Six Ways GPS Tracking Has Changed Trucking Forever

The long-haul trucking industry is something of a modern marvel. It may not seem like it, but there’s an immense amount of technology powering the fleets of 18-wheelers and transport trucks you see on the road today. Most of it involves fleet GPS tracking and all of the benefits that come with it.

Trucking is about more than just hauling products from point A to point B—it’s about getting these items to their destination quickly, safely and at the lowest possible cost. These variables and more depend on the information that GPS fleet monitoring offers. Let’s take a look at six ways GPS technology has changed the trucking industry for the better:

1. Thanks to fleet GPS tracking, command centers can accurately pinpoint where hundreds of trucks are on the road at any given time. This is known as “asset tracking” and it helps fleet operations managers make sure all of their trucks and drivers are safe and sound.
2. If problems on the road arise—which they often do when a driver is covering thousands of miles at a time—GPS tracking has made it possible to get them help as they need it. From directing roadside relief vehicles to a sidelined truck to helping a driver find an alternate route, GPS has made trucking adaptable at a moment’s notice.
3. The entire scope of cost logistics has been forever changed thanks to GPS. Now, companies can figure out cost-savings and expenditures like never before by using GPS data in conjunction with things like the cost of fuel, time spent on a route or the total cost of truck maintenance.
4. There are roughly 4.1 million miles of roadway in the United States today. Thankfully, finding the right route for a truck driver has never been easier. GPS data helps predict things like the quickest route, the safest route and more. In addition, real-time tracking can help truckers avoid things like construction and weather, further showing them the path of least resistance while they’re en route to their destination.
5. GPS allows trucking companies to optimize their resources. Whether it’s fuel, manpower, truck maintenance or anything else, GPS data gives logistical planners the insight they need to utilize what’s available to them in the best fashion. Often, this results in saved costs and a better, safer logistical plan.
6. One of the simplest, yet greatest ways GPS has affected the trucking industry is to help keep paperwork to a minimum! In an industry fraught with paperwork in its heyday, trucking has now become a digital industry thanks to GPS data. Instead of recording mileage logs or route plans, all of this is done via GPS and exported to the proper logs. GPS has truly brought trucking into the digital age.

There are so many more ways that GPS contributes to trucking on a daily basis—including specialty trucking operations such as climate-controlled or LTL ventures. But no matter what the load is, trucks, drivers and trucking corporations have benefitted from the insightful capabilities of modern GPS.

Categorised in: News

This post was written by Malcolm Rosenfeld