Manage the Fleet with Smart Vehicle Tracking Systems

GPS tracking and telematics can be smartly combined for logistics use. How digital vehicle location systems optimize fleet management.

Early in the morning a column of trucks is at the ready to deliver the next shipments. Be they textiles, machine parts or foodstuffs, the trucks cannot deliver the goods to their destinations on time without a clear fleet organization. To keep track of each vehicle and its location and, if need be, to notify changes of route or destination a swift and flexible system to locate the trucks is required. Fleet managers must at the same time keep an eye on the operating data of individual vehicles in order to be able to react directly in the event of irregularities. At first glance the two challenges would seem to require different solutions. To determine a vehicle’s location, built-in GPS trackers that establish the truck’s exact current position are the obvious choice. To record operating data such as hours at the wheel, mileage or fuel level, telematics applications are already in widespread use.

Telematics combines telecommunications and informatics. In fleet management, for example, it can be an OBD2 on-board diagnosis connector that records fuel consumption and speed data, rev count and oil temperature or error codes. It transmits the collected data via a built-in SIM card to the Cloud, where the data is read and interpreted. It can be used inter alia to maintain a digital log book or to analyze vehicle data.

GPS, or Global Positioning System, works via satellites that continuously transmit position data to Earth as coded signals. A GPS receiver calculates its distance from the satellites and thereby establishes its terrestrial location. Data such as time and position can be retrieved via an app or a Web portal. The GPS tracker also provides a surveillance function. If a vehicle is stolen its change of position is clearly indicated.

Digital vehicle tracking systems combine GPS tracking and telematics in a joint application. Its functions make the fleet manager’s work much easier. In addition to digital documentation of data such as driver’s license and hours at the wheel, GPS vehicle location and monitoring of vehicle use are provided simply and transparently by one app and paperwork errors are a thing of the past.

Customers receive more precise information about deliveries. They can log into a Web portal and access the same information that the trucker and his line manager can see. They can also place repeat orders or make new inquiries about deliveries. And the digital log book is proof of hours at the wheel and hours of rest and the fleet manager maintains an overview of vehicle use.