Cummins and its partners launch wireless ECU update solution to improve vehicle fuel efficiency

According to foreign media reports, on July 24, local time, Omnitracs, a leader in fleet management solutions for global transportation and logistics companies, announced a technical collaboration with Cummins, a global power leader. In addition, Omnitracs and Cummins jointly proposed a new solution that can remotely calibrate and update engines provided by Cummins using existing hardware.

(Image source: Omnitracs Twitter)

With repair and maintenance costs accounting for 10% of total vehicle operating costs, fleets are looking for innovative ways to reduce these expenses. In addition, it is difficult to coordinate critical engine calibration and update times, resulting in missed updates or unexpected engine downtime. Cummins' over-the-air programming (OTAP) solution - Connected Software Updates allows drivers to remotely receive engine control unit (ECU) updates using the existing Omnitracs platform.

With this new solution, Omnitracs and Cummins customers can:

1. Improved logistics maintenance, all drivers in the entire fleet can wirelessly receive critical ECU software update information, without having to drive the truck to a specific location for the update;

2. Reduce vehicle downtime. Customers can avoid about 2 to 3 days of vehicle downtime, which can avoid about $1,000 in costs per day;

Improve compliance, enabling critical updates to be made when needed, ensuring the vehicle remains healthy and operating at peak performance;

4. Optimize vehicles, which can optimize the fleet for specific driving conditions, thereby improving the fleet's fuel efficiency, vehicle performance and vehicle health.

Omnitracs will offer an over-the-air software update program for Cummins engines built in 2017 or later, an all-inclusive solution available immediately and to other customers in 2019. To use the program, customers must use Omnitracs’ Enterprise Services (ES) platform with an Intelligent Vehicle Gateway (IVG) installed and an Extended Fault Monitoring subscription.