Fleet Management is an administrative approach which allows companies to organize and coordinate work vehicles with the goal to improve efficiency, reduce costs and provide ways to follow government regulations. Although Fleet management is mainly used for vehicle tracking, but it also includes following and recording mechanical diagnostics and driver behavior. Fleet management is used by couriers, oil and gas delivery, utilities, repair and service industry businesses to ensure responsible vehicle use, confirm safety and provide real-time tracking. It is generally related to delivery cars and trucks and recently to boats also.

Significance of Fleet Management

Fleet management is an integral part of the logistics industry. Without proper fleet management, it is impossible to build a successful logistics business. This industry is based on the flow of goods from one place to another and any issue in the flow can ultimately lead to disruption of work and can make the clients unsatisfied. Nowadays with the boom of e-commerce industry fleet management and logistics have become even more important.

Fleet Management Through Software

You may have to contact a reputed Software Development Company in order to develop your own Fleet management software. There are many software development companies or vendors which offer many readymade or customized fleet management technologies and applications. Most of the Vehicles use telematics like GPS for reliable global automatic vehicle location (AVL) detection while some also use less expensive cellular triangulation in remote and less-traveled areas.

Such a Fleet management software allows a company’s management and dispatchers to track all vehicles from a central location. Tracking software are used to monitor driver behavior, proper vehicle use, work breaks and safety concerns. Fleet management software may also include some remote control capabilities like speed limiting, engine revolution limiting and gradual slowing or stopping of vehicles. Remote security helps in preventing vehicles from being stolen and using GPS, mapping and cellular technology to quickly and accurately locate rogue vehicles. Vehicle operation is often monitored for mechanical problems and in helping the overall efficiency of the company.

We all know that the use of technology in Logistics Software Development is on the rise and the fleet industry also does not want to be left behind. Many fleet management companies are turning to machine and IoT technologies to provide good quality service and cut costs on the way. In 2019, we will see an increase in the use of technology in all operations including vehicle maintenance and logistics. Technology is going to be used more in route optimization, vehicle tracking and behavioral monitoring.

Let’s now discuss some of the key trends in Fleet Management and Logistics industry in 2019.

Video Analytics to Improve Behavior Monitoring Solutions

One of the most popular trend in the Fleet management and logistics industry is behavior monitoring and tracking. The installation of video analytics requires onboard computers with 4G and GPS, G-Sensors, IP cameras and visual analytics software. Video analytics can help in keeping track of the health and well-being of drivers and it can also help in reducing accidents. Also with this the unnecessary fuel consumption can be minimized. Therefore, it looks like the trend of video analytics will be highly popular in 2019.

Autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles

You can contact some popular technology company for free consultation in this area and how to use autonomous vehicles. But we can easily say that, in current time, the autonomous vehicles have become very popular and are gaining lots of attention in the fleet industry. Research reports say that this is just the beginning as their numbers will rise rapidly in 2019 and beyond. There are many fleet management companies which have plans to include more autonomous vehicles into their fleet. Obviously, the autonomous vehicles will enhance efficiency with self-driving capabilities. Also, the vehicles will increase the road safety using latest car technologies like vehicle to vehicle communication and forward collision avoidance algorithm systems. In 2019, the experts say the autonomous vehicles will have over 60% market penetration and reach.

AI based Advanced Diver Assistance Systems (ADAS)

Currently we are witnessing a revolution in the use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) when we talk about its use in fleet management industry in 2019. Many companies in this industry are striving hard to develop and deploy systems which use Artificial Intelligence (AI), deep learning, machine vision and image processing technologies. New technology will provide more superior systems than they were in previous generation of ADAS solutions. Hence it is expected that ADAS will become more smarter and offer more safety and accuracy for drivers and other users. We can also see more use of sensor driven systems like lane changing assistance to visual analytics based systems. These advance systems can identify any object in front of them on the road or any adverse environment condition to avoid accidents. These systems will also bring cost effective solutions thus saving on maintenance cost and they will also eliminate the sudden downtime of vehicles.

Predictive Maintenance system

We are now seeing increase in the adoption of IoT based sensors and devices which will lead to the integration of predictive maintenance system. This system will use the IoT technology and wireless communication to remind the driver when the vehicle is due for service or for some maintenance work. By using onboard sensors, fleet managers will be able to use the collected data to predict when the vehicle will require repair. Also this system can also predict and schedule downtime itself and avoid any malfunction or breakdown in future.

Data visibility and management

We have been seeing the use of data for fleet management for quite some time now and this trend is going to intensify in near future. Now more and more companies are reaping the benefits of collecting data points, analyzing trends and making well informed decisions based on the insights given by the data analysis. This is helping fleet managers to take more proactive approach in their operations. For example, take vehicle inspection system – In this a driver or operator examines an asset, inputs data via electronic inspection forms or a software application. This data is then collected and organized automatically into a database. Using digitization, users can at once transmit information in real-time thereby streamlining data collection, reducing manual work, and allowing managers to quickly access information. This also provides an opportunity to easily share information across multiple teams so the proper stakeholder can easily access it to get benefits. Therefore, several Fleet management software companies are continuously evolving their solutions to empower fleet managers. Prior visibility into various collected data helps the fleet manager to shift the responsibilities from being reactive to proactive. This new system reduces greatly the chances of unexpected issues and vehicle downtime.

Insurance and wages

Lately we have seen that the wages and insurance rates have been rising which is putting pressure on operational costs of the fleet management companies. All fleets must have an insurance policy which meets the state’s commercial vehicle requirements for collision and liability. By using Fleet management software, fleets can get insight regarding driver behavior and they can use that information to help reduce risk and potentially decrease insurance premiums. We have seen labor costs have continued to surge in past few years thus impacting fleet’s operating costs for its workers and maintenance providers. Reports say that wage growth for production level/nonsupervisory workers was 3.3% in Dec 2018, compared to 2.4% in previous year same period. Hence the unemployed people are decreasing day by day and therefore wages will continue to see incremental increases. Hence using software, the companies can better plan and manage these aspects.

Conclusion

We have just discussed some of the major trends we will witness in fleet management and Logistics industry in 2019. But the technology is innovating and evolving continuously hence we will see many more advanced trends in coming months and years. There will be more use of technology and less use of manpower in managing fleet in future. Hence if you too want to succeed in this market then you have to remain up to date with the current technological trends and other trends in the Fleet management and Logistics market.