Shell ready to run with new ‘Fitbit for your car’ monitor

​Royal Dutch Shell aims to install Fitbit-type monitors in a million cars this year as part of an expansion of its consumer-facing oil products business.

The Anglo-Dutch group has tested its Fitcar product in about 3,000 vehicles in the United States, offering a transport equivalent to wearable health devices.

The monitor sends data from the car to apps on owners’ phones to alert them to emerging problems with engines, for example. In America, the devices have prompted drivers to visit Shell’s network of more than 2,000 service stations for an oil change or maintenance.

Shell is Europe’s biggest oil and gas company, generating profits of $3.7 billion in the third quarter from a business spanning exploratory drilling to fuel retailing. Ben van Beurden, its chief…