TRAKIT, a vehicle-tracking telematic device developed by Tata Motors for Indian truck drivers and fleet owners, has won the silver award for 'Excellence in Design' in the electronics category at the 20th International Appliance Design Excellence in Design Awards 2007, USA. The device uses advanced telematics technology to track mobile assets on the road, offering road assistance, entertainment and safety to the drivers. It allows trucks to be tracked from any computer connected to the internet. The device works in conjunction with the global positioning satellite and mobile phone networks.

The Appliance Design awards honour those products that excel in meeting the challenge of harmoniously melding technology and industrial design. The entries in the competition were evaluated on four factors — appearance, human factors, innovation and technical merits.

TRAKIT was introduced by the company as original equipment on the Tata Novus series of vehicles. It is now available as optional fitment for several medium and heavy commercial vehicle models. Tata Motors collaborated with design firm Ticket Design for the industrial design and packaging. The product has an intuitive user interface consisting of a significant 'All OK' key, three emergency keys, no numeric keypad, din slot mounting, and additional mountings for a dashboard and the ceiling.

The Tata Motors team responsible for developing the device includes: V G Gujarathi, senior general manager (electronics), Pune CVBU, S N Dhaneshwar, deputy general manager (electronics), Pune CVBU, and J J Sathe, divisional manager (dev), CV (electronics), Pune CVBU.

TRAKIT had also won an award in the national level competition arranged by Business World magazine in the 'Best Design: Auto Accessory' category in January 2007.