Features
30 Jan 19

Time to plug into the data potential of your fleet

Telematics has more potential than simply tracking vehicles and managing fuel. It is the key enabler for the future of transportation, sharing-based mobility services and autonomous driving.

Right now, the missing piece of the puzzle is that fleet owners and operators lack expertise in data management and analysis, which is required to deliver breadth of view and true business insight.

Having realised technology is only one aspect of the solution, many telematics companies are evolving into data service providers to fill this gap.

The main application areas

A report from RAC UK highlighted an overall rise in businesses using telematics from 38% in 2015 to 65% in 2016 primarily for the following:

•    Vehicle tracking - 80%
•    Monitoring driver behaviour for training purposes - 54%
•    Providing accurate reports for tax/expenses purposes - 47%
•    Supporting customer service by monitoring delivery vehicle progress - 44%
•    Monitoring vehicle health - 37%

The future has many more application areas in store. TomTom Telematics, Europe’s largest provider, is working with manufacturers, such as Renault and others, to line-fit telematics into vehicles so they can be sold “ready enabled”. George de Boer - leader of connected car initiatives at TomTom Telematics, explains: “In the future, cars will come with factory fit connectivity and the value aftermarket telematics providers will deliver is making data more insightful for fleet managers, mobility managers, customers and drivers. The data coming from the car can be combined with other applications, such as on-street parking, for example.”

As for an autonomous future, de Boer points out the potential of telematics to more accurately map the driving environment. “You can only have an autonomous future when the vehicle has enough data about its environment. But roads are changing rapidly so we need cars to feed data back and update maps in real-time. This is referred to as ‘extended floating car data’ and it complements telematics.”

Championing Good Driver behaviour

One example of the value of analysing telematics data is driver training. Such data can provide in-depth analysis of driver behaviour, notifying of safety breaches, such as speeding, harsh breaking, sudden swerving. This gives insight that can be used to offer training to counteract bad habits and improve overall driving standards.

Lior Sethon, VP and General Manager of the Aftermarket Division at Mobileye: “Today, Mobileye’s collision avoidance technology can be integrated with most of the major telematics providers. This means, in addition to real-time alerts helping the fleet avoid collisions, fleet managers can gain visibility into driver conduct: tailgating, harsh braking, lane drifting, etc. This data can be used to incentivise improved behaviour.”

Video telematics from companies such as Lytx offers a more complete picture of accidents or incidents, including how safely drivers are operating on the road.

When an event occurs, Lytx’s system provides core telematics data, plus the forward view of an externally-facing video camera captures what happened and the internal view, provided by in-cab video recorders, may provide information as to why it happened.

Mobility management

Berg Insight published its first report analysing the latest developments in the connected micro-mobility markets worldwide.

Free floating micro-mobility services (which could include bike a scooter-sharing) mostly encompass a telematics system comprising an on-board computer and telematics device for capturing trip data. The system also enables fleet management and grants access to vehicles through a smartphone app.

Over the next few years, the application of telematics and telematics data in particular promises to change the face of fleet management. Businesses can enjoy huge operational benefits now but a whole new raft of telematics-enabled business models is about to emerge.

Authored by Alison Pittaway