Fleets often install multiple devices on vehicles. Each device may have separate cellular data subscriptions to power applications such as electronic logging devices (ELDs), tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and video event recorders.
Truck manufacturers also install telematics systems at the factory for “connected vehicle” applications like remote diagnostics and over-the-air vehicle and engine programming.
In terms of cellular connectivity, “there is a lot of redundancy,” says Nick Forte, vice president of maintenance and equipment at Hirschbach Motor Lines, a 2,000-truck carrier based in Dubuque, Iowa.
Hirschbach has three cellular data connections for each vehicle. One is for the tablets that run ELD and other mobile applications from Transflo. The Transflo platform gets data from another connected device, Geotab, that plugs into the vehicle data bus.
The third connected device is the OEM factory installed telematics systems. Ideally, Forte would like to see data and subscriptions for all its mobile and connected vehicle technologies consolidated through a single vehicle gateway.
The OEM telematics systems could be the gateway, but currently most OEMs are using their telematics systems only to transmit data to their own servers in the cloud for remote diagnostics, remote programming of vehicle and engines and to gather operating data for product development.
Could factory-installed OEM telematics devices eliminate the redundancy of hardware and cellular data subscriptions for fleets? It’s possible, but “I don’t think OEMs are there today,” says Doug Schrier, vice president of product and innovation at Transflo. OEMs are working on it, but technology providers today “have different use cases and a lot of times it is easier to put different cellular connectivity points in there to handle those use cases,” he explains.
