The rise in information growth, communication, and technology are the main driving factors for global IoT transformation in the transportation industry. Also, the government is taking initiatives to plan and execute the idea of smart cities, which is increasing the technological demands of implementing IoT-based smart techniques in the transport sector. Throughout 2020-2025, IoT in the transportation market is expected to grow at an approx. CAGR of 14.5%.
Enhanced internet connectivity amongst the assets is growing at a rapid pace with the advancement in technology. For example, the United States Department of Transportation is adopting IoT technology by collaborating with vehicle manufacturers to reduce maximum fatal road crashes (approx. 80%).
Why IoT a Priority? — To Make Your Commute Better
IoT is gaining momentum all around the world with a maximum number of large organizations putting it as their topmost priority to digitally transform their businesses.
The Internet of Things is an emerging technology that works with the help of sensor devices. These devices are installed on different assets like wheels, axels, fuel tanks, cargo/trailers, etc. to fetch accurate data for analysis. The data is securely stored on a cloud-based platform to keep a record of all the vehicle situations and conditions to make better decisions in future.
IoT is a powerful technology which is revolutionizing the fleet industry with its smart methods. Moreover, when combined with artificial intelligence, big data, and predictive analytics, the Internet of Things adds to the intelligence of the vehicles that would result in improved road and driver safety, easy traffic flow, and avoiding road mishaps.
Facts have revealed that almost 10% of the road fatalities involved distracted driving on the US roads. The government is coming up with a lot of efforts and plans to transform the roads using IoT sensors comprising advanced analytics for effective road optimization. The road mishaps are preventable with the usage of IoT techniques and connected vehicles help ensure the safety of the drivers.
Over half-a-per cent of the fleet drivers confess that long routes increase their stress levels and also affect their physical activity routine. It causes them a great health loss. However, this can be eliminated with the help of smart IoT techniques and solutions like GPS fleet tracking, fleet monitoring and cargo monitoring.
Best IoT Methods to Implement with your Fleet Business
GPS Fleet Tracking Solution
In the transportation industry, a GPS fleet tracking solution is an additive advantage for fleet managers. With the help of this system, they can now see through all the fleet activities along with the driver's driving habits. This solution is best suited for all types of vehicles — light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty and tracks every activity.
Applications:
• Truck/Trailer Tracking
• Ocean Freight Shipping
• On-time courier and delivery
A GPS fleet tracking solution holds many important features that provide real-time information about fleet activities and enhance productivity. It is an IoT-powered solution that reduces the amount of fuel consumption, ensure faster deliveries, cost-effective operability, improves safety of the trailers, vehicle, and drivers, avoids extra maintenance costs, and promotes on-time delivery.
Fleet Monitoring Solution
A fleet monitoring solution operates on IoT concepts to enhance the workability of fleet managers. Using advanced analytics, the managers can perform risk analysis for the drivers, analyze the vehicle’s performance, predict fleet schedule, and procure future maintenance for their fleet. It is a highly scalable solution that records every activity of your fleet without considering its size. The fleet managers can fetch data from multiple devices with the help of this IoT solution. The relevant data is seamlessly reflected on the app dashboards as an added convenience for the fleet managers.
Applications:
• Last-Mile Delivery
• One Platform for Unlimited Vehicles
• On-board Diagnostics
Implementing an IoT-based fleet monitoring solution ensures safe product delivery along with the facility to track unlimited number of vehicles on one single platform. The data is collected with the help of sensor devices which allows you to monitor driver activities for better management. Also, for climate-sensitive products, this solution is scalable to monitor temperature, pressure, and relative humidity inside the trailer to ensure that the best product quality is delivered without any delays.
Cargo Monitoring Solution
The IoT-powered cargo monitoring solution is yet another effective method to keep a real-time check, particularly on your cargo. During the transit, it is likely for the cargos to get damaged or there are conditional mismatches; a cargo monitoring solution is designed to see all the factors that are responsible to keep the cargo as well as the products safe and healthy to use. It allows the fleet and logistics managers to supervise the goods effectively under favorable circumstances like monitoring the pressure, temperature, weight, and luminosity while the goods are being transported.
Applications:
• Extensive Supply Chain Visibility
• Cold-chain Transportation
A cargo monitoring solution consists of essential features like wireless cargo tracking, providing real-time alerts about the cargo conditions, safety and security of the cargo, and curbing the unknown cargo damage. Implementing IoT-powered solutions with your transportation business also improves the efficiency of supply chain operations and further reduces the risks of cargo thefts.
Smart Contract Solution
Fleet business is all about the documentation and paperwork of every product that is being imported or exported. There are high chances of contract breaching or replacements when the contract is physically present. However, IoT has resolved this issue by introducing an effective and smart contract solution. It is an advanced level of the system that secures the titles of goods in modern ways. This solution is powered with IoT and blockchain technology that eliminates contract alteration.
Applications:
• Effective Supply Chain Management
• Protecting Copyright Content
• International Trade
A smart contract solution is an IoT-enabled system that mainly guarantees cargo safety, ensures compliance of BoL terms, improves supply chain visibility, digitize shipping contracts to protect the information, and reduce operational overheads. This solution also eliminates manual processing and contract thefts and uses geofencing concept that notifies the buyer as soon as the cargo arrives at the location.
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• DHL is one of the largest logistics provider firms across the world, which had partnered with ALPS Electric Europe GmbH (electromechanical device manufacturer) and Sigfox (IoT service provider) to carry out smooth supply chain processes using advanced methods like asset tracking and smart networked sensors.
• The recent business shutdown due to Coronavirus pandemic is expected to promote automation all over the world in the transportation industry. This is increasing the worth of using technology to perform product transits more reliably, without any person-to-person contact. The transport industry might utilize smart IoT solutions on a large scale and make a way to provide immense opportunities to IoT.
Automation has become a standard part of our regular lives in today’s era. IoT and its smart methods are significantly transforming how transportation systems collect and utilize the data. With the help of IoT and telematics, it has now become easier for the drivers to stay connected with the managers even in long-distances. Smart solutions like GPS fleet tracking and fleet monitoring have immense capabilities to provide real-time information during the transit. Sensor-enabled devices used with transportation and logistics industries are making travelling safer, providing security to the trailers in transit, offering proper vehicle maintenance, and much more.
