[Korea Contact-Free] Infocar "Vehicle diagnosis and management through data... Available in 17 languages"

    LOS ANGELES, CA, December 23, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Infocar (CEO Geo-seok Choi), which is participating in the 'Close-to-Life Contact-Free Leading Service Project' implemented by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (Chairman Seong-wook Heo, hereafter referred to as NIPA), is a company specializing in vehicle data analysis. In 2019, the vehicle diagnosis and management system 'Infocar' was released and attracted attention.

'Close-to-Life Contact-Free Leading Service Project', which this company is participating and has been running for its 2nd year, is a project that NIPA has been implementing since last year. It is a project that develops, demonstrates, and spreads contact-free leading services that are closely related to the daily life of the people, and the response from participating companies is very positive. Infocar has been selected as a free task (contact-free shopping) is carrying out the project. It develops and demonstrates a vehicle maintenance service that detects vehicle anomalies while driving and informs details of repairs and remaining mileage.

Established in 2016, the company's head office is located on the 6th floor of the Convergence Technology Research Center within the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, and their research center is located on the 2nd floor of the Industry-Academic Hall of Korea University in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. Geo-seok Choi, CEO of Infocar, said, "We distribute and operate specialized personnel according to the nature of the work for efficient division of work. The head office serves as a data center and stores and manages accumulated data. The data center utilizes Infocar's own big data and AI analysis technology for the collected data to advance Infocar algorithms and secure stability." Regarding the research institute, he said, "We are working on analyzing a lot of vehicle data. Through analysis and experimentation using various data, we are trying to figure out the relationship between each data and find the hidden value of data."

There is a strong perception in existing vehicle management is that it requires specialized knowledge. For this reason, it has been regarded as a domain exclusive to experts. Infocar was established in 2016 to alleviate this knowledge imbalance, judging that this situation comes from the asymmetry of information about vehicle data. Since then, they have been devoted themselves to research and development, and after three years of effort, they have succeeded in developing 'Infocar', a vehicle diagnosis and management system that consists of three main components: 'OBD2 Scanner (Infocar Scanner)', mobile app, and server. CEO Geo-seok Choi said, "In this process, Infocar has acquired more than 30 intellectual property rights related to vehicle data analysis, and has grown into a company that not only has the largest market share in Korea but also has 5 million users around the world."

The competitiveness of Infocar stands out from these two products. These are 'Infocar App' and 'Infocar Smart Scanner'. Among them, Infocar App receives vehicle information from Infocar 'Smart Scanner' and displays it to the driver. Through the vehicle self-diagnosis, which is subdivided into four sections, the vehicle's fault code can be viewed and deleted, and over 600 standard data as well as vehicle-customized manufacturer data can be checked in real time. In addition, it is possible to check the data at a desired point in time by automatically saving driving records for each trip. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to manage a vehicle with just Infocar App using functions such as driving score, fuel economy check, vehicle account book, and consumables management.

The hardware 'Infocar Smart Scanner' is connected with the vehicle's ECU, allowing the driver to check vehicle information through Infocar App. Unlike heavy and expensive scanners for repair shop, it is lightweight and reasonably priced, and can be easily installed on the OBD2 terminal of a vehicle without expert help.

People who use Infocar are very diverse. A representative example is people who drive vehicles with expired warranty. Also, customers who drive used cars want to efficiently manage their vehicles using Infocar service, and some purchase Infocar scanner in advance to check the overall condition of the vehicle when purchasing a used car and perform vehicle diagnosis on the spot. People who are not familiar with vehicles, such as women or first-time car buyers, use them for the purpose of knowing more about vehicles, and enthusiasts who know vehicles to some extent use information for collecting actual data or various experiments using it.

CEO Geo-seok Choi said, "Ultimately what Infocar wants is to become an essential safety driving aid for vehicles. We want to be a service that is essential for drivers."

their Infocar service, which is vehicle diagnosis and monitoring, in the field such as vehicle maintenance platform linkage in the field of vehicle management, car sharing business, and trading such as used car, and enter the B2B business. The contact-free aftermarket for automobiles is largely represented by vehicle diagnosis and safe driving data generation from the B2C perspective and vehicle data analysis from the B2B perspective. Through this project, Infocar plans to actively embrace 4th industrial revolution technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles to lead the technology and market in the field of vehicle data analysis.

CEO Geo-Seok Choi explained regarding the difference from other companies and said, "Infocar is the No. 1 company in the field of OBD2-based vehicle management in Korea, and has 5 million users worldwide. Based on user data, we are continuously improving Infocar algorithm." In addition, thanks to the feature of Infocar service in which the software (Infocar APP) and the hardware (Infocar scanner) are separated, users can use the latest version of Infocar service by continuously updating the app. He continued, "Infocar app has been translated into 17 languages around the world, and we can proudly say that it is ahead of other services in terms of ease of use, such as continuously improving UI and UX by recruiting professional designers.

Infocar scanner, unlike existing heavy and expensive scanners for repair shop, is light and reasonably priced and can be easily installed on the OBD2 terminal of a vehicle without the help of an expert. It is an innovative product and service that can solve vehicle diagnosis and driving management in real time anytime, anywhere through a smartphone app.

According to Infocar, the company's services are now available in 17 languages and more than 90% of their users are overseas customers. Currently, it has recorded 5 million downloads and 900,000 MAU. Since last year, full-fledged scanner sales have begun to appear domestically and overseas. This year, app subscription service is added, and application sales are increasing, especially overseas. CEO Geo-seok Choi said, "We expect that vehicle data and more than 30 domestic and overseas intellectual property rights acquired through Infocar service will play a big role in helping us grow into a data analysis company."

The company is looking for several business partners to expand their business. In particular, they see auto aftermarket parts operators, auto insurance companies, car maintenance platform companies, car sharing platform companies, and used car trading platforms as the best partners. CEO Geo-seok Choi said, "Infocar service is suitable for business models such as vehicle maintenance platform linkage in vehicle management and insurance, car sharing business, used car transaction, and UBI insurance. Through strategic consultations with platform companies in this regard, it is expected to activate the contact-free aftermarket for existing cars and create a vehicle platform market using new vehicle data."

Regarding the company's future vision, CEO Geo-Seok Choi said, "When drivers purchase a car, they install a black box in preparation for an accident that may happen, but they cannot directly manage the vehicle with simple video information. There are not many drivers who constantly check the actual black box. Infocar service can store and manage the actual data of the vehicle, so you can directly manage the vehicle." The driver can intuitively check the current state of the vehicle through vehicle diagnosis, and can also check problems while driving as objective data through automatically saved driving records. He continued with his ambition, "The ultimate goal of Infocar is to continuously research and develop so that the perception that 'Infocar is essential for vehicle management', and I want to make it a service that car drivers naturally use."

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