Automatic vehicle location is a means for automatically determining and transmitting the geographic location of a vehicle. This vehicle location data, from one or more vehicles, may then be collected by a vehicle tracking system to manage an overview of vehicle travel. As of 2017, GPS technology has reached the point of having the transmitting device be smaller than the size of a human thumb, able to run 6 months or more between battery charges, easy to communicate with smartphones — all for less than $20 USD.
Telematics is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses telecommunications, vehicular technologies, electrical engineering, and computer science. Telematics can involve any of the following:
Fleet management is the management of:
A tracking system, also known as a locating system, is used for the observing of persons or objects on the move and supplying a timely ordered sequence of location data for further processing. It is important to be aware of human tracking, further details are listed below.
Orbcomm is an American company that offers industrial Internet of things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) communications hardware, software and services designed to track, monitor, and control fixed and mobile assets in markets including transportation, heavy equipment, maritime, oil and gas, utilities and government. The company provides hardware devices, modems, web applications and data services delivered over multiple satellite and cellular networks.
Verizon Business is a division of Verizon Communications based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey that provides services and products for Verizon's business and government clients around the world. It was formed as Verizon Business in January 2006 and relaunched as Verizon Enterprise Solutions on January 1, 2012. Between April 2014 and October 2016 its president was Chris Formant. Since November 2016 George J. Fischer is Verizon Enterprise Solution's President until he was replaced by Tami Erwin. In 2019 Verizon reorganized into three groups, renaming the former Verizon Business Solutions as Verizon Business.
SmartDrive Systems, Inc. is a driver safety and transportation intelligence company located in San Diego, California. The company uses video and driver data to monitor driver behavior in commercial vehicles including trucks, buses and trains.
Telogis was a privately held US-based company that develops location-based software to manage mobile resources. Telogis sold software as a service (SaaS) which incorporated location information into applications for fleet owners as well as geospatial software development toolkits.
G&K Services, Inc. was an American company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, which provided branded identity uniforms and facility products and services for rent and purchase. G&K Services' branded clothing and facility services programs provided rental-lease or purchase options through its direct sale programs (GKDirect). On March 21, 2017, the company was acquired by Cintas for approximately $2.2 billion.
Boart Longyear is a global mineral exploration company founded in 1890. It is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Regional offices and operations are located in the Asia-Pacific region, North and South America, Europe, and Africa. The company provides mineral exploration services and drilling products for the global mining industry and also has a presence in drilling water exploration, environmental sampling, energy, and oil sands exploration. As of 2018, it employed more than 5,000 people.
A connected car is a car that can communicate bidirectionally with other systems outside of the car (LAN). This allows the car to share internet access, and hence data, with other devices both inside and outside the vehicle. For safety-critical applications, it is anticipated that cars will also be connected using dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) or cellular radios, operating in the FCC-granted 5.9 GHz band with very low latency.
Lytx is a San Diego, California based technology company that designs, manufactures and sells video telematics products used by commercial and public-sector fleets to help improve driver safety and business productivity. Products include risk detection, fleet tracking, and driver safety programs that use artificial intelligence and analysts to identify risky driving behaviors and report real-time fleet information. The company's clients include waste management and sanitation companies, trucking and distribution, government and municipality vehicles, passenger transit, construction, utilities, telecom and field services. Lytx also provides compliance services for trucking fleets regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Masternaut is a telematics company specialising in fleet and asset management. They achieved initial recognition with Martin Port as CEO and subsequently with Martin Hiscox as Chairman were featured as a 2015 UK Government Future 50 Tech Company and in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, a list of the fastest growing UK technology firms, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014. In April 2011 Masternaut merged with former AIM-listed competitor Cybit, and is operating under the Masternaut name. The company is owned by Summit Partners and Fleetcor, following its acquisition from Francisco Partners in 2014. and are now owned by Michelin. Masternaut has around 400 employees, based in the UK and France.
PowerFleet is an American company headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey with offices located around the globe and a technology innovation center in Israel. The company is a global provider of wireless IoT and M2M solutions for securing, controlling, tracking, and managing high-value enterprise assets such as industrial trucks, tractor trailers, intermodal shipping containers, cargo, and vehicle and truck fleets.
ERM Electronic Systems ltd. Aka: ERM Advanced Telematics is an Israeli electronic company focused on the design, development, and manufacture of vehicle security & GPS tracking devices for the telematics and fleet management industry. ERM Advanced Telematics has a global operation offering telematics devices for Stolen Vehicle Recovery (SVR) and Fleet Management (FMS), all incorporated with vehicle security.
Openmatics is a provider of telematics platforms for vehicle fleets. The company Openmatics s.r.o. was founded in Pilsen, Czech Republic in 2010. Openmatics is a subsidiary of ZF Friedrichshafen AG; it develops and operates an open telematics platform which is independent of vehicle and component suppliers.
Geotab Inc. is a privately held company that provides telematics hardware solutions which it presents as Internet of Things (IoT) devices. These devices feed their software as a service analytics platform. Headquartered in Oakville, Ontario it specializes in connecting commercial vehicles to the internet and providing web-based analytics for fleet management solutions. Geotab’s telematics solution allows businesses of all sizes to automate operations by integrating vehicle data and their other data assets. Geotab’s products are represented and sold worldwide through Authorized Geotab Resellers.
Airbiquity Inc. is a business-to-business (B2B) software development and engineering company operating in the automotive telematics industry. Airbiquity's business model is to develop, deploy, and support the ongoing management of connected car programs for automotive industry customers using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model, and its Choreo cloud-based connected car service delivery platform.
Octo Group S.p.A., operating as Octo Telematics and corporately styled as OCTO, is an Italian multinational technology company. Founded in Italy in 2002, OCTO is most known for providing telematics and Internet of things (IoT) analytics to the auto insurance industry. This is commonly known as Usage-based insurance (UBI) or pay-as-you-drive insurance. Today, the company is one of the largest telematics and data analytics service provider for the car insurance industry. With their advanced analytical services, OCTO also serves the fleet management industry and provides IoT solutions to a number of other markets.
CalAmp is an Irvine, California-based provider of Internet of things (IoT) software applications, cloud services, data intelligence and telematics products and services. The company's technology includes edge computing devices and SaaS-based applications for remotely tracking and managing vehicles, drivers, cargo and other mobile assets. The company also owns the patents and trademarks for the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System and provides connected car and lot management products.
