Automotive Fleet, February 2016

telematics AUTOMOTIVE FLEET I FEBRUARY 2016 36efficient and optimize their routes their work schedule the work theyre doing the optimization of things I can drive more revenue he said Its not just the cost savings But those early telematics solutions were tied directly to an initial drive for fuel savings which led to its next shift according to Del Lisk VP safety services for Lytx Getting drivers to comply with speed rules through the GPS had the opportunity for a nice payback with reduced fuel consumption he said Going along with that reducing speed would imply some safety benefits At a minimum it would suggest that if something happened it would be a lower severity than a driver going at a higher speed Thats sort of how the light bulb went on that there were some safety benefits here as well But it was tying all the data together in a meaningful way that gave fleet managers the ability to use telematics to measure how safe their companies drivers were I think the first part was getting the data together you had speed reference speed limits and harsh driving events The next evolution was incorporating that data into an algorithm and delivering more of a context and what started to be produced was a safety score said Ewing of Fleetmatics Moving Safety Front and Center Safety or reducing risk is among the primary ways fleets are using telematics today There were two developments that helped to drive the transformation of telematics into a key safety tool for some fleets The two big things that helped drive the focus on driver risk are real time traffic information and real time feedback We have statistics that show how real time traffic information can help the driver avoid traffic jams while traveling 16 percent fewer miles and spending 18 percent less time on the road That in itself is something that reduces that risk said Joe Castelli VP commercial equipment and fleet management at LoJack There can be little argument that technological advancements have braking and other vehicle data gave fleet managers the ability to monitor how much fuel a vehicle was using and much more You can measure all sorts of such things as headlight usage if the PTO is engaged or whether the four wheel drive is engaged If you have a common time signal thats your master key for all of this you can correlate everything you can have policy requirements you can have driver historical records you can look for trends before they become problems or if theyre indicative of problems in the future said Weir Jones of CalAmp You can do a lot of cool stuff when the data is instrumented correctly This ability to track and measure everything fueled the next telematics evolution You started by tracking the asset and everybody wanted to know where their asset was utilization of the asset and things of that sort and it slowly migrated towards the driver being an asset as well and wanting to understand what is happening with the driver said Bernie Kavanagh VP North American Fleet Strategic Relationships for WEX Frey of Telogis also noted that telematics isnt just about costs but can be and is being used to positively impact the bottom line A lot of people think about telematics as only cost reduction tools and they certainly are but just as much they are a revenue generation tool if we focus on productivity so if I can help a commercial worker do more jobs in a day and can help them to be more comes from what you do next with that information The evolutionary path started with a simple observation and follow on question heres a car going down a road with a 55 mph speed limit and it stopped abruptly What happened When you ask an open ended question like that you fairly quickly realize that if you had additional data you could understand a lot more and be much more useful That scenario led to the adoption of accelerometers and driver scorecards said Toby Weir Jones product line management director for the Fleet Management Solutions at CalAmp The early days were marked by a lot of specific problem solving As demand would rise for a particular metric needing to be measured GPS tracking providers would have to problem solve a way to extrapolate that information from the location data already being received and translate it into actionable information or they would have to partner with another company that specialized in that particular area said Driscoll Some of the early priorities were sensors PTO monitoring diagnostics and DTCs to maintenance GIS mapping for vehicle location overlays fuel cards for fuel usage and fraud Garmin for dispatch and now field service workforce management software to tie in vehicle location data with employee productivity Finding Interesting Uses for Data The ability to monitor speeding harsh Looking ahead the optimization of things may be the next role telematics adds to its ever expanding toolbox This will mean that telematics will be used to optimize not just what the vehicle and driver is doing but every aspect of the enterprise CASTELLI LoJack LISK Lytx WEIR JONES CalAmp KAVANAGH WEX