The Future Of Telematics

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

OEM solutions and new functionality will make telematics even more valuable.

Increasingly, telematics capabilities have gone mainstream, with more automotive OEMs incorporating telematics solutions into their vehicles as an option and more companies touting “connected car” technologies that can turn vehicles into network nodes. TechNavio has forecast the global telematics market to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 22.67 percent from 2012 to 2016. Frost & Sullivan pegged the North American telematics market for light commercial vehicles at $585 million in 2011 and expects that figure to reach $1.1 billion in 2018.

Fleet management solutions are incorporating new types of functionality like route management and optimization that are tied to data held in ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. “These approaches have evolved to leverage real-time telematics data, traffic conditions, last minute changes, and a driver interface, making dispatching more dynamic and capable of responding to a multitude of conditions,” says Tony Candeloro, VP of product development at ARI. “Companies are also beginning to use sensor information to gain a better understanding of when and how auxiliary equipment is being used.”