Capital Equipment News May 2021

TELEMATICS

As of 2021, Fleetboard services are now included as a serial standard in the Mercedes-Benz Actros and selected Arocs models.

Third-party versus OEM proprietary telematics for capital equipment

Whether capital equipment should feature telematics software is no longer the question, given the advantages. Instead, the question nowadays is whether the advantages of built-in, OEM-proprietary systems surpass those of telematics from third-party providers. By Mark Botha .

A ccording to Mercedes-Benz Trucks head, Maretha Gerber, one of the reasons why many truck OEMs design and install their own telematics solutions in their vehicles relates to product improvement and competition. “Almost all OEMs offer basically the same types of warranty, fuel savings, performance and others. So, they include their own telematics solutions to differentiate their offering and bring value to the customer straight from the OEM product experts.” She says using the vehicles’ own data allows for more reliable information on, for example, fuel consumption, route analysis and driver involvement, as well as skills, in order to focus on the reduction of fleet management, vehicle maintenance and running costs. OEM telematics connectivity to the engine ECU and the fuel injection system allows for precise fuel consumption calculations. This means fuel consumption can be benchmarked for the specific vehicle model, the routes they travel and the weights they carry. “This adds enormous value to the truck sales teams as it differentiates them from those who do not have telematics and high data accuracy. “OEM telematics data is more comprehensive in its applications within a transport business.” Third-party dashboard suppliers’ data is obtained from the OEM by interfacing directly with the OEM telematics products,” she says. Bell Equipment product marketing manager Nick Kyriacos notes that it is becoming common for OEMs to install their own telematics solutions because the acceptance among clients of the use of data to enhance business is gaining momentum. “Previously, customers may have felt that the information they were receiving

was insufficient to enhance their businesses substantially. However, with data costs dropping and as we adopt 5G technology, telematics systems are becoming even more accessible. “We find that customers, especially in developed nations, are more aware of the efficiency improvements in terms of machine availability and fuel costs that can be achieved by using telematics in their fleet management.” He says intellectual property pertaining to telematics systems was initially “more guarded”, but that OEMs can design and integrate these systems more easily, now that ISO standards for communication protocols are in place. “OEMs can design and integrate telematics systems more easily with the CAN bus in their trucks. There are currently 20 data points in the ISO standards, including onboard weighing, fault codes and other parameters, and Bell Equipment is the only OEM to provide all of these.” He says OEMs also realise that, by using their own telematics solutions,

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