The name Thinture stands for “Think Future” and their prime motto is labelled in their name itself. The company came into the limelight when road speed limiter became mandatory in some of the Indian states, as Thinture developed India's first stepper motor based vehicle speed limiter for national and international clients. Apart from speed limiter they also have GPS Based Bike Tracker, GPS Based Vehicle Tracking System and Speed Recorders.
Each of these system has its own standard approval from the respective authorities. The DSIR approved R&D team of Thinture consists of electronic, automobile, mechanical and software engineers with vast knowledge and experience in the industry. The head office and research center is located in Bangalore. The latest offering from this venture is “Sheild”, an advanced rider safety device.
What is Sheild?
Sheild is the outcome of 1.5 years of research from the R&D team of Thinture. This special safety device targets the lady riders of the country. It is said to be India's first ever safety device with multi-tasking features and monitoring device. According to the founder of Shield Ms. Jini Sabu George, “this particular device works very effective in any adverse situation on the road like accidents and other panic moments by generating alarms, navigation and anti-theft facilities. As crimes towards women are increasing day by day, this device will make sure every single lady on our roads are safe". This safety device works with the help of a mobile application and mobile SIM card. Using the signals generated by the sensors, Shield initiates emergency call to all added numbers one by one. In case of an accident, the device waits for few seconds to analyze the event and if the rider is not back on the two-wheeler after certain interval of time, it will automatically generate a voice call to authorized numbers with an exact location link.
Some of the other important features of Shield includes:
* Monitor Me- Supports the rider in situations like night time and riding in unfamiliar places. Monitor Me allows the relatives or close friends to watch the rider live till the end of the journey using a mobile app generated web-link. This feature can be deactivated by the user itself once the risk factor is over.
* Destination Alerts- Shield can automatically send destination alerts to the registered numbers once the rider reach or leaves a particular destination so that, loved ones need not be worried or the rider doesn't have to stop and calls them at for regular updates.
* Emergency Alerts- Lady riders are always prone to harassment and nuisance on the roads. They are often victims of chain snatchers and other criminals. In such a scenario, Shield is there for your assistance. It will send a live link to the registered mobile numbers and Police Control Room for immediate help. This facility works by continuously pressing the horn button for more than 10 seconds.
* Remind Me- Shield mobile app also works as a reminder for various two-wheeler related stuffs like periodic service intervals, insurance renewal, emission certificate expiry and regular tyre changes.
* Immobilizer- Shield also features engine immobilizer. It is an anti-theft protection system, which disables the engine voltage connection, when the ignition switch is Off. Not only that, it can remotely switch Off the bike using a special security SMS from the registered phone number.
* Navigate Me- As it has inbuilt GPS, it can also be used for GPS Navigation. It is also capable of guiding the user to their vehicle in an open area or a large parking space.
Afterall Shield is a safety device and not all a tracking device. This system will not breach into the rider privacy at any point of time, as it can be solemnly operated by the user. The monitoring system in this device works only for fixed interval of time and that can be set by the user. All other alert system works for authorized and selected phone numbers at emergencies only.
How it can be Installed?
This latest offering from Thinture was officially launched in Kerala on January 4th of 2017. Kochi will be the first city of India to feature this safety device in two-wheelers. Later they are planning to widen their market to Calicut and Trivandrum regions as well. With a total cost of Rs. 4900/ (including tax) it can be installed in your rides. And talks are being held with government for providing subsidies for the device. Right now, the Shield is available in all leading two-wheeler dealerships of Kochi. The service and maintenance of the device is directly undertaken by the Thinture Technologies. It comes with a pre loaded mobile SIM card and one year software support. Once the Shield is placed, we can download the Shield mobile application from Google Playstore. Start using the app by registering it with mobile phone number and unique login details depends on the model ID. It is one of the user friendly app, which do not require any kinds of tutorials.
The future of the Shield depends upon the reception of this device in the city of Kochi. So far Thinture is the only firm with such an innovative safety device and there isn't any direct competitor in the present market. "Map my India" is another tracking device provider in the country which provide GPS bike tracking devices. But it lacks the attributes and safety features of the Shield. The only branch and Kerala operations office of Thinture works near Edappally, Kochi with a team consisting of Sales, Marketing and technical assistance.
As it is not all a sophisticated device and one can simply fix this on to your ride by fixing it near to the battery, but it is recommended to use the service of technicians from Thinture.
It will never drain your scooter battery as it uses a minute percentage of battery charge equivalent to the lighting of an LED bulb.