also the first to develop and use this type of technology. The coverage created by connected smartphones will be used as a network to relay vehicle locations. Discovery has over 500 000 users of the Discovery app across the country, which makes CrowdSearch a viable technology and alternative solution to traditional stolen-vehicle-recovery methods. The technology is far more cost-effective to build, install and to maintain compared with current vehicle-recovery solutions.
Other forms of wireless tracking devices exist but use traditional RF technologies with terrestrial based wireless infrastructure maintained by the tracking company. Smartphone technology combined with a wireless device that can be well hidden within vehicles, provides a more robust vehicle recovery solution to clients of Discovery Insure. The technology provides a second layer of safety by enabling our ImpactAlert feature using a smartphone “crowd” to depstach medical or other assistance to the driver even if they do not have their registered smartphone with them.
