At a time when in-car connectivity has been in the news thanks to the Hyundai Venue and MG Hector, Nissan India too has upgraded its connectivity suite – Nissan Connect – with 18 new features. In brief, NissanConnect links your smartphone to the car’s factory-fitted telematics control unit. The carmaker has broadly classified the feature updates under the headings of Convenience, Control, Security, Safety and Social sharing.  

The new Convenience features include a ‘Way to my Car’ feature which provides GPS-based direction to where the car is currently parked, 'Last 15 Minutes Trace', which gives you the GPS location of the car for the previous 15 minutes, and lastly Quick Reference videos.

The new Control features include a Smart Drive score – it rates the driver on how efficiently they drive – 'Intelligent Route Guidance' provides the quickest and most efficient routes to your desired destination, 'Idling Run Time' function notifies users the car is idling in the same location for more than three minutes, 'Drive Time @ Night' allows you to track how many hours of driving you have done at night, and 'Vehicle Battery Alert' informs the user of the usage levels and status of the battery.

Coming to the Security features, Nissan has added Geo Fencing and Curfew Alert (Time fencing) with multiple entry/exit which essentially informs the user if their car leaves a pre-determined area (Geo Fencing) after a pre-set time (Time Fencing), the Tow-away Alert & Track alerts the user if their vehicle is moved from its location and where it is moved to, and the Track & Trace (Chauffeur) feature which allows users to keep track of their vehicle when being used by their chauffeur.

Safety features added to NissanConnect includes a Manual SOS (Panic Button) which alerts pre-set contacts and emergency services of your location, Automated Impact Alert, along with Safety Alert for harsh braking, over acceleration, and sharp turning.

The last category of features added to NissanConnect is the Social Sharing features which include Nissan Community - Advanced including Group Trips and Smart Drive Grand Prix that tabulates and compares users' Smart Drive scores.

The updated version of Nissan Connect comes with zero subscription charges for the first three years and is available across the entire Nissan India range that includes the Kicks, Micra, Sunny and Terrano.

Aside from Nissan, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda offer phone-based telematics services too. The Hyundai Venue and MG Hector, in contrast, feature-embedded SIM-based connectivity features.