Occasionally, an industry development is truly revolutionary. The internal combustion engine, the radio, computers, the integrated circuit — each in its own way changed not only an industry, but the way we live, work, and play. There is a technology, yet in its infancy, that may well revolutionize the fleet industry for both fleet managers and drivers: telematics.
What is Telematics?
Telematics essentially is the combination of two relatively mature technologies: telecommunications and information technology. Vehicles have been using computer technology for years, replacing mechanical and fluid systems with integrated systems. Initially, computers were introduced to track and measure various systems, such as fuel and braking, making minute adjustments to promote peak performance. Later, vehicle technicians began to use them to read vehicle systems and diagnose problems.

The second half of telematics technology uses global positioning satellites (GPS). Signals are broadcast into space and bounced off satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Thus, telematics is the sending, receiving, and storing of information, broadcast via computer and captured via global GPS.

The ability of computer technology to send and GPS technology to receive vehicle data was rightly seen as an important new development in the fleet industry, and both vehicle manufacturers and telematics device makers began work to take advantage.
Fleet Data: The Challenge
Fleet managers literally survive on the information generated by fleet vehicles. The job cannot be done without it. Basic data, including such fixed costs as lease expense, depreciation reserve, and insurance costs, are established when the vehicle is placed into service and set up as repeating expenses captured automatically each month.

The challenge for decades has been the timely and accurate generation and capture of critical mileage data, vehicle location, and variable expense, all of which depend upon driver cooperation. For years, mileage data was captured either via maintenance and repair activity, the expense reporting process, or a mileage reporting policy. In any case, drivers were required to enter mileage and/or odometer readings and forward the information to the fleet department, where the information was painstakingly captured and entered into the fleet management system.

One development that helped streamline the process was the introduction of the fleet fuel card some 20 years ago. When purchasing fuel, drivers were prompted to enter an odometer reading, captured by the fuel card provider and sent to the fleet with other fuel data. While this was an important improvement over prior methods — odometer data was now captured far more often, and provided electronically — the driver was still the determining factor in data accuracy.

Many fleets, particularly delivery fleets and others in which the vehicle mission required driving regular established routes, or service fleets in which drivers were given daily schedules of service calls, required drivers to provide location and route information as they traveled each day. That data was used to plot the most efficient routes.

Another challenge for fleets was keeping drivers focused on the road, especially when the destination was unfamiliar and they needed directions. For fleet vehicles driving regular routes, this was not as serious an issue as for service and sales fleets, which traveled to different locations every day.

A third challenge was the innately reactive nature of dealing with vehicle problems. The condition of critical vehicle systems, such as brakes, electrical, and fuel, could be checked when a vehicle was in the shop. However, impending component failure wasn’t necessarily noted, and preventive maintenance didn’t always prevent such failure.

Therefore, the overarching challenge was twofold:

• Capturing vehicle data in the most timely and accurate manner possible, without depending on driver input.

• Detecting vehicle component failure in advance and taking preventive action, thereby reducing or eliminating vehicle and driver downtime.

  In these two areas, telematics has already provided answers and the promise of more elegant solutions in the future.
  What Telematics is Doing Today
  One of the first practical telematics applications was in vehicle tracking and location. Engineers noted that a vehicle might be able to send a signal off a GPS, captured by a user, that would pinpoint the vehicle location at any particular moment. Furthermore, that data could provide real-time mapping and, ultimately, direction information to the driver. Vehicle tracking was initially a solution for trucking companies that had depended upon drivers to call in progress reports along their routes.

  How is this data important, and how do fleet managers use it? When fleet drivers travel regular routes, location data can be integrated with sophisticated mapping software, enabling the fleet manager to provide drivers the most efficient route, reducing drive time, saving fuel, and offering more efficient customer service. Delivery times could be reduced, and service calls could be provided more quickly.

  The next logical step in telematics fleet application was satellite navigation. Drivers of all kinds, from service to sales, who drove different routes to different locations each day or week, often required directions no matter how familiar the territory. Plotting directions using maps or depending upon customers for guidance were replaced by Internet mapping sites such as MapQuest. But even printed detailed directions from such sites required the driver’s attention while operating the vehicle, creating a definite safety issue.

  Telematics has provided a solution. Using mapping tools and location data, in-vehicle devices can be installed (or provided by the manufacturer) enabling drivers to input a destination and receive a route map that provides turn-by-turn directions. To address the safety issue, voice directions are provided as well, e.g., “turn left in 100 yards.”

  Thus, vehicle tracking and mapping telematics can be used for several purposes:
  

• In conjunction with routing software, data can help plan routes more efficiently for delivery and service fleets.

• Fleets can locate individual vehicles instantly and track driver attention to the mission.

• Driver distraction from maps and written directions can be eliminated using mapping telematics.
  Critical Vehicle Data Provided
  Although vehicle tracking and mapping solutions can be used to great advantage, available data can be applied directly to the fleet manager’s job. Critical pieces of data telematics can capture are mileage and odometer readings. Accurate and timely mileage data is the single most important cog in the fleet expense management wheel. All fleet variable expense must be expressed as a ratio of cost-to-use, i.e., cents-per-mile, miles-per-gallon.

  Without mileage, this measurement becomes impossible and, depending on driver cooperation to gather that data, has historically been difficult. Even fuel card usage requiring an odometer entry can sometimes be inaccurate, either because a driver has transposed numbers or has forgotten to read the mileage before exiting the car to pump fuel and enters random numbers such as “00000” or “99999,” just to activate the pump.

  Telematics has begun to overcome those obstacles. The vehicle broadcasts odometer readings, captured and reported to the fleet either in real-time or in downloadable reports. This capability completely eliminates driver involvement and can provide daily updated odometer readings. Thus, the cost-per mile and other cost/use ratios of fleet variable expense can be nearly perfect in accuracy. Additionally, odometer readings, combined with the input of preventive maintenance schedules, can provide drivers PM reminders in advance.
  
  

  Even more promising is the relatively new concept of remote diagnostics, which will truly revolutionize fleet management. Beyond preventive maintenance, managing variable expense is reactive, dealing with problems after they occur. If, for example, a vehicle breaks down, managing the event consists of getting the vehicle into the shop, managing the repair, and returning the driver to the road (and out of the process) as quickly as possible.

  Telematics has begun to change this process, and the future holds enormous promise for even more sophisticated solutions. Today, both aftermarket and OEM devices exist that transmit data regarding the condition of vehicle systems. Used by dealer service departments during routine maintenance visits, this data provides a list of items that may need to be addressed, thus heading off the possibility of future problems.

  Current applications are somewhat limited. However, it is the “killer app,” as telematics engineers call it, for which the industry is looking. Remote activation of in-vehicle systems is already a reality, i.e. unlocking doors when drivers have locked themselves out of the car.
  What the Future May Hold
  Telematics, as a 21st century technology, is in its infancy. The data currently available is limited. But advancements and breakthroughs are proceeding at an astonishing pace and hold the possibility of offering fleet managers true, realtime, proactive management of fleet vehicles of all kinds.

  Fleet managers may be able to login to a single vehicle’s data stream, reading odometers, viewing tire pressure readings and vehicle system performance, and communicating directly with drivers.

  Remote diagnostics could one day lead to a service provider tracking performance and systems status, and communicating with drivers when failure is impending. Imagine the driver hearing a message, “Ms. Jones, we note that the alternator on your vehicle will fail in approximately 225 miles. There is a repair facility 1.3 miles from your current location. Would you like me to call ahead and make an appointment for you?”

  PM reminders are already available; other messages, for low tire pressure or coolant levels, may also be provided.

  Moving fleet management down to the driver level is greatly enabled when the data source used to do so is the vehicle itself and the telematics devices that communicate it. “Taking the driver out of the process” has been a goal of fleet management for decades, and telematics holds the promise to make it happen..