Technology is Shaping the Future of Fleet Management

Posted by: UBI Telematics Category: Usage Based Insurance (UBI)

By 2020 a predicted 35 million light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks will feature some sort of advanced driver assistance with telematics connectivity. Now, that may not seem like a lot considering that there are over 250 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. today. But early implementation of fleet technologies like telematics and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) will give a competitive advantage to early adopters.

In 1990, the internet as we know it was born. Many companies looked at the new technology and ignored it. They couldn’t see the potential it held for customer acquisition, cost cutting, and communication. Early adopters saw the potential of the internet and ran with it. They became companies like Amazon, WebMD, and MapQuest.

While using telematics and ADAS won’t guarantee you the success of a company like Amazon it will help you gain an edge on your competition.

Here’s a look at the areas where ADAS and fleet telematics can help.

Cutting Fleet Operating Costs

Operational efficiency is key to maintaining a cost-effective fleet. Telematics works by monitoring vehicle movement through GPS. At the very basic level it monitors:

  • Location
  • Drive time
  • Acceleration
  • Braking
  • Cornering

 

This data can be used to optimize driver routes, thereby cutting drive time and fuel costs. Optimizing driver routes can then provide you with the option of adding more business. It also offers your customers the quick service they expect.

Data on acceleration and braking can be used to retrain drivers and reduce the wear and tear on fleet vehicles. This reduces maintenance costs and extends the useful life of your equipment.

Adding ADAS further extends cost-cutting benefits by providing active collision avoidance measures. The average property damage only accident costs $7,400. There are over 16,000 reported collisions per day in the United States. Some say this number should be doubled due the large amount of incidents that go unreported. Anything that you can do to cut down on the amount of vehicle incidents should be taken seriously. Not only are you cutting costs, you are potentially saving lives.

That leads us to our next topic.

Fleet Safety

As we mentioned previously, telematics applications can give you data on acceleration, braking, and cornering. This data is invaluable to your fleet operations. If you know how your drivers are operating your vehicles you can easily correct them when they exhibit unsafe or aggressive behaviors.

Vehicle monitoring also has the side effect of creating safer drivers simply through the fact that drivers know their vehicles are being monitored. People tend to behave better when they know they are being watched versus when they have complete autonomy.

The benefits of ADAS to fleet safety are obvious. What isn’t obvious are the benefits that ADAS lends to telematicsFleet Safety.jpgapplications. Blind spot monitoring technologies, like PreView Radar, can integrate with fleet telematics to inform fleet managers of near misses and incident reporting. Fleet managers can then use that information to optimize routes for efficiency and safety.

Committed to the Future

Recently, PRECO announced that Rush Truck Centers has become an authorized distributor and installation provider of PreView Radar. As the commercial market looks to provide operators with more integrated safety solutions, the introduction of PreView Radar complements Rush Truck Centers’ telematics and driver assistance solutions.

“Rush Truck Centers is a leader in delivering solutions that help make our customers’ fleets safer and more efficient,” said Brian Mulshine, Director of Operations Technology and Innovation, Rush Enterprises, Inc. “Adding PRECO’s PreView suite to our comprehensive line of technology-enabled fleet safety solutions aligns well with our goal to offer customers best-in-class, customizable solutions to meet their fleets’ safety needs,”

The future of medium and heavy-duty industries is in the technology that can make fleet operations safer and more productive. We see our partnership with Rush Truck Centers as a commitment to the advancement of the technology helping shape the future of fleet operations.

 

Read more at http://blog.preco.com/technology-is-shaping-the-future-of-fleet-management

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