Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/573961
TECHNOLOGY: THE CONNECTED VEHICLE nies carry an equally heavy load. They are building engines of a different sort to power "big data" analytics. By consolidating information from vehicles with many other sources, these cloud-based engines are giving fleets and drivers new insights to make better decisions – some never before possible. Telematics companies are working independently on a number of applica- tions for connected vehicles. The open platform Some OEMs have forged exclusive agreements with telematics companies for joint development of connected vehicle technologies. Others, such as Navistar and Cummins, have chosen a different path – an open platform that works with a variety of telematics systems. Navistar recently rolled out a "telematics credit" to help its custom- ers offset the cost of buying telematics hardware and data services. This also gives fleets the opportunity to choose from several telematics platforms to take advan- tage of additional pre- ferred connected vehicle technologies. Navistar's credit comes with a free subscription to its remote diagnostics service, OnCommand Connection, which is designed to be compat- ible with all makes and models of trucks. Omnitracs, one of the largest telematics provid- ers, has taken a somewhat similar approach to con- nected vehicle technology. To date, it has not aligned itself with a particular OEM; rather, it is working with all of them on connected vehicle projects. "In doing so, we understand that each OEM is a little unique," says Dan Speicher, chief technology officer, who understands that each manufacturer wants some proprietary telematics ap- plications. But to have massive success, Speicher says, OEMs realize "they are going to have to open their kimonos to three or four telematics providers." To prepare for the future of connect- ed vehicle technology, Omnitracs is developing mobile applications via a two-stage approach. Stage one will allow all of the com- pany's fleet management applications to work on a single hardware platform. Omnitracs currently has the XRS suite of applications designed for consum- er-style Android mobile devices, while its more traditional in-cab Mobile Computing Platform uses its own hardware and custom Windows oper- ating system. For stage two, all of its mobile appli- cations will be hardware-agnostic. Spe- icher says this stage should be partially complete by the middle of next year, with a set of applications available as a "single stack" for OEMs to offer their customers from the factory. The applications will incorporate electronic logging, International Fuel Tax Association reporting, navigation, proof of delivery and more, he says. Going forward, Speicher says that to make trucks smarter, OEMs will need to work with telematics companies to develop apps designed to prevent mis- takes from happening in the first place. Speicher says the company is working on applications for predictive maintenance through its Omnitracs Analytics division to help prevent component failures. It also is working on predictive safety alerts that could be sent to other vehicles within an accident's proximity. Imagine that two vehicles in the same area are traveling in the same direction, and both suddenly come to a stop. A telematics application could detect this event and predict that an accident has happened. If bad weather is added to the mix, the app could cal- culate that a major pileup has occurred and send out a warning to other vehicles to avoid the road segment. Expanding connectivity Trucks are not the only assets joining the connected vehicle bandwagon. As the cost of telematics hardware declines and functional- ity increases, more fleets are using telematics to cast a wider net over their business operations. Orbcomm has been in the 70 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 Navistar's telematics credit comes with a free subscription to its OnCommand Connection remote diagnostics service. Omnitracs has not aligned itself with a particular OEM, choosing to work with all of them on connected vehicle projects.