How the future tech for fleets is shaping up

Many new and evolving technologies in fleet today could dramatically change the way fleets operate in the future and how flexible motor fleet insurance will need to be. Fuel management, safety tech, telematics, autonomous vehicles, connectivity and drone technology are all areas fighting for news coverage and the attention of fleet managers. Here is a quick insight into each of these areas of expanding technology…

Fuel Management

Fuel continues to be one of the main top expenses for fleets across the board. Technological advances have allowed businesses to cut their fuel costs by downsizing to smaller, more efficient engines, adopting anti-idling technology, and adopting eco-driving techniques.

Newer state of the art fuel management technology driven from the analysis of fuel purchasing data helps to achieve measurable improvements in fuel spend. With deeper analysis fleets can analyse fuel usage, costs, sources, and utilise information to reduce their consumption. For example, integrating a single fuel card program can help companies to achieve a holistic insight into fleet expenses and leverage their buying power in the marketplace.

Safety tech

Vehicle safety technology is constantly evolving with features like crash avoidance technology, mobile apps, and commercial routing/navigation systems. Data derived from these systems helps to streamline how fleets improve their safety and to operate effectively and efficiently. One of the most recent and effective safety trends, however, is the introduction of video applications such as dash cams used in conjunction with telematics systems. Video footage from incidents can undoubtedly be used to aid court cases and prove fault as well as deterring bad driver behaviour.
As more and more data is collected over time fleets will be able to know their highest risks and be able to mitigate them before they occur.

Telematics integration

This year will be the year of integration of data to improve overall fleet performance. Ensuring all systems can talk to each other, helping to improve driver performance, vehicle utilisation, facilitate insurance savings, and integrate ERP and CRM systems. The expansion of this technology will help to provide the whole end-to-end picture and make improvements ten-fold.

Autonomous vehicles

One of the most anticipated developments in fleet tech has got to be the autonomous vehicle. The self-driving vehicle brings with it many exciting promises in terms of seeking to reduce accidents on the road, reduce congestion, and provide passengers with extra time to concentrate on work or other areas of every-day life.

With 33 companies currently working on autonomous technology and Michigan just passing self-driving legislation in December 2016 it is becoming more of a reality. In fact by 2020 there are predicted to be as many as 10 million autonomous cars on the road. Focus will be placed on improving the advancement of lasers, sensors and radars.

Connectivity

Functioning along the same lines of autonomous tech, vehicle connectivity also seeks to protect passenger safety and prevent incidents from occurring by offering vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity. Vehicles will be able to talk to each other, and roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights to improve mobility, reduce congestion and improve safety.

Drone technology

Interest and development has grown in the area of the utilisation of drone technology. It has been utitlised to test last-mile deliveries for both emergency response and agricultural industries. Both UPS and Amazon have since tested the use of drones in delivery solutions and this continues to be an area of increased speculation.