Fleet management faces challenges from many different angles. Controlling costs amidst rising insurance rates and fluctuating gas prices, managing drivers across large geographic areas, narrowing margins of error to best optimise the transportation chain, and so much more.
In mitigating these challenges, it’s best to start with one solution – and that’s IoT-enabled Location-Based Services. Location-Based Services (LBS) is an overarching term for the key technology solutions leveraged for cost savings, operational efficiency, and safety enhancement in the fleet industry. Common benefits of LBS for fleet are:Driver Management and Safety
The most common telematics used in driver management today measure events such as harsh braking and accelerating, as well as sharp cornering. This technology, however, paired with AI-powered in-vehicle video gives greater insight into driver behaviour, such as drowsiness, distracted driving, or cell phone use. Through artificial vision, driver behaviour is monitored, and drivers are alerted in real-time when driving dangerously. Artificial vision is employed within the vehicle and is linked to an advanced driver alert system, which provides an immediate alert to the driver, while also flagging the event in a user interface that fleet managers can view in an effort to monitor and manage drivers.
Route Optimisation and Geofencing
Pairing GPS and telematics, the LBS solutions can provide real-time information for data-driven decisions to maximise efficiency. Geofencing leverages location services and software by creating digital parameters. This can aid in ensuring deliveries and the corresponding times are met, which supports customer experience. When a vehicle enters and exits a geofence, alerts are provided which helps track vehicles, cargo, and can provide for route optimisation to lower fuel costs and support delivery times, as well as mandates.
Vehicle Maintenance
Telematics are used to measure vehicle performance to avoid costly breakdowns on the road. With preventative maintenance, fleet managers can schedule in advance and re-route as needed to avoid costly interruptions to operations. Unplanned downtime can be costly both to the fleet manager’s bottom line, but also to customer relationships if delivery times are not met.
Regulations and Compliance Management
With the many regulatory and compliance measures for drivers, vehicles, cargo, and so forth, managing the data is made simpler with telematics-driven Location-Based Services. Capturing and streamlining data into a platform helps manage this major administrative task that can result in punitive action if not managed properly. Fleet managers have an opportunity to move away from paper logs and a legacy type of recorder called an Automatic On-Board Recording Device (AOBRD) to a more streamlined technology (Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs)) to support regulatory compliance.
Stolen Vehicle Recovery
Stolen Vehicle Recovery (SVR) assists law enforcement in quickly recovering a stolen vehicle by leveraging LBS. The tracking capability of LBS provides better insurance of a recovered stolen vehicle and the associated costs. An excellent example of how IoT has been used successfully here, is a UK based company called TRACKER. Their exceptional solutions for passenger cars, motorcycles, Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV), and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) has enabled them to recover over £500 million worth of stolen vehicles to-date.
Location-Based Services are truly a powerful, comprehensive solution that helps tackle many of the major challenges in the fleet industry. Pairing hardware, software, and connectivity to create this IoT infrastructure can be a challenge, but KORE allows the fleet industry to work with just one provider. KORE has the industry knowledge, experience, and partnerships with leading hardware providers, a powerful LBS platform, and multi-technology connectivity options for plug-and-play LBS solutions. With KORE, it’s simple to start with one.
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