IBM and Mercedes announced the successful development of 'Urban Guard - Stolen Vehicle Help,' a recently launched service in the 'Mercedes me' app designed to help find and recover stolen vehicles.
The solution builds on prior collaboration between IBM and Daimler, Mercedes' parent company, to develop connected car services such as 'ready to.'
The 'Urban Guard - Stolen Vehicle Help' service was initially made available to European customers in November 2020. The service is now available to eligible customers in select countries in North America and the Asia Pacific following effective recovery efforts.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, car thefts saw a 9.2% increase in 2020. Digital, connected car services can offer a solution to help address this risk and enhance the potential for law enforcement to recover lost or stolen vehicles.
Built into the 'Mercedes me' App, the 'Urban Guard – Stolen Vehicle Help' service is designed to help customers and law enforcement track and recover stolen vehicles. Given the importance of speed in the event of a theft, the 'Stolen Vehicle Help' service collects relevant vehicle and customer data that can help law enforcement identify and recover a vehicle. This data, along with the vehicle position data, is then shared with law enforcement via a service partner, which is authorised to communicate with worldwide police stations.
IBM Global Business Services developed the back-end using cloud-native open-source technologies, such as the Red Hat build of Quarkus, to achieve high-speed performance. In addition, as an implementation partner, IBM Global Business Services delivers the technical interaction between the various involved parties and existing systems, such as customer data APIs and call centre tools.
Juergen Braun, Vice President and Industry Leader Industrial, Automotive IBM DACH, said, 'Developing connected car services that help safeguard the owner's investment is a meaningful way for Mercedes to deepen its relationship with its customers, as well as differentiate itself.'