How do Self-Drive Car Rental companies impose speed limit in India

In India, it is easy to begin a business, but very difficult to sustain it. After the advent of Self-Drive Cars in India, we have witnessed quite a few companies in this industry that work on various business models. Although it has been 4-5 years since the inception of this concept in the country, the companies, as well as the consumers, are in the learning phase. The national and state highways in India are already not worth driving over 120 kmph. Still, many drivers do not comply with the rules of the road and accelerate the cars without thinking about their safety or that of their passengers. That is why; the Self-Drive Car Rental companies have to impose the restriction on the speed of the car by different means.

In India, the only current thing that the car rental companies are doing is to install GPS in their cars to detect over-speeding. GPS based tracking device and cellular SIM based tracking device are the convenient methods to detect speed. They are small devices to transmit the location of the car, any issues in the vehicle, and the speed of the car.

How does GPS work?

Earlier GPS used to have very limited scientific uses, but now it has become essential for the normal lifestyle of the urban world. While the Western world has been using this technology for quite some time, it is relatively new to the Indian users. The GPS system consists of three parts: ground stations, satellites, and receivers. The satellites are just like man-made stars in the sky for us, the only difference being that we can relocate them anytime we want. The ground stations are used to locate and reposition the satellites. The receiver is the GPS device installed in a Smartphone, a vehicle, or any other device. These components of the GPS system help us to locate the position of a person or vehicle if they have their GPS device switched on.

How is speed calculated from the GPS device?

Nowadays, the Indian Self-Drive Car Rental companies have also started using GPS-based speedometers. The GPS device fitted in the car displays your present driving speed, which is calculated by the simple formula of Speed= Distance/Time, i.e., how much distance you have covered in a particular frame of time. However, the GPS speedometer often confuses the drivers as it gives a reading that is different from the speedometer of the vehicle. It clouds their mind about which speedometer they should trust so that the Car Rental Company does not slap a fine on them for over-speeding.

In addition to the fear of fine, it is equally important to consider that excess of speed is dangerous for everyone sitting in the car. That is why; the car owners find it necessary to develop a reliable GPS system to detect speed so that the customers feel safe and not cheated by the company.

The GPS device works on the simple calculation of distance covered by the car in a given frame of time. People taking the Self-Drive car on Rent Mumbai and other cities find this device very useful as it gives them almost real-time data about their car speed. However, not every Self-Drive Car Rental in India comes equipped with this system, especially the hatchbacks. That is why; the Self-Drive Car Rental in Mumbai and other Indian metropolitans vary because of GPS and other such fancy gadgets.

The speed calculation by the GPS device is different from your car because the speedometer of the car shows the real-time data that may change from second to second. However, the car's speedometer also needs to be calibrated from time to time because it suffers from inaccuracies owing to normal wear and tear, differences in wheel size, and settings in the speedometers to give a higher reading than actual.

Drawbacks of GPS-based speedometers

A notable thing to know about GPS devices is that they are not very reliable source of information. These gadgets are positional speedometers, meaning that they calculate the speed of the car from one point to the other, which may be faulty sometimes. A more accurate reading from this system can be procured only if the time interval is very short. However, the current GPS trackers are not that sophisticated, so they calculate the data of speed after every 20-30 seconds. The GPS speedometer calculates the distance you have covered in the last 30 seconds and divides it by time, i.e. 30 seconds to find out the average speed. For instance, if you accelerate your car to 150 kmph for 5-7 seconds and then decelerate to 50 kmph within 20 seconds, then your GPS system would not be able to catch what you did. It tracks the speed of your car only when you sustain a particular speed for some time. These arguments prove that your GPS system in the Self-Drive Car can be tricked. 

Although modern Self-Drive Car Rentals in India rely on the GPS system for safety and that of the car, it is up to the customer’s discretion to drive safely and avoid over-speeding.