Discover what fleet tracking is and how GPS systems help businesses optimize fleet management. Learn about real-time vehicle tracking, fuel monitoring, and driver safety solutions. Visit our blog!
What is fleet tracking?
Fleet tracking systems
When it comes to technologies that affect businesses operating fleets, GPS fleet tracking systems can have a big impact. If your company relies on a fleet of vehicles for your business operations, fleet tracking can assist in gaining valuable insights and achieving big cost savings. Find out what fleet tracking systems are, their benefits, and important features.
Definition of fleet tracking
Fleet tracking solutions are management systems that rely on GPS tracking for monitoring fleet vehicle and asset activities. Here assets refer to your equipment and drivers. These systems are also often known as vehicle tracking systems. They are used for fleets comprising trucks, cars, vans, and powered and unpowered equipment
Fleet tracking technologies
A deeper study of GPS fleet tracking systems requires learning about the technologies involved. The technology components include hardware, software, and cloud tech, all used for monitoring fleet vehicle location and activities. Individual Vehicle tracking devices gather and transmit data in real-time via a centralized cloud platform, displaying it through the software.
Besides the three main components, the following forms of technologies can be involved depending on your fleet vehicle tracking requirements:
- GPS
- Telematics
- Traffic & weather layers
- Fuel monitoring
- Geofencing
- Temperature control
Fleet tracking systems benefits
Some of the key benefits of fleet vehicle tracking systems are as follows:
Real-time vehicle tracking
Fleet GPS tracking systems let you track all your connected vehicles at all times. Geofencing features send you alerts whenever your drivers do not follow predetermined routes. These GPS fleet management systems have many such real-time tracking capabilities.
Fleet managers can analyze the real-time data gathered from embedded sensors to achieve the following:
- Optimize revenues
- Increasing productivity
- Identifying most efficient & safest drivers
Real-time vehicle tracking can help reduce costs through improved fuel efficiency and optimized route planning. It can help with managing vehicle schedules and locations, leading to improved productivity. By enabling accurate delivery updates, real-time fleet tracking solutions can further help improve customer service.
Fuel monitoring for cost efficiency
Fleet operating businesses that use GPS fleet tracking systems experience significant fuel cost reduction due to effective fuel monitoring. Several factors come together to achieve a high level of cost efficiency. These include:
- Improved driver behavior
- Reduced idling
By identifying the best routes, fleet tracking data can help you eliminate unnecessary fuel expenses.
Some of the common challenges that are addressed with the help of fuel monitoring include:
- Inefficient fuel consumption when operating unmonitored trucking fleets
- Inefficient routes and poor driving habits increase fuel usage
Driver behavior monitoring and safety
Fleet tracking solutions further help you control the risks of unsafe driving. Driver behavior can have a significant impact on the risk posed to your business. It can also affect the wear and tear on your fleet. The Driver behavior monitoring component of your fleet tracking system can offer the following range of benefits:
How fleet tracking optimizes fleet operations?
Fleet vehicle tracking can help optimize your fleet operations in different ways. These include:
Route optimization for better efficiency
With fleet GPS tracking systems, fleet managers and drivers can plan the routes before getting started on the trip. The drivers can have elaborate and clear directions for the entire route. One of the most profound benefits of this step is that there is reduced cell phone usage while driving. This helps improve road safety and ensure adherence to the laws.
Additionally, GPS systems can contribute to route optimization by recommending alternative routes whenever and wherever traffic jams occur due to:
- Road closures
- Roadblocks
- Traffic accidents
This can further result in improved efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction from on-time delivery.
Fleet performance insights through data analytics
Another benefit of GPS fleet tracking is that you can gain valuable fleet performance insights with the help of data analytics. It allows you to monitor each vehicle’s location and performance at any given time. You can then take steps to improve vehicle utilization. The system allows fleet managers to gather fleet data and analyze it to minimize vehicle idle time.
Analyzing real-time data on fuel consumption, driver behavior, vehicle location, and other metrics can help in:
- Identifying trends
- Improving driver safety
- Optimizing routes
- Increasing fleet cost savings & efficiency
Common fleet tracking features
Some of the common fleet GPS tracking features include:
Geofencing and vehicle alerts
Geofencing involves the creation of virtual boundaries and setting up alerts when vehicles equipped with GPS fleet tracking enter, exit, or operate within them. This feature can help improve your fleet operations in the following ways:
- Timely alerts: Fleet managers can receive alerts on a wide range of unauthorized activities. You can quickly respond to situations such as potential theft, increasing the chances of vehicle recovery. You can readily create geofences around the areas regularly frequented as part of normal fleet operations. Whenever your vehicle leaves the designated area, you are alerted. You can then check the vehicle’s GPS location and communicate with the driver to check whether the vehicle is in safe hands.
- Improve fleet efficiency by analyzing data: You can gather baseline data on up-to-date operations and evaluate key metrics such as travel time. Geofences can help you identify the routes fleet drivers will take to travel between points of interest.
- Prevent operational overlaps: Geofencing can help prevent operational overlaps by properly spreading out your fleet. This fleet vehicle tracking feature allows you to assign targeted areas to drivers. You can receive alerts whenever the areas overlap. You can further receive alerts when a driver gets diverted onto a route that is less efficient. You can rely on Fleet management software to assist your drivers in covering efficient routes without any chances of overlaps.
Track vehicles when navigating unsafe areas: You can identify locations to be unsafe based on available public data on crime. The chances of vehicle theft can be high in such areas. Geofencing can be used to mark out such areas. Drivers and teams can be alerted to be more careful when passing through such areas.
Why is fleet tracking essential for businesses in the UAE?
There are many reasons why fleet tracking is a must for businesses in the UAE. These include:
Local trends in fleet management
Fleet tracking solutions help identify local trends in fleet management with the help of real-time data on driver behavior, fuel consumption, and vehicle location. This information can be used for analyzing patterns related to specific geographic areas such as:
- Frequent stops in certain districts
- Traffic congestion in certain neighborhoods
- Fuel efficiency changes based on the terrain
All this information can then be used for optimizing routes, reducing costs, and improving driver behavior.
Meet environmental goals with fleet tracking
Fleet tracking solutions help minimize your fleet’s environmental impact while reducing carbon emissions. It helps you meet your environmental goals by optimizing scheduling and routes, reducing idle times and unnecessary fuel consumption.
- Improved route planning: fleet management software allows you to change the set route based on the circumstances. This helps reduce the amount of time your vehicles are stuck in traffic with idling engines, wasting fuel, and releasing pollutants.
- Reducing engine idling: Idling engines are among the biggest fuel-wasting factors. Your fleet vehicles can sit in road congestion for long periods of time. While it may seem that you cannot do much about it, GPS fleet tracking systems can help plan routes to avoid congested roads.
- Improving driver behavior: As mentioned above, fleet GPS tracking can contribute to improved driver behavior. By stopping behaviors such as aggressive driving, harsh cornering, sudden braking, and over-speeding, you can avoid fuel wastage.
When you use the right fleet tracking system and Fuel monitoring solutions, it becomes possible to reduce costs and environmental impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How does GPS fleet tracking work?
A GPS fleet tracking system comprises three main parts – the GPS satellites, ground control, and user position/location. The system involves different location technologies that work together to transfer location data. This involves the use of connected Vehicle tracking devices, centralized servers, and Fleet management software.
Q. Why should I use fleet tracking?
Fleet tracking solutions offer the benefits of cost and risk management, driving business growth and expansion. They help in reducing fleet maintenance costs and improve fuel efficiency and customer satisfaction. Additional benefits include improved driving habits and driver safety.
Q. How can fleet tracking reduce fuel costs?
Fleet GPS tracking can reduce fuel costs by helping identify fuel-wasting behaviors and assisting with Route optimization.
Q. How can I choose the right fleet tracking system for my business?
The first step to choosing the right GPS fleet tracking system is to understand your fleet. You should also consider factors such as the metrics important to you and the features you need. It will also be required to research the market for the different systems. Some of the important features to consider include mobile apps, alert systems, customer support, and ease of use.