Ahead of the Curve: Commercial OEMs Racing to Factory-Fit Solutions

Commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have driven exponential growth in factory-fit telematics, new partnerships, and open platforms/marketplaces over the last two years according to ABI Research, a leader in emerging technology intelligence.

“This growth provides a solid foundation for upcoming Freight as a Service, Uptime as a Service and Over-the-Air Updates.” says Susan Beardslee, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Market leaders in this space include Daimler Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Volkswagen Truck and Bus, Scania, Navistar and Paccar.” 

Factory-fit benefits are significant and include: zero aftermarket installation downtime, upgradeable VAS for connected vehicles, quick-turn compliance for the ELD Mandate, all costs included in OEM purchase price/financing, and dealer-backed factory warranty hardware options.

The commercial telematics segment is growing faster than the commercial vehicle market.  Globally, hardware shipments of commercial fleet telematics systems for trucks are expected to increase by a 15% CAGR between 2016-2021 to over 5 million aftermarket and OEM units in 2021.   The OEMs see this growth and are moving from home-grown solutions toward sourcing partnerships with leading telematics suppliers such as Geotab, Omnitracs, PeopleNet, Telogis, TomTom Telematics, and Zonar

Newer telematics options are in development or in-service, including biometrics and in-cab video to assess driver fatigue.  Eventually, platooning and V2X services like parking and payments augmented through blockchain technologies will enter the market.

These findings are from ABI Research’s OEM Commercial Telematics Solutions. This report is part of the company’s Intelligent Transportation and eFreight service, which includes research reports, market data, insights and competitive assessments.