Advancing AI Telematics in the Transportation and Logistics Industry: Blog # 2

In the first blog in the AI ​​Transportation and Logistics series, I featured the AI ​​transformation innovations at Purolator. AI has filtered business models to modernize and stay relevant.

Does change start with asking the right questions?

First, the speed of change in the transportation and logistics industry is accelerating. Did you know that artificial intelligence in this market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.87% from 2017 to 2030, and the market size is expected to grow from $ 1.21 billion in 2017 to $ 10.30 billion by 2030?

Gartner’s latest forecast for global transportation management software (TMS) estimates the market to grow from $ 1.32 billion to $ 2.11 billion (2019 to 2024). That’s 60% growth over a five-year period.

All you have to do is look around or beyond to see AI innovations with smarter sensor light traffic systems monitoring network traffic, telematics software tracking every move human of your fleet to look beyond the future where autonomous fleet trucks will gradually emerge, augmenting droid expedition delivery systems to appreciate the realities of the Minority Report, a film in which Tom Cruise starred. is not that far. Hollywood has a weird way of visualizing our future to spur innovation in the tech industry to unlock what we thought was impossible to achieve.

AI in telematics software

Fleet management is big business and very expensive.

According to a study by NHTSA, more than 94% of collisions are attributable to driver error, and of these incidents, the majority stem from risk factors such as distracted driving, speeding, tailgating and improper turns. Many telematics systems today follow the ABCs of driver risk: acceleration, braking and cornering, these solutions and others do not provide a complete measure of risk, which means fleets and their companies insurance rely on late measurements and post-event reviews. . There is a need to integrate predictive alerts to provide real-time coaching, and companies like Nauto are rapidly innovating in predictive fleet intelligence versus analyzing statistics alone. This reflection is a big step forward towards actionable information.

Being able to track all of your assets, carefully monitor their routes, speeds, safety behaviors, and lower operating costs with smarter telematics software solutions is a must compared to not having to stay competitive. Leading companies like: Descartes, Geotab, GoComet, KeepTruckin, Logixboard, Nauto, Peoplevox, Sperion, Suvoda, to name a few that I keep a close eye on. It is also necessary to follow the market leaders of transport platform software which Gartner which recently identified companies like: Oracle, BlueYonder and SAP in the leader category in their magic quadrant.

Intelligent Truck Telematics Scores allow transport and logistics operators to monitor driver behavior, track the wear and tear of trucks in the fleet, know fuel expenditure, idle time, speed, Braking habits, even the pressure on the steering wheel or the body posture of the car parts sensors all can be correlated to determine not only the risks of the vehicle, but also the health risks of driver behavior. In the future, even the driver’s gait can be monitored, assess physical stress and health risks.

Geotab, for example, a leading Canadian telematics company, performed research that validated that truck fleets can and have reduced idling by up to 30% or more through telematics. Identifying and addressing driver habits alone can reduce fuel costs by 4%. In other words, telematics is big business.

Nauto’s solutions combine predictive AI technology, data science and more than 1.3 billion miles traveled by AI to help predict and prevent collisions before they happen. This unique approach can improve driver performance and help reduce collision losses, delivering a quick return on investment while mitigating the most important risk factors. Recognized by nearly 800 fleets around the world, Nauto helps customers reduce collisions by up to 80% with predictive driver alerts. However, the UI experience on Driver Alerts has to be incredibly well designed for driver safety.

What percentage of your fleet infrastructure is equipped with advanced telematics intelligence?

The United States House of Representatives passed a $ 1.5 trillion infrastructure stimulus bill in early July 2020. This stimulus enables off-road fleets to advance digital fleet telematics and strengthens l importance of this industrial sector. In Canada, the Ontario Innovation Center (OCI) has introduced a AVIN Stimulus program to harness Ontario’s automotive and mobility ecosystem, including regional technology development sites, demonstration and test areas, industry-leading expertise and more : start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and global leaders to take advantage of a wide range of resources, capabilities and opportunities.

Beyond that, we will see more and more telematics software fleet management solutions integrated with automotive manufacturing companies, furthering smarter vehicle modernization.

You can already see how fast Samsung is bringing more vehicles into their brand SmartThings ecosystem. Although they are currently focused on automotive innovations, where you can start or stop the engine of vehicles compatible with your SmartThings mobile app, and turn on the heating or air conditioning before getting into your car, these earlier innovation projects create a future vision of only what is to come. Samsung has already partnered with Google to bring a SmartThings dashboard to Android Auto. So you can control your smart home products or open your garage door from your dashboard after connecting it to a samsung phone.

In October, Samsung announced that support for SmartThings was come to Mercedes-Benz MBUX voice assistant for hands-free control of smart home devices.

In summary, smarter, AI-driven fleet telematics software systems:

• enabling full visualization of asset locations allows managers to set up deployments across fleet operations,
• monitor the current state of assets on each job site and allow unused equipment to be quickly identified and directed to other sites where they are needed, maximizing the uptime of what would otherwise be an underutilized asset .
• simplify asset maintenance planning to minimize disruption. Asset availability is also affected by how often a given piece of equipment is down for unscheduled maintenance.
• provide information on driver behavior in fleet vehicles in terms of speed, braking, number of stops per day, location, etc.

The increased connectivity and awareness provided by telematics has the potential to reduce unplanned downtime by up to 80%, and also helps improve driver health and safety.

From data to predictive precision insights

As we have seen, telematics software collects a lot of data. Speed, distance, fuel mileage, idling, hard braking are just a few of the many data points, but what you want to do with the data to ensure that key information / results can be implemented is what is really important.

Answer questions such as:

1.) Which of the trucks in the fleet is underutilized to reduce idle assets?

2.) Which drivers are likely to be victims of accidents in the future, given their driving habits or terminal center models for increased health and safety training needs?

3.) If you use the video to provide proof validation information such as loading dock blockages, how was the vehicle parked to analyze risks, were risks reduced, and coaching programs improved?

The telematics industry will continue to evolve with greater unification towards a complete enterprise platform system connecting not only fleet performance, driver performance, but also increased intelligence from sets third-party data such as traffic, weather, construction blockages, overtime work dynamics and even heart monitoring. and stress monitoring as smart uniforms begin to emerge. Let us not overlook the innovations in driverless trucks traveling on sensor transport lanes – because these visible developments have turned out to be more of one of the most important changes in the history of transport logistics, since the man developed the wheel and the buggy. We have clearly come a long way with human ingenuity.

Conclusion

If you are the CEO or director of a small, medium or large transport and logistics company, you need to think more about your company’s investments in AI telematics infrastructure and quickly transform your fleet operation to stay relevant in the age of digital intelligence. .

Here are five key questions that I recommend you discuss at your next board meeting or as CEO / CIO in your leadership team:

1.) What percentage of your tech budget currently supports AI-powered applications overall, and what area (s) are these investments in and what is their value realization (ROI) , etc. ?

2.) Do you have a robust AI technology architecture and investment master plan for all of your supply chain infrastructure, sales, fleet operations, customer service and supply chain management, etc. ?

3.) How do your AI investments compare to your top three competitors for better benchmarking intelligence?

4.) Does your AI strategy allow management and employees to view telematics driver / vehicle performance dashboards to enable transparency and increased unified collaboration of all stakeholders?

5.) Does your AI strategy for your fleet also include the physical health and well-being of your drivers?

If you want to read the first blog in this series, go here.

In short, the transport and logistics industry is changing. Is your organization ready?