Emerging and Future Fleet Data Technologies
Predictive analytics can help keep trucks on the road. Navistar has been piloting a new OnCommand Connection feature called Live Action Plans, which predicts when a part is going to fail before it does. Photo: Navistar
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When you hear the words artificial intelligence or machine learning, you may think of IBM’s Watson, or the 2001 Steven Spielberg flick about a robotic boy. When you hear blockchain, you may think bitcoin. Yet these and other emerging data technologies are already being employed in trucking and logistics.
“I’ve been in the trucking world for a long time. Normally, trucking has not adopted things as fast” when it comes to technology, says Tim Leonard, chief technology officer and executive vice president at TMW Systems. But when it comes to things like deep learning analytics and blockchain, he says, “the transportation world is one of the leaders.”
Predictive analytics
We’ve been hearing for years now about the idea of predictive maintenance rather than preventive maintenance – the ability to analyze data and predict when failures are about to happen, allowing fleets to replace or repair components before they lead to a breakdown on the road.
Some fleets have already been using data from their own fleets to do predictive maintenance. As Randy Obermeyer, terminal manager in charge of equipment and maintenance for Batesville’s private fleet in Batesville, Indiana, explains, “There’s a lot of data that will tell you if you have an issue with that system before it becomes a major problem that’s going to leave the guy sitting on the side of the road.”
For instance, he says, “If you know the starter lasts for two years, you can proactively put a new one on every two years and not worry about it breaking down at 25 months and causing unnecessary downtime.”
But the next step brings in data beyond …Read the rest of this story
