Telematics: Your Questions Answered - The Ultimate Guide
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Have you ever struggled to get in contact with one of your drivers and wondered where they were? We have all heard the word “telematics,” but what does it mean, how can you benefit from using it and how can it show you where your drivers are in real-time?
In this article, we’ll discuss telematics in-depth, how it applies to different industries, and why it’s necessary to make your fleet management more cost-effective and productive.
In this article, you will:
Get an understanding of what telematics is and how it works
Get some tips on choosing the right telematics partner
See how we can solve your telematics-related problems
See an overview of how telematics can be incorporated into different industries
Get an understanding of how the advancement of telematics might influence your fleet management
Let’s start with the basics: Telematics defined
When we think of telematics, the first thing that pops into our minds is technology, right? Well, that is somewhat true. However, to understand telematics, which has a lot to do with technology, we need to understand the IoT (Internet of Things). But before we get into that, we need to know how telematics and IoT fit together. Simply put, telematics is a sub-category of IoT that relates to vehicles and covers areas such as GPS tracking and sensors such as fuel sensors. So, what is IoT, and what is an IoT device?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the name given to devices that can process data, have sensors, and contain software that connects and exchanges data with other devices through the Internet and communications networks.
Essentially, you can think of IoT as a way of giving any object the ability to communicate and connect with other objects to gather data and share it. This means that any device with an Internet connection or just having the ability to connect to the Internet can become an IoT device. Even an electronic duster can be considered an IoT device, as it can connect to the internet; this happens via WiFi, and it's connected to a smartphone app that can switch it on and off.
Telematics is a combination of telecommunications and information technology (IT) that sends, receives, and stores information about vehicles and their use. Devices like GPS trackers and sensors gather data from vehicles, which is then wirelessly transferred to a central system, where it is analysed and reported on.
Telematics can be seen as a system in your vehicle that tracks and shares information about your vehicle. This information can include vehicle speed and driver behaviour like harsh braking and sharp cornering.
Telematics can even gather and share information related to vehicle health, like engine diagnostics. This information is great to have as it not only helps you ensure that your vehicle is in its best condition but can also improve driver behaviour, manage your vehicle’s fuel consumption, and be used for insurance-based instances.
How do your vehicle and telematics walk hand-in-hand?
Your fleet and telematics work together because telematics allows you to see all information related to your vehicles in one central location. It makes fleet management easier and more accurate, as the data that the IoT device collects can be used to improve your driver’s bad driving behaviour, such as speeding and harsh acceleration.
What type of telemetry data is available?
The type depends on the make, model, and age of the vehicle; however, in general, the data that we can collect includes:
Your vehicle’s location
Whether their engines are turned on or off
Your drivers’ behaviour, such as harsh braking and acceleration
How long your vehicles have been idling
Your fleet’s real-time fuel consumption
Your fleet vehicles’ engine diagnostics
If your vehicles have certain sensors, we can get additional information or data about them. Some of the sensors that can be used include:
Temperature sensors: A temperature sensor measures the coolant temperature of a cargo hold.
Fuel sensors: A fuel sensor measures the amount of fuel in a fuel tank.
Door sensors: A door sensor monitors when a vehicle door opens. There are various door sensors, such as passenger, cargo, and driver sensors.
Cement Drum Rotation sensors: A cement drum rotation sensor measures the speed at which the drum spins, the direction of rotation, and the number of rotations the drum makes.
PTO (Power Take-Off) sensors: A PTO sensor monitors the amount of fuel used during a trip, the temperature of the vehicle's oil, and productive vs. unproductive idling.
How do we get telemetry data?
We collect your vehicle’s telemetry data through an in-vehicle device, the IoT device that we mentioned earlier, that is connected to the ignition wire and the power wire of your vehicle. The IoT device consists of different elements:
GPS receiver: This component is used to get the location and movements of your fleet vehicles
Sim card and cellular: The sim card and cellular allow the IoT device to connect with the internet via a cellular network to send and receive information such as the vehicle’s location.
G-force sensor: A g-force sensor monitors harsh driving behaviour by analysing the acceleration and deceleration rates the vehicle experiences; this is how we can tell whether a vehicle took a sharp turn, for instance.
Inputs for other specialised sensors: Inputs allow us to connect other specialised sensors, like those mentioned above, to the IoT device so that their data can be processed and sent.
The importance of choosing the right telematics partner
Choosing the right company to help you with collecting and managing your fleet’s telematics data is vital to the management of your fleet. You need a company that:
Understands your organisation’s needs and wants when it comes to telematics
Integrates the newest and best telematics solutions as it is developed to help you best manage your fleet
Helps you not only gather your fleet’s telematics data but also guides you in understanding that data
How telematics assist in reducing road risks in Singapore
Singapore is known for having stringent road rules and tolls, which can lead to severe penalties and fines if not followed. Some of these rules include:
Harsh speed limits: Like all countries, Singapore has strict speed limits that motorists are expected to follow. There are speed cameras on the motorways that will capture motorists who exceed the speed limit’s picture, resulting in them getting fined.
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) with in-vehicle units (IU): Vehicles need an in-vehicle unit (IU) containing a cash card if a driver travels through an electronic road pricing (ERP) gantry without a cash card or with insufficient funds in their cash card, they will get fined.
Pedestrians have the right of way: At traffic junctions, it is not uncommon for the light to turn green for both motorists and pedestrians. At the same time, motorists have to give way to pedestrians.
How Cartrack can solve customer telematics-related cares
At Cartrack, we aim to solve your fleet-related concerns and simplify your fleet management. Some of the problems that we aim to help you manage and solve include:
Knowing where your drivers are at all times Do you suspect that your drivers might be taking longer routes to get back to the office after making deliveries? Cartrack can help you access their live location and trip history to see where they might have stopped or whether they are taking routes that are causing you inefficient operations and wasted fuel.
Managing your drivers' working hours effectively If your drivers are working overtime and it's been difficult to track their operating hours, you can get an accurate depiction of your drivers’ working hours with Cartrack’s reports. The reports can assist you in knowing exactly how many hours they have been working overtime to accurately manage their compensation.
Managing your fleet billing with ease We at Cartrack know that it can be challenging to stay on top of all your expenses and pay bills on time when you have a million other things to worry about, such as your operations and client relations. On our fleet management platform, you can create reminders for when you need to pay certain bills and how much you need to pay per bill.
Managing your employee productivity levels with real-time data In logistics, it can be difficult to pinpoint where employee productivity is lacking because of the intertwined logistical chains ranging from production to packaging to transportation. Cartrack’s Map function and reports can be used to see whether there are any productivity issues with the drivers and where they can be improved.
Being aware of drivers’ unsafe driver behaviour while they’re travelling Delivery company managers often don't have visibility into their drivers' behaviour on the road, which is important for them to maintain a good reputation and ensure the safety of their products. Managers can monitor daily driving behaviour via the Map function and generate reports that show any driving offences, such as speeding.
Managing your fleet vehicles’ maintenance with ease Companies such as construction companies use a lot of different vehicles and machinery daily. Because of their frequent use, it can be hard for managers to stay on top of the maintenance of their vehicles and machinery. We at Cartrack can ease the stress of doing the maintenance logs manually by offering you one location where your vehicles and machinery’s maintenance can be logged, or reminders can be set to remind you that certain vehicles need to go for services.
Managing your fleet’s fuel consumption and fuel costs effectively In the logistics industry, it is important to ensure that all vehicles have enough fuel because of the distances that they travel. These vehicles' fuel consumption isn’t as closely monitored, because of how many vehicles there usually are in these fleets, it is more likely that the drivers might commit fuel theft and choose to fuel their vehicles in every town even when it isn’t necessary. We can install fuel sensors to monitor every vehicle's fuel consumption and validate every refuelling. Our system will then alert managers to suspicious activities related to refuelling, such as fueling beyond the vehicle's capacity, which indicates potential fuel theft.
Scheduling all your resources in one location Certain agricultural activities, such as planting corn seeds, are weather-dependent and thus need to be scheduled according to weather conditions. You can schedule your agricultural equipment and activities in advance on our website.
Keeping customers informed on deliveries and services automatically and in real-time Customers who make use of online services such as clothing stores often want to know where their packages are at all times because they might be afraid of scams. Ensure that customers feel at ease by sending them tracking links to track the delivery vehicles that have their packages on our website.
How we assisted one of our clients: Richland case study
About Richland Logistics:
Richland is a notable logistics solutions provider that caters to various sectors, such as technology, petrochemicals, consumer goods, manufacturing, oil and gas, and freight forwarding across Southeast Asia. It also makes more than 40,000 deliveries every month.
Main challenge:
Richland needed a system that could update them on their fleet and driver information in real time to ensure that all their deliveries were made on time and that they stayed on track with their deliveries to prevent them from falling behind. Their second objective was to gain insights into how they could reduce their operational costs while boosting their productivity levels.
How we helped them:
Cartrack’s Geofencing feature assisted Richland’s fleet managers in creating custom virtual boundaries around their dispatch and delivery zones. This enabled them to see when their drivers reached their delivery points. If there were any delays, managers could contact the drivers to find out why and manage customer expectations accordingly.
Cartrack’s fleet management system allowed Richland to identify problematic driver behaviour that could cause late deliveries or reflect poorly on the company’s reputation, such as harsh braking or speeding, in the form of real-time data and reports. Richland management used these reports to educate drivers on their bad driving behaviour for them to improve, resulting in better productivity and customer relations.
Richland could make informed decisions about its operations based on the automatic notifications it received about its fleet, such as fuel consumption. Cartrack’s fuel sensors monitor vehicles’ fuel consumption levels. Fleet managers could then use the fuel consumption data to assess which drivers and vehicles were more efficient and why they were more efficient. Data that could be assessed included the l/km per vehicle and the impact of unproductive idling. Managers could also see if other factors influenced the fuel consumption and productivity levels of the fleet and drivers. This allowed them to address these issues, resulting in an increase in productivity and a decrease in fuel costs.
How telematics can guide fleet management in specific industries
Telematics can be used in virtually every industry that uses vehicles or machinery. Some of the industries in which our telematics devices and services are used include:
Construction industry
We at Cartrack can install a power take-off (PTO) sensor that can assess whether machinery is being idled productively or unproductively. Different factors can be considered productive idling, such as the stationary use of machinery such as cranes or cement trucks that are turned on while being used.
You can better control your billing-related data with our automated reports, which show fleet-related data such as fuel consumption and the actual usage time of machinery, which indicates how long employees have effectively worked with the machinery.
Logistics, manufacturing and transportation industry
You can get proof of driver operating hours and evidence that they made their location visits, whether that is for deliveries or services, with the use of Cartrack Delivery.
Ride-hailing services
Monitor whether your drivers take unregistered trips without adding them to the ride-hailing app and take the earnings of those trips by using trip reports to see the start and end date and location of each trip they make. This way, you can also ensure that they do not sit somewhere unproductively for hours.
You can effectively manage your drivers’ working hours to ensure that they are getting paid for the hours they are actually working by using reports to see how many hours they work in a day.
Food and beverage transportation
The temperature monitoring inside produce transportation vehicles is quite important because certain foods need to be kept at certain temperatures to comply with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) regulations. Temperature sensors can be installed in these vehicles to notify you if the vehicle’s temperature drops below or rises above the set temperature.
Agriculture
You can monitor the use of your equipment to ensure that it's not used outside of working hours, which might be an indicator that it’s being stolen, by setting up alerts that will notify you when the machinery is switched on.
You can prevent your agricultural vehicles from being overloaded by installing a Cartrack weight sensor that notifies you when the cargo weight of the vehicle is more than it’s supposed to be or when there’s a sudden drop in the cargo weight, which might also indicate theft. Stay on top of your agricultural operations with Cartrack’s advanced monitoring solutions.
What is the future of telematics in fleet management?
Telematics will continue to grow as technology advances and continue to benefit the management of your fleet. Here are four developing telematics trends that can help you improve the management of your fleet:
Automated job management: Many organisations have access to automated job management through external websites and telematics solutions that assist them in managing their employees’ job tasks electronically. However, they do not necessarily implement the technology yet. Thus, it is still considered a trend that is still being developed.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is a continuously advancing technology that has become a more common tool in fleet management. AI assists companies in catching problems early on before they become major financial issues. Companies have also started implementing AI technology into the management of their fleet operations and have seen improvements in their processes. AI enables customers to receive instant assistance with their queries, resulting in satisfied customers and a good reputation for the company.
Automated analytics data and increased managerial productivity: Companies won’t need to log their employee hours, reports, or other fleet-related information manually but they can pull the data automatically at the touch of a button. This data will also help managers answer the question, “Why?” of their fleet. Such as, “Why is there an increase in our company fuel costs?”, “Why is one driver always late with their deliveries?”, or “Why do certain vehicles need more maintenance than other vehicles in the fleet?”. Not only that, but it will also help managers in directing their time and tasks as they will have time to focus on other tasks that they might have to do.
Improve fleet CO2 emissions: Telematics can help monitor the fuel consumption of the entire fleet and the driving behaviour of the drivers to see where issues might be that cause unnecessary CO2 emissions, such as idling for extended periods, taking unoptimised routes that cause more fuel consumption, and harsh braking and acceleration. Once these areas have been identified, they can be addressed to minimise emissions.
Will AI take over telematics?
AI-based telematics systems can assist in optimising fleet management. Managers can create routes, allocate resources and drive fleet performance based on data that the telematics units previously gathered about the fleet. Telematics devices can gather data, with the help of AI, and analyse it to give a more accurate depiction of what the information means than if a person had done it.
Put your business first with Cartrack’s advanced telematics solution
With Cartrack's all-in-one fleet management solution, you’ll never have to wonder where your drivers are again. Contact us today for a free demo.
Frequently Asked Questions about Telematics
How does fleet telematics work? Fleet telematics combines GPS tracking and vehicle diagnostics to monitor a vehicle's movements, location, and ignition status, as well as motorists' behaviour while driving.
Who is the largest telematics company in the world? There isn’t a specific telematics company that is the largest in the world at the moment. However, there are a couple of contenders dependent on the country.
How much is fleet telematics? The price of telematics is dependent on various factors, such as which company you choose to partner with, what telematics plan you choose, and whether you want to get additional add-ons to your plan.
What is telematics for beginners? As we discussed at the beginning of the blog, telematics is the combination of informatics and telecommunications, which allows you to receive and send data from multiple devices globally.
Find out what telematics is and how Cartrack can help your company gain its telematics data.
