Adoption of telemetics by commercial fleets is expected to reach par with long-haul trucking telematics by the end of 2014 and dominate commercial fleets by the end of 2019, according to new research from ABI Research.

Telematics technologies and services, which were first adopted by the long-haul trucking industry, should reach 50 million vehicles in the coming five years, ABI predicts.

Use of telematics has increased in several non-trucking sectors such as utilities; private transportation including taxis, private hire vehicles, and rental fleets; construction and mining; government; emergency services; and local delivery markets.

"Many of these verticals are facing similar challenges such as the need to improve the utilization of their vehicle fleets, combat rising fuel prices, trim payroll costs, and comply with 'duty of care' obligations towards their employees," said Gareth Owen, principal analyst at ABI Research.

Service fleets are viewing telematics as a way to meet customer service needs because the "failure of service personel to arrive on time" is their top customer complaint, Owen added.

Other non-trucking sectors, including government fleet managers, see telematics as a way to demonstrate the satisfactory completion of tasks such as refuse collection or road gritting.