Fleet technology: 3 of the latest trends revealed

If you’ve ever asked a fellow fleet manager for advice, you know just how valuable it is to learn from their experience. Now imagine you could learn from not just a few fleets, but hundreds of them all at once. 

The 2024 Fleet Technology Trends Report provides that perspective. The report collects insights from fleets of all types and sizes to offer a macro view of today’s fleet landscape. Based on a survey of more than 600 fleet professionals, the report uncovers the most pressing challenges fleets face, the top goals they seek to accomplish, and how they are using technology to improve fleet operations and promote safety. 

The results serve to help fleet managers benchmark against industry trends and make informed decisions about how to manage their fleet. Here’s a peek at three of the top trends fleets will be talking about in 2024. 

Trend #1: GPS is the norm, not the exception

Just as technology has increasingly become an integral part of our lives, the same is true for fleets: nearly 3 out of 4 fleets (70%) use GPS tracking solutions to optimize fleet operations and promote safe driving practices. 

Fleets using GPS are seeing results, which is likely the main driver of the trend. According to the 2024 Fleet Technology Trends report, the top five goals fleets achieve with GPS are: 

• Increased productivity     
• Improved maintenance
• Improved customer service
• Improved routing
• Reduced fuel consumption

Accomplishing each of these goals helps fleets both save money and generate additional revenue, so perhaps it’s no surprise that 70% of respondents said GPS is extremely or very beneficial. As fleet budgets tighten due to inflation, GPS could be the investment that pays off and helps fleet managers balance their budgets.

Tip: To see the percentage of fleets that achieved these goals, download the full report.

Trend #2: Fleets use video technology to help cut costs

When dashcams first hit the market, fleets primarily used them as a mechanism to promote safe driving practices. That remains true today, but as the technology has grown more sophisticated with additions like outward facing cameras and intelligent AI dashcam solutions, fleets have experienced a secondary outcome of significant cost reductions. 

Today, inward- and outward-facing dashcams can record everything that is happening inside and around the vehicle when a crash happens. That footage provides irrefutable evidence of who is at fault in a crash, while also serving as a highly effective tool to coach employees to drive safely and help them avoid crashes in the first place.

According to the report, having crash footage helps fleets save money by:

• protecting them from false claims  
• reducing accident costs
• reducing insurance costs 

As crashes, false claims and nuclear verdicts threaten to drive up costs, dashcams help keep them in check while also helping to keep drivers and other motorists safe.

Tip: Download the report to see how much fleets saved by using dashcam video solutions.

Trend #3 Fleets are using GPS technology to achieve more with existing resources

Among the top goals achieved by using GPS, productivity saw the largest increase year over year, from 50% to 55%. When inflation strains fleet budgets, vehicle availability is limited, and competitive pressure is up, GPS tracking helps fleets squeeze more out of their existing resources by:

• Automating manual processes so fleet managers and drivers can focus on more productive work
• Improving routing to reduce drive time and enable operators to fit more jobs into the same workday and help organizations avoid the need for additional headcount
• Using data to help right-size the fleet and eliminate unnecessary vehicle purchases

In a time when the cost of everything is high, vehicle availability is limited, and competitive pressure is up, GPS helps fleets improve use of their existing resources and reduce the cost of doing business. 

Tip: The full report details how quickly fleets see an ROI on their technology investments.

80% of fleets can’t be wrong

Technology helps fleets address challenges, achieve their goals, cut costs, promote safety, operate more efficiently, and serve customers better. Perhaps that is why 4 out 5 respondents use at least one form of technology to manage their fleets.

To learn more about these and other trends, as well as how much fleets cut costs by using fleet technology, download the full report.