Nearly Half of Fleets Keep Telematics Data Away From the Shop

Most trucking fleets already know where their trucks are, how hard their drivers brake and how fast they take a curve. Far fewer let that same data tell the shop what is about to fail. New research from the American Transportation Research Institute finds that almost half of carriers keep telematics and maintenance in separate systems, which means the sensor that spots an engine problem on Tuesday may not reach the technician who could fix it before Friday's load.

Safety Got the Data. The Shop Did Not.

ATRI's study, From Data to Decisions: Trucking's Use of Telematics Data to Improve Performance, surveyed more than 100 motor carriers and about half a dozen technology providers on how they turn telematics into decisions. As Trucking Dive reported on October 27, the headline gap is integration: 48% of fleets do not connect telematics with their maintenance management software, and nearly one in three do not connect it to their transportation management system. Disconnection is more common among smaller fleets, such as those running 21 to 320 power units, which often fall back on manual methods.

ATRI's own summary of the pattern is blunt: "Trucking has broadly adopted telematics KPIs for safety management." What has not followed is the use of the same data for maintenance and operations. The measures ATRI flags as underused are the ones a shop would care about most: missed or skipped preventive maintenance, engine health, defect and fault diagnostics, rollover risk indicators and cost per mile. The research also cites financial constraints as a limit on how far fleets take telematics, and warns that rising operating costs could push carriers to defer maintenance and equipment purchases.

The fleets that have closed the gap show what the connection looks like in practice. At Chief Carriers in Grand Island, Nebraska, telematics, maintenance software and the TMS are automated to communicate with each other, and maintenance manager James Sughroue said telematics can flag maintenance issues for his team. He is already looking further, toward an AI system that could pull together emails, TMS load data, driver telematics and maintenance records to surface new findings such as added preventive maintenance, though he said it is uncertain whether that will happen.

Why the Missing Link Shows Up at the Roadside

The cost of keeping maintenance blind is visible in enforcement data. During CVSA's three-day International Roadcheck in May, inspectors carried out 54,575 inspections across North America and placed 10,350 vehicles, about 19%, out of service, FleetOwner reported. Brake systems led the list of vehicle out-of-service violations with 3,379, or 24.3% of the 13,924 recorded, followed by tires with 2,914. Counting defective brakes as well, brake-related violations totaled 5,451, roughly 39% of all vehicle out-of-service violations.

A fault code that never reaches the shop is not a data point. It is a roadside inspection waiting to happen. Logistics Focus analysis

Fuel makes the same argument from the other side of the ledger. Writing in FleetOwner, Michael Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, pointed to NACFE's finding that well-maintained trucks could deliver a 5% fuel economy improvement, and noted that with diesel hovering around $6 a gallon, even half a percent pays off. Citing the ATRI report, he said savvy fleets are going beyond location data and integrating driver vehicle inspection reports with telematics. "Safety, maintenance, and efficiency are all tied together," he wrote.

More Devices Have Not Meant Better Decisions

The integration gap is not a shortage of hardware. In a SambaSafety survey covered by Trucking Dive, 70% of fleets said they use two or more devices to manage safety, 39% expected to add more within 12 months, and only 6% used none. Yet 66% named interpreting or acting on data as a top telematics challenge. Ashley Newbill, vice president of product marketing at SambaSafety, said the volume "can make it very difficult for a safety or risk leader to determine where they should focus their efforts."

That is the trap ATRI's findings describe. Each new device adds a feed that lives in its own dashboard, usually owned by safety. Maintenance keeps its own work orders and inspection history, and operations runs the TMS. Without a connection between them, the fleet pays for three views of the same truck and still finds out about a worn brake chamber from an inspector. Smaller carriers, with the least IT capacity to stitch systems together, are the most likely to be in that position.

The Playbook for Fleet and Maintenance Leaders

• Map where every telematics feed lands. List each device and dashboard, who reads it and whether its alerts reach maintenance or dispatch. ATRI's 48% figure suggests many fleets will find the answer is no.
• Route fault codes into work orders. Engine health and defect diagnostics are among the most underused measures. Set them to open or flag a maintenance ticket automatically rather than waiting for a driver report.
• Tie DVIRs to the same record. Combining inspection reports with telematics gives the shop the driver's observation and the sensor's evidence on one unit, which is where brake and tire defects get caught early.
• Connect telematics to the TMS before adding devices. With 70% of fleets already on two or more devices, the next dollar is usually better spent integrating what exists than buying another feed.
• Make cost per mile a shared number. Put fuel, maintenance and downtime on one metric that safety, maintenance and operations all report against, so a skipped service shows up as a cost, not a saving.
• Protect preventive maintenance when budgets tighten. ATRI warns rising costs may push carriers to defer maintenance. Use the integrated data to show what a deferral costs in fuel and out-of-service risk before approving it.

Trucking spent the last decade proving telematics can change driver behavior. The next gain sits in the systems that already exist but do not talk to each other. Fleets that send the same data to the shop and the dispatch desk will spend less on fuel at $6 diesel and see fewer trucks sidelined at the next roadside inspection, without adding a single new device.