Jaguar tested the new InControl Touch Pro system in its
latest XJ by taking on Mumbai’s acclaimed Dabbawalla delivery system in a race
through congested city streets. Many workers in Mumbai rely on Dabbawallas to collect their
home-cooked meals from home and have them delivered at work. The meals are
packed into in small ‘tiffins’ or ‘dabbas’. These highly efficient couriers
operate on a complex relay transport system involving trains, buses, bikes and
even travelling on foot.
But one lucky Dabbawalla was given the chance to ride in
luxury when the new Jaguar XJ picked him up, swapping a hard bike saddle and
noisy streets for leather massage seats and the new InControl Touch Pro
infotainment system.
The driver used the new navigation system to help steer
through traffic as his rival Dabbawalla took the traditional route. The Dabbawalla said: “It was a very different experience to
the one I am used to! The only massage I normally get is from the bumps in the
road! Those seats were amazing. And I never knew Mumbai could be so quiet – it
was like a different world inside the car.
Founded in 1890, the Dabbawalla system, once subject to a
Harvard Business School study, is a business miracle. Low cost, highly
efficient and environmentally friendly, there is no use of any IT system or
even cell phones, yet mistakes are extremely rare. Logistics expert Federal
Express even sent its employees over to learn from the system.
Aside from a unique weight-bearing jacket, which helps carry
multiple loads using supports from lightweight but sturdy aluminium (the metal
used for the body of the new XJ), new technology has done nothing to better the
system. Now, approximately 5 000 Dabbawallas move more than 130 000 lunches per
day, six days a week, 52 weeks a year.
Ever-present heavy traffic makes moving through the city
streets a challenge, which is why the system is of such benefit. But on a
course designed to give close competition even with the road congestion, the
navigation system allowed the XJ to reach its destination with time to spare.
The InControl Touch Pro infotainment system features a
high-performance quad-core processor and runs on state-of-the-art, ultra-fast
Ethernet networking technology that offers data transfer rates of up to
1000Mbit per second. Combined, these technologies deliver incredible graphics
with pinch and zoom functionality, offer fast response times and help to
future-proof the system for significant upgrades in functionality over time.
The 2016 Jaguar XJ will go on sale in Jaguar’s sub-Sahara
Africa markets in March. Pricing will be confirmed closer to the time.
InControl Touch Pro will be made available as an option in the second half of
this year.
Tosan Aduayi, a motoring journalist since 1994, is the
founder and publisher of Trendy Africa Magazine and has reported on Motoring
with trademark columns (Roadrunner, Carliners). He is also the founder of
Flowtran global.
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