TELEMATICS EXPLAINED The Fleet Industry Advisory Group guide Introduction elematics is revolutionising the way in which Furthermore, today’s sophisticated in-vehicle telematics companies run their vehicles and employees drive devices are linked to satellite navigation and driver to office Tthem. The word telematics was created from the words communication. telecommunications and informatics and essentially embraces the sending, receiving and storing of information including to The disparate telematics market is moving at a rapid pace and from vehicles. making what was considered the future of fleet management, now a central part of operations. Vehicle telematics has its roots in the HGV sector but, in more recent years, has become a popular tool for LCV fleets Until recently telematics was the preserve of specialist after and today the technology is increasingly finding its way into market providers, but increasingly vehicle manufacturers, company cars. contract hire and leasing companies, telecoms specialists and the insurance industry are entering the fray. Telematics systems monitor the location of vehicles and the way they are being driven to deliver a raft of essential Currently a myriad of telematics devices are on the market operational real-time information to fleet decision-makers that from a wide range of suppliers, but as the sector becomes enables them to take action to improve business efficiency, ever more mature consolidation inevitably will occur as will ensure legislative compliance and cut costs. harmonisation around the type of data accessible and the format in which it is delivered. At the simplest level, data from the telematics device installed in a vehicle uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology Almost certainly within the next decade – and perhaps even to determine its position and then transmits information over sooner – the connected car will not be a creation of science the General Packet Radio Service~ (GPRS) network for fleet fiction but reality, effectively putting fleet managers literally in decision-makers to access on the internet via their PC or other the driving seat of a vehicle on the move without them having communication device. to leave their office. Within the next decade the connected car will not be a creation of science fiction but reality, effectively putting fleet managers literally in the driving seat of a vehicle on the move without them having to leave their office 2 The fleet industry view ~ elematics demand will surge in 2015, particularly from As a result, a fifth of fleet managers surveyed by Lex say they large fleets, with the construction, IT/software, utilities will be investing in telematics in the next two years. What’s Tand retail sectors leading the way alongside blue light and more, contrary to some fears among employers, a survey of 500 public sector organisations including NHS Trusts, according to employees by Lex to coincide with the report discovered that 43% recent research. were “happy” with having driver monitoring equipment installed in their car with only 12% “very unhappy”. The forecast comes from Sewells Research and Insight We are likely following research among fleet executives in charge of some Therefore, privacy, much touted as a reason for not equipping to see an of the UK’s largest fleets and coincides with a survey by Lex company cars with telemetry, may not be the concern many increase in Autolease, Britain’s largest contract hire and leasing company, thought. usage of that more than a quarter of organisations are already utilising telematics as telematics. The Sewells research concluded that: “Demand will mainly organisations be driven within the van fleet sector, where there is greater will find this The recently published “Fleet Insight - The 2014 Lex Autolease acceptance of the benefits of telematics technology, but information Report on Company Motoring” questioned more than 250 there is growing interest in using the technology to effectively useful and employers. manage car fleets. This remains a fast growing industry with huge potential and our results show it is only going to get be able to Commenting on the research, Tim Porter, managing director of bigger as we head into 2015 and beyond.” provide Lex Autolease, said: “We are likely to see an increase in usage appropriate of telematics as organisations will find this information useful Fleet decision-makers, it is suggested, will use telematics as guidance on and be able to provide appropriate guidance on driver safety a mechanism for cutting fleet costs through closer vehicle driver safety and behaviour to their employees. It also has the potential to management to minimise spending and also improve driver and behaviour reduce insurance premiums for those employers whose drivers safety while simultaneously maintaining high service levels and to their do drive safely.” improving the efficiency of their field service teams. employees Indeed information is power with 84% of fleet managers, The only sector, suggested the Sewells’ research, where there according to the Lex Report, saying that management was little interest in the benefits of telematics was in the perk information was important to them and telematics was one of car-dominated banking and finance sector, where vehicles were the emerging tools in its provision. less extensively used for business purposes. 3 The connected car ~ he telemetry device is a ‘black box’ connected to a friend – particularly in the event of something going wrong! vehicle’s on-board diagnostic port. While ‘black boxes’ Tcontinue to be fitted to vehicles, the emergence of web- The BVRLA report suggests telematics-based technology is set based apps available on smartphones and other mobile devices for “widespread adoption” and concludes that as business also linked to the on-board diagnostic port has led to the buys significantly more than half of all new cars, vans and creation of the phrase “the connected car”. trucks sold in the UK annually “the fleet market is going to be a crucial driver of autonomous and connected vehicle Telematics Irrespective of the device used the plethora of information technology”. providers and available is similar, but a recent report by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) suggests that Highlighting that by harnessing “big data”, the opportunities companies information delivered via employees’ company smartphones for safer, more cost-effective and sustainable transport will be that have can improve driver acceptance and dispel age old drivers fears nearly limitless, the report adds: already of “Big Brother” and the perception of having a “spy in the embraced cab”. “The fleet industry – fleet managers, leasing companies and ‘black boxes’ rental operators – will be largely responsible for ensuring that have worked To be fair, telematics providers and companies that have this new connectivity and web-based telematics reaches its full hard to already embraced ‘black boxes’ have worked hard to overcome potential.” overcome those prehistoric views and today, far from the technology those being a company vehicle driver’s enemy, it is often viewed as a prehistoric views 4 A legal minefield? ~ t is clear that “connected vehicles”, more integrated variety and velocity smartphone systems and the increasing availability of a wide and will therefore Irange of other technology, particularly impacting on road need to be “stored, user safety, will have a huge future impact on the way fleets processed and choose, operate and manage their vehicles. analysed in the right context”. But it is also clear that the raft of data emanating from vehicles must be managed within the law with company vehicle drivers’ Analysing and The raft confidence secured for the information to be used legitimately interpreting the raft of data for business purposes. of data being sent emanating to fleet decision- from vehicles Underpinning the legal use of data is article eight of the makers via telematics must be European Convention on Human Rights which gives a right systems means they managed of respect for one’s “private and family life, his home and must decide what within the law his correspondence”. Additionally, businesses must take they need to use and account of data protection and employment law and should what they don’t for communicate the right to use telematics data to staff and also business reasons and consider writing that into employment contracts. establish appropriate rule sets. Lawyers say that employers must find a lawful basis on which to use information and data from vehicles explaining that For example, using Lawyers say that employers must would usually be: mileage information find a lawful basis on which to use to validate employee information and data from vehicles l With the consent of individual employees or expense claims or determining a vehicle’s l By establishing a legitimate reason to use the data without it position to redirect the driver to an urgent job would be intruding so far into employees’ privacy as to be unacceptable. considered “business critical”, but monitoring company car movements when an employer was aware that a member of Furthermore, the BVRLA report makes clear that information staff had booked two weeks summer holiday with their family s from “connected vehicles” will come in an incredible volume, could be considered an invasion of privacy. 5 The BVRLA report says: “Drivers’ privacy concerns are two-fold stakeholders will have to relinquish some control over their ~ – the security of their data against the outside world, which is data.” where anti-hacking measures are vital, and the use of driver data within the organisation. Critically, the BVRLA report warns that to ensure the new wave of connectivity and web-based telematics reaches its “Fleets wanting to use driver data need to get their support full potential driver buy-in was a key requirement alongside and consider a wealth of legal issues, such as employee assurances that the data and intelligence gathered was used contracts, data protection and even human rights legislation.