From reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions to delving into the use of AI and predictive analytics, the report outlines data rich insights that can be gained through telematics.
David Brown, Associate Vice President of Geotab Asia Pacific, advises on how retailers and operators, within the industry, can leverage these findings to minimise the impact of these obstacles all while creating a more robust pipeline.
“Most of the challenges facing the industry is cost related,” he says. “Businesses are looking at how to reduce CO² emissions, while also lowering maintenance costs at the same time. It all adds up to trying to save money.
“Therefore, the focus is looking at how to leverage technology and bring it into businesses while aiming to reduce costs over a certain amount of time.”
With a growing emphasis on reducing fuel consumption, David also discusses how the use of telematics can provide operators with the necessary insights in identifying key waste areas.
“With the Geotab solution you can pull information directly from the vehicle’s computer,” he says. “It will give you RPM, fuel efficiency and can also monitor driver behaviour.”
Analysing driver behaviour is another pivotal factor for operators to consider.
“Data provided by the solution can reveal how the driver is performing overall,” says David.
“Are they driving in the correct manner? Do they need corrected driving? Are they harsh braking, going too fast or accelerating?
“All these things add to wear and tear on a vehicle and from just monitoring driver behaviour you can potentially save a lot in terms of fuel.”
Geotab predicts that the demand for quality data to fuel AI models will intensify as it acts as a ‘back pocket data scientist’, enabling operators to interpret the insights telematics systems provide.
“We interpret data through AI which makes it easy, and you don’t need a data scientist for that,” says David.
“The system can access data very quickly, formulate answers and provide information, eliminating any manual input.
“AI will be the route that everybody will look to go down. It’s something that is relatively new to the industry, so trying to open people’s eyes to the technology and the power of AI is a hurdle.
“Once people understand that this is the way forward more doors in the industry will continue to open.”
With new legislation by the federal government coming into play from July, enforcing mandatory climate reporting, the company looks toward the use of generative AI in assisting businesses in reaching sustainability goals without having to make a full transition to electric.
“You need technology to measure your CO2 emissions,” says David. “The data our telematics systems provides showcases many ways at which businesses can reduce carbon emissions without having to move to electric.”
Even though latest figures, detailed in the report, demonstrate year on year growth in EV adoption, David says infrastructure and cost will delay the trucking industry in fully making the transition.
“From a trucking perspective, we are a fair bit away from transitioning to electric trucks, for long haul anyway,” he says.
“Fleet managers are pioneers in their industry, but this is new territory, and no one has done this before. They will need these insights to know are they making the right decisions, by moving one vehicle out and another one in and what is most cost effective in doing so. Again, the technology is needed here to give such insights.”
In helping the transition which, according to David, will inevitably come in the next four to five years, Geotab has already started to prepare the data that offers solutions.
“When this transition does come about the key will be to know what vehicles in your fleet you need to swap over first, and the only way you can do that is through telematics,” David says.
“We already have electric vehicles in our database with prices and operating costs. All this information that we gathered is from the OEM so all the existing information from the existing fleet.
“This means that at the click of a button you are able to tell what vehicles you should swap out and which vehicles you should bring, which will serve as valuable information as fleets begin to make necessary transitions.”
With the cost of new and used vehicles on the rise and the availability of replacement vehicles limited, fleet managers are also having to operate older, high-mileage vehicles, posing another challenge to the industry.
According to David, this is where predictive analytics will play a key role.
“We will see the impact of ageing fleets more and more on the industry. This is because people are not ready to move to combustion vehicles and they are using older ones while also trying to make them sustainable,” he says.
“Maintenance here is extremely important. Our system can connect to any onboard computer which means, that even in old vehicles, you can predict when something is going to go wrong. Things like batteries which can generally runout in two or three years.
“Knowing these things in advance is a huge benefit as fleets can then prepare to have another truck in operation, minimising downtime.”
Focusing primarily on providing fleet management solutions, Geotab also highlights the transformative power of connected data and how this can assist companies in making quick and effective decisions.
“For a transport company the main thing is how do I make quick decisions based on the data provided, how do I understand what this means and how does this impact my business. Essentially, does it allow me to make intelligent and decisions to save money,” says David.
“A complex and innovative ecosystem is key to any good telematics framework and gives operators the ability to manage relationships between provider, producer and driver efficiently and effectively.
“Transferring data in an easy to use and efficient way rather than having two or three systems is key.
“Our telematics systems house it all in one, providing an open platform which allows operators to connect their transport management system with our solution. It is important to have the flexibility to do this making it easy for operators.”
As a critical period for the industry lies ahead, trusted and intelligent use of data can help pave the way to reliable and forward-thinking solutions.
Emphasising the pivotal role that data and AI will play in driving performance, efficiency, profitability, and sustainability, David says telematics will continue to grow and the use of AI will become increasingly important especially when it comes to reducing cost for fleet operators.
“Geotab is solution focused and amid complex challenges, will continue its commitment to the sector in providing trusted insights and empowering businesses.”
