Teletrac Navman announced on Aug. 24 the release of its next-generation solution TN360. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), TN360 delivers telematics functionalities in real time by using a cloud ecosystem that connects data from sensors, cameras, mobile and third-party applications.

“Every company wants to see where their assets are,” explained Sid Nair, Teletrac Navman’s head of product management and user experience. “What we found out when we started speaking to customers is that not all GPS tracking solutions are made equal. We found that some customers really want that minute-by-minute update, some want 15-minute updates, but in reality, as we see the market going faster and faster, we really want to get to a second-by-second update.”

“We built this feature [TN360] to go from being just a tracking solution to start digging deep and give that second-by-second overview of truckers in real time,” Nair added. “Then, we said we need to take it a step further.”

Telematics systems typically rely mostly on GPS and motion sensors as they collect a set of data points, centered on location, diagnostics and routing. However, because AI-enabled cameras can be fully integrated within TN360, trucking companies can perceive traffic obstacles, distance between objects, identify people and predict potential safety hazards both on the road and inside the driver cab, according to Teletrac Navman.

“The beauty of the solution is you can start focusing on not only what the driver is doing but what is going on around them,” explained Nair. “This provides an AI-driven view of not only a camera inside or outside the cab, but also mocking up vehicles and actual events that are happening. For instance, you can see other vehicles that are driving too close or erratically—all of that can be picked up in real-time AI.”

TN360 provides a real-time view into all deployed assets enabled with an AI-powered smart dashcam allowing fleet managers to be in the passenger seat of every vehicle in the fleet at once.Photo: Teletrac Navman

Drivers and fleets can also leverage the camera function when drivers are stuck in traffic, delayed at a shipper facility, delayed while fueling, and in emergency scenarios, Nair added.

The TN360 platform enables business operations to recognize patterns of efficiency to highlight opportunities in areas like route planning, logistic workflows, maintenance, driver behavior, compliance and fuel management. Users can receive business intelligence metrics by asking a question of TN360’s smart AI engine with voice-command technology.

TN360 Insights uses natural language search functions providing users the ability to ask the system questions about driver safety.Photo: Teletrac Navman

“We all end up using a version of Google and search,” Nair emphasized. “We asked, ‘Why can’t we do that for telematics? Why can’t we build a Google-like platform that takes telematics data and integrates all the data and start providing meaningful results?’ Our customers asked for search. They don’t have the time to go through the reports. They want to be able to see these things in real time very quickly.”

“Our goal is—and always has been—to simplify mobile asset and fleet management for our customers,” said Andrew Rossington, vice president of technology at Teletrac Navman. “We built TN360 with an AI-first approach on the latest technology stack, delivering a paradigm-shifting product. We use this technology to process the masses of data collected and turn this into real answers. The platform converts data into decisions.”

TN360 is available in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Global ordering and availability in Mexico and South America will follow in Q4 2020.