GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – A new report from the Sweden-based telecom industry analysis company Berg Insight found that the in-vehicle installed base of fleet management systems will reach a total of 3.8M by 2015 in North America and a total of 6.1M in the Americas. In 2010, the number of fleet management systems deployed in commercial fleets in North America was 2.1M in Q4. The company said the compound annual growth rate is 12.6 percent.

“Today managers in North America generally know that fleet management technology can help their businesses reduce costs and improve efficiency. In Latin America, an educational process may however be needed in order to increase the awareness among prospective users about the benefits that fleet management solutions bring beyond mere security related features,” said Rickard Andersson, Telecom Analyst, Berg Insight.

The company’s report found that the market for fleet management systems in the Americas is highly fragmented with hundreds of companies competing on the market.

It noted that there are still different market segments to address, and some vendors, such as Qualcomm, XATA, and PeopleNet offer solutions aimed for the high-end transportation segment. The report said others, including FleetMatics, Networkfleet and Wireless Matrix, focus on service fleets. The report cited customer awareness of the benefits of telematics as the main driver behind growth.

In Latin America, the number of installed fleet management systems is expected to increase from 0.9 million in Q4-2010, growing at a CAGR of 20.6 percent to reach 2.3 million in 2015.

New regulations related to road transport activities also have a major impact on the market environment, the report found. The recently implemented CSA safety scoring system in the US to identify high-risk motor carriers requiring interventions is one example. The hours-of-service regulations are further being revised and a mandate to use electronic on-board recorders to log working hours for truckers is likely to come in place starting in 2012 for new vehicles to eventually include all commercial vehicles. In Brazil, the mandated installation of tracking units in all new vehicles is also an important influencer of the development in this region.