Best Fleet Tracking Software for Streamlining Your Operations
Managing a logistics company or any business with a fleet can feel like juggling a thousand things at once. From tracking vehicles to ensuring fuel efficiency—it’s a lot to handle. That’s where fleet tracking software comes in. In this guide, you’ll discover the best solutions that’ll keep your operations running smoothly and help you stay on top of everything.
What is Fleet Tracking?
Let’s say you run a delivery business called ArrivingSomewhere. You’ve got motorcycles, trucks, and mini-vans, along with drivers for each. The question arises: how do you track the whereabouts of these vehicles?
The answer is via fleet tracking. It’s a system that uses GPS to monitor where each vehicle is in real-time. So, whether it’s a motorcycle, truck, or mini-van, you always know where they are. This helps with route planning, managing drivers, and making sure your fleet runs efficiently.
Companies like Amazon are highly dependent upon the smoothness of their logistics operations. When a customer calls the Amazon helplines to ask, “Where’s my package?” the company can instantly check the location of their delivery vehicle using fleet tracking. They can also reroute vehicles if there’s heavy traffic or an emergency and provide the customer with an accurate ETA.
Moreover, companies that run a taxi or ride-handling business, like Uber or Lyft, need to minimize the amount of time their customers wait and match the customer with the nearest available cab. Being able to track their fleet makes this possible, helping them reduce waiting times and improve the overall customer experience.
What is Fleet Software?
Fleet software is designed to help businesses manage and monitor their fleet of vehicles in real-time. These are designed to be equipped with GPS technology and telematics (data communication tools) to gather data about each vehicle in a fleet, providing businesses with crucial insights into their operations. This includes vehicle locations, driver behaviors, fuel usage, and maintenance needs, among other things.
Companies, especially the ones that rely on multiple vehicles, such as logistics, delivery services, public transportation, or utility companies, can highly benefit from incorporating fleet tracking into their operations.
Here’s how it works:
- A GPS device is installed in every vehicle in your fleet to track its location, speed, and route. Some GPS devices are more advanced and can provide additional important data, such as fuel consumption, engine diagnostics, or driver behaviors.
- The data collected from the GPS is sent back to a centralized server, which typically uses cellular networks or satellite communication. This data is stored in the cloud or on dedicated servers and is available for review and analysis from there on. This data can be deleted or retained as per the requirements of the company and the availability of storage space.
- In addition to the GPS data, the software can integrate telematics technology to monitor vehicle diagnostics like engine health, tire pressure, and oil levels.
- All the information is presented in the software, which tends to usually be quite user-friendly and easy to comprehend.
Some of the main features of fleet tracking software are illustrated in the table below:
Feature | What it Does |
Real-time Tracking | The primary goal for fleet managers and business owners is ensuring they know the whereabouts of their assets. Fleet management softwares possesses that ability, and in real-time. This offers several benefits, such as knowing where your fleet is located currently, monitoring driver’s performance, and helping manage the deliveries. |
Route Optimization | It can predict a delivery’s ETA based on traffic, speed, and distance. The software can suggest faster routes, minimizing travel time and, potentially, fuel consumption; resulting in more deliveries done faster and more cost-effectively. |
Monitor Driver Behavior | Drivers are often the face of companies that require fleet management, like taxi services, as they interact the most with customers. This feature allows businesses to track driver habits such as speeding, harsh braking, idling, rapid acceleration, excessive idling, or poor route planning. Insights from this data enable fleet managers to address unsafe or inefficient driving, improving safety, optimizing routes, and reducing vehicle wear and tear and fuel consumption. |
Geofencing | Due to business or regulatory reasons, sometimes a vehicle isn’t allowed to enter or exit a specific geolocation. Geofencing creates a virtual boundary, and if a vehicle that is prohibited from entering or exiting this area does so, the system will send an alert. This ensures fleet vehicles stay on course, remain within designated work zones, and are used only for authorized purposes. |
Reporting and Analytics | Fleet tracking software generates detailed reports on vehicle usage, driver performance, fuel consumption, and route efficiency. Using these reports, businesses can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize their fleet operations. |
Best Fleet Tracking Software
Having discussed how these solutions work, here are the top fleet management software available out there that does the job pretty amazingly.
- AUTOsist
AUTOsist is a no-nonsense fleet maintenance software and mobile app designed to make your life easier. It’s cloud-based and focused on three big things: tracking maintenance, generating reports, and inspecting vehicles.
Key features include:
- Safety cameras and geofencing
- Real-time odometer syncing and GPS tracking
- Engine code alert notifications
- Accident fault prevention
- Inventory management
- Fuel tracking and expense management
- Driver and vehicle performance analytics
- Azuga
A leading fleet management software, Azuga is capable of handling small businesses to enterprise fleets, being equipped with a variety of tools and features.
Key features include:
- Real-time tracking and route optimization
- Driver behavior monitoring and scorecards
- Dashcam integration for safety monitoring
- AI and machine learning capabilities
- Driver rewards and gamification
- Digital pre-trip and post-trip inspection reports
- Compliance with regulatory requirements, such as electronic logging devices (ELDs)
- Fleetio
Fleetio is a cloud-based powerhouse designed to manage both your fleet and assets with ease. It’s packed with features that take the complexity out of managing vehicles and equipment, no matter the size of your fleet.
Key features include:
- Fuel management and expense tracking
- Mobile access and driver management
- Real-time GPS tracking and reporting
- Maintenance & Automatic scheduling and reminders
- VIN lookup, Access Control, and Compliance management
- Samsara
Samsara is a powerful, full-featured fleet management software designed to adapt to the unique needs of mid-to-enterprise level fleets. Its flexibility and customizability make it a go-to solution for businesses that need more control and tailored features.
Key features include:
- Predictive maintenance
- FMCSA and ELD compliance
- GPS fleet tracking capabilities
- Driver behavior, safety, and efficiency monitoring and reports
- FleetUp
FleetUp is a cloud-based fleet management solution that’s gaining traction in key markets like the USA, Mexico, Chile, and the UAE. What sets FleetUp apart is its commitment to continuous innovation, making it a go-to choice for businesses looking to solve evolving logistics challenges.
Key features include:
- Vital stats and real-time GPS location of assets are updated within 10 seconds.
- Remote door locking and engine shut-offs
- Immediate alerts for an attempted container break-in
- Engine-health monitoring
- Linxup
Linxup is a versatile fleet management solution that’s trusted by over 30,000 businesses to track vehicles, assets, and even valuables. If you’re managing a fleet of trucks, construction equipment, or high-value goods, Linxup has the tools to help you keep everything in check.
Key features include:
- Plug-in GPS tracker
- Ability to monitor driver and operator behavior
- ELD Compliance
- Vehicle diagnostics and driver safety reports
- Notifications for maintenance
- Lytx DriveCam
Lytx Drivecam focuses on two very important aspects of fleet management, which are safety and vehicle tracking. It monitors the behavior of the drivers, tracking vehicles out on the road for inappropriate behavior or ineffective driving.
Key features include:
- Advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence
- Analysis of driving, phone usage, swerving, collision and hard-braking
- ECM connected and implanted with high-lumen infrared LED lights
- Motive
Motive packs quite a punch. It’s essentially an all-in-one solution, serving as a tracking, compliance, and monitoring tool that offers both hardware and software. This makes it great for companies of any size looking to manage their vehicles and assets. Moreover, it’s rich with features and offers a free demo.
Key features include:
- 360° view of fleet and spend
- Automated telematics tracking
- Equipped with AI and machine learning
- Equipment monitoring to improve utilization
- Deep insights into vehicle health, location, and use
- Onfleet
Onfleet has limited functionalities despite its cool-looking appearance, as it’s more focused on companies that work with freelance drivers than a fleet manager. However, it still has a lot of useful offerings.
Key features include:
- Unlimited number of drivers
- Modern and hip UI and UX
- Easy to set up and use
- Plenty of reporting features
- Customer access to real-time tracking
- Zubie
Zubie goes above and beyond its competition, connecting directly to the vehicle’s diagnostic port. Thanks to this, the amount of detail it can capture surpasses that of most other fleet management solutions.
Key features include:
- Direct connection to the vehicle diagnostics port
- Able to track location, acceleration, average speed, hard braking, and idling
- Integrations capabilities
- Smart maintenance and dashcam compatibility
- Whip Around
Offering a free plan along with options starting at a nominal $5/vehicle/month, Whip Around is one of the more affordable options that primarily focuses on documentation and maintenance of your vehicles. It ensures your drivers are producing the right documents for compliance with DVIR and DOT.
Key features include:
- CSA/DOT compliance and audit reporting
- Digital record retention
- Maintenance management tracking
- Incident/safety reporting
How LLumin Can Help with Fleet Tracking and Maintenance
LLumin is our CMMS fleet maintenance software that uses data collected from machine-level sensors and IoT technologies to offer real-time asset oversight and workflow automation.
Our AI-powered system not only predicts problems, triggers alerts, and automates maintenance tasks, but also gives you customizable dashboards with key performance metrics and a centralized database, making it easy for your team to access both past and real-time maintenance data.
Here are some basic things our fleet maintenance program does:
- Live tracking of your fleet and assets
- Report generation and consolidation
- Schedules according to technician availability and capacity
- Real-time Notifications
- Real-time data from fleets
- Availability on mobile devices
Now, let’s take a look at some “not-so-basic” features that sets us apart:
- Our fleet management software utilizes AI, machine learning and can integrate with IoT
- Using AI-driven analysis and historical data, the performance of an asset can be optimized
- Collects data from the fleet in real-time and makes use of historical data for identifying patterns and trends
- Integrates with other data sources for a broader perspective
- Reports across multiple assets are consolidated for easier analysis
- Regulatory compliance processes are documented to ensure safety and avoid penalties
Moreover, you also get predictive maintenance. It lets you spot issues before they happen, so you can have the right equipment and technicians ready when needed.
Conclusion
No size fits all. The best fleet management software depends on your specific business needs. However, the right solution is one that excels in keeping your fleet running smoothly by improving efficiency, keeping safety in check, and making it easy for you to track the vehicles.
FAQs
What is the best fleet tracking software?
The “best” really depends upon your specific business requirements. However, we wholeheartedly recommend our fleet software, LLumin, as it offers great features and functionality and has an active support team. We’re also equipped with AI and machine learning capabilities.
How do I keep track of fleet vehicles?
Fleet vehicles can be tracked using fleet management software equipped with GPS tracking, telematics, and real-time data analytics. These will allow you to know its current location, performance, and plan for maintenance, if needed.
What is the main use of a fleet management tool?
The primary use of fleet management software is to improve operational efficiency by ensuring compliance, optimizing routes, tracking driver behavior, and tracking maintenance.
Karen Rossi is a seasoned operations leader with over 30 years of experience empowering software development teams and managing corporate operations. With a track record of developing and maintaining comprehensive products and services, Karen runs company-wide operations and leads large-scale projects as COO of LLumin.