Continental released the first update of its digital tire monitoring platform ContiConnect. The web portal now has more functions, and the appearance of the entire application has been improved. The new features link the ContiConnect services directly with fleet operations. Thereby tire management can be improved by using digital monitoring data for physical tire maintenance.
New features, which are available to all ContiConnect users, include the ability to set individual notification rules regarding tire temperature and pressure with custom thresholds. This allows fleet managers and maintenance managers to select their own alert notification levels. In the original release of the platform, the "Very Low Pressure" alert level, which triggers text and email alerts, was set for all users at 25 percent under-inflated. Now, fleets can customize this level to receive text and email alerts when a tire reaches just 10 percent under-inflated, for example.
Another new feature is the "air filling assistant," which supports precise tire inflation regardless of the tire’s temperature. The user is able to toggle between viewing the actual tire pressure and temperature, or viewing a compensated pressure at 68 degrees F to see the cold inflation level. Proper air pressure, measured at cold inflation level, guarantees the highest possible fuel efficiency to save fuel costs, reduces tire wear for long tire life, and helps to prevent tire blowouts for optimal safety.
Additional new features from today's release include:
- Printable task lists with open to-dos for efficient overview of maintenance tasks for workshop employees
- Data export enables individualized analyses and allows for processing in further systems, for example in Excel
- Manual tire data upload to the web portal, called ContiConnect Light, enables tire monitoring without a yard reader station or telematics integration
The new features were created on the basis of customer feedback.
“Customer feedback is very important for our further development of ContiConnect and its features according to fleet operators’ needs. In the future, we want to put even more focus on our co-creation approach in order to maximize the value we can deliver to customers using our digital tire monitoring platform," said Karim Fraiss, Continental's head of digital solution operations.
Since 2013, Continental’s Commercial Vehicle Tires business unit has introduced its ContiPressureCheck tire pressure monitoring system to markets around the world and consistently developed and enhanced its digital solutions. The tire monitoring system for individual vehicles is now integrated into solutions from more than 35 telematics providers worldwide, including Zonar, PeopleNet, and Geotab.
Since 2017, it has been complemented by ContiConnect Yard, a solution for monitoring the tires of multiple vehicles, which works using a yard reader station in the fleet yard. The platform has already been successfully launched in 15 markets worldwide, including the U.S. and Canada. Here, data is transmitted directly to fleet managers to assist them in monitoring tire conditions. In the event of deviations from the optimum status, ContiConnect sends notifications and suggests corrective measures.
At the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018, Continental also presented ContiConnect Live, available from the second quarter of 2019, which informs operators of truck and bus fleets immediately if there is a problem with the temperature or pressure of a tire, even when the vehicle is on the road, via a Bluetooth-connected smartphone app.
