KUALA LUMPUR: The "Stolen Vehicle Help" service, which was available in the Mercedes me app for European customers since November last year, will be making its way into select countries in North America and Asia-Pacific.
The service which was a joint-development by IBM and Mercedes-Benz to help find and recover stolen vehicles.
The anti-theft solution builds on a prior collaboration between IBM and Daimler, Mercedes-Benz' parent company, to develop connected car services such as "ready to."
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.
In close collaboration, IBM Global Business Services and Mercedes together analysed and defined the end-to-end process - from the front-end customer experience in the event of a theft, to the process of securely sharing the live data and the backend processing.
"Increasingly, consumers expect and value digital, connected services equally to the drive performance of the vehicle, meaning connected car experiences are as important as horsepower or handling," said Juergen Braun, vice-president and Industry Leader Industrial, Automotive IBM DACH.
"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," he said.
