What is meant by Fleet Tracking?

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What is meant by Fleet Tracking?

Fleet tracking technology is an indispensable tool for many businesses with vehicle fleets. But the term ‘fleet tracking’ can describe a range of systems used to monitor vehicle use and location. Technology has progressed significantly in the last few years, with more advanced GPS tracking, smartphone apps, and more all becoming commonplace. As a result, it can be difficult to understand exactly what people mean when they talk about fleet tracking.

In this article, we look at what modern fleet tracking looks like, its uses, and how it could benefit your business. Read on to learn everything you need to know about fleet tracking and fleet telematics.

What is meant by fleet tracking?

Fleet tracking is the general term for technology that monitors vehicle usage. Used by companies that manage anywhere from one to thousands of vehicles, fleet tracking can help to simplify fleet management, improve efficiency, and more.

In general, the best fleet tracking systems use GPS technology to provide live or regularly updated information about vehicle location. In more advanced systems, the systems will also monitor various other things to help companies get a deeper insight into vehicle use. This tracking of various vehicle metrics is referred to as ‘fleet telematics’ and can include data relating to:

• Fuel consumption
• Idling
• Location (real-time and historic)
• Battery
• Braking
• Vehicle faults
• Collisions

How does fleet tracking work?

There are several different types of fleet tracking systems, so the way your system works will depend on which type you’re using. At the most basic level, fleet tracking may simply involve a smartphone app installed by a driver that transmits GPS location data. However, more advanced systems generally involve a device that is installed in vehicles. These devices not only transmit regular or live location data, but also track other vehicle metrics, such as those detailed above.

What industries use fleet tracking?

A huge number of companies around the world use fleet tracking every day. In fact, fleet tracking is an extremely useful tool for literally any company that owns vehicles. This includes everything from the multinational logistics and shipping giants with thousands of vehicles, like Amazon and FedEx, all the way down to the startups and independent businesses using just a handful of vehicles.

This is because, regardless of the scale of your business, fleet tracking can help to simplify your fleet management, keep drivers safe, and reduce operational expenses significantly.

Why use fleet tracking?

As we touched upon above, there are several key benefits that fleet management technology can offer businesses of all sizes. Some of the key benefits include:

Reduced fuel costs

Fleet tracking and fleet telematics can help you reduce fuel consumption in several ways. Firstly, fleet tracking can help you to find the most efficient routes and cut out inefficient routes, reducing the distance vehicles need to travel. Secondly, modern fleet telematics systems can track the driving habits of individual drivers, helping to identify areas of waste (such as excessive acceleration and braking).

With record fuel prices hitting many businesses hard in recent months, any way to reduce consumption can have a significant impact on your bottom line. Additionally, reduced fuel consumption has the benefit of lowering your business’ carbon footprint—something that’s becoming increasingly important.

Safer driving

Many fleet tracking systems enable you to track much more than just vehicle location. For example, some can track specific driving habits via in-vehicle devices, monitoring things like speed, braking, and so on. Using this data, you can find dangerous habits and implement policies to ensure safer driving. In turn, this is likely to contribute to a lower accident rate and keep your drivers safe. Safer driving can also protect your company’s reputation and reduce maintenance costs for your vehicles.

Lower insurance premiums

Fleet tracking and fleet telematics can have a beneficial impact on insurance premiums due to the lower accident rates associated with companies that use it. Insurance is a significant part of the cost of running a fleet of vehicles, and fleet tracking can reduce premiums by up to 50%.

More efficient fleet use

By tracking the locations and routes of vehicles in real time, fleet tracking systems can make it easier to use vehicles more efficiently. Quickly find suitable vehicles to fulfill those last minute orders, stand in for broken down vehicles or absent drivers, and remain as adaptable as possible. With increased flexibility in your fleet, you can respond to unforeseen demands faster and minimize associated expenses.

Simplified fleet management

Organising and managing a fleet of vehicles is challenging work, and it requires a lot of careful planning, oversight, and time from experienced employees. GPS fleet tracking can simplify and automate large parts of the process, saving your company time, improving employee satisfaction, and enabling your teams to work on other important tasks.

Trakm8 – Advanced fleet tracking and fleet telematics 

Trakm8 is a leading provider of fleet tracking and fleet telematics solutions. We design and build our own devices to enable you to track your entire vehicle fleet in real time to keep track of location and various other useful metrics. Read more in our Guide to Fleet Tracking.

Beyond fleet tracking technology, we provide a range of logistics-based products covering fleet management, fleet optimisation, electronic proof of delivery, and more.

Our products help you to save time, reduce costs, and improve efficiency across your fleet.

Based in Coleshill, UK, where the vast majority of our products are designed, developed, and manufactured, Trakm8 proudly holds the ‘Made in Britain’ marque.

Our diverse client base includes everything from small independent operators to multinational fleets and household names including Iceland Foods, the AA, and more.

Contact us today to learn more about our fleet management technology and how it can help you.