Building on the previous collaboration with Daimler, carmaker Mercedes’ parent company, technology firm IBM developed “Urban Guard – Stolen Vehicle Help,” a solution that can track stolen vehicles. The “Urban Guard – Stolen Vehicle Help” is available at the Mercedes me app and is part of Daimler’s efforts in developing connected car services.

Riding on IBM hybrid cloud capabilities, the service allows owners and law enforcement to quickly gather data that hopefully would lead to the location of a stolen vehicle. The information is shared only with authorized personnel or police stations worldwide.

In close collaboration, IBM Global Business Services and Mercedes together analyzed and defined the end-to-end process: From the front-end customer experience in the event of theft to the process of securely sharing the live data and the backend processing. IBM Global Business Services developed the back-end using cloud-native open-source technologies, such as the Red Hat build of Quarkus, to achieve high-speed performance. As an implementation partner, IBM Global Business Services delivers the technical interaction between the various involved parties and existing systems, such as customer data APIs and call center tools.

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“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, VP 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.”

The “Urban Guard – Stolen Vehicle Help” service was initially made available to European customers in November 2020. Following effective recovery efforts, the service is now available to eligible customers in select countries in North America and the Asia Pacific.