The trends in 2024
Fleets investing more—and banking on AI and EVs to change the game
This year’s research reveals that fleet managers across the globe are readier than ever to digitise more of their operation. Though established technologies like real-time location tracking and automated reporting get plenty of love, excitement is bubbling around the expanding use of AI and IoT.
Meanwhile, the consensus among fleet managers in every country is clear: electric mobility is here to stay. The vast majority are either planning or already deploying a significant electrification of their fleets over the coming five years.
What do fleet managers think of the leading digital solutions?
Let’s start with the current situation: what technologies are fleet managers using and how do they rate them in terms of effectiveness? One highlight that jumps out is how reporting is ranked in each category. Not only is it the fourth most used solution today, it’s the second most likely to be adopted in the next five years and the second highest rated in terms of effectiveness.
This points to a truth many fleets now realise in the digitised world: it’s not enough to just have access to a lot of data. It’s about getting your data simplified, clarified and delivered in an understandable, actionable format that matters.
In the next five years, I expect my investment in digital fleet solutions to…
Significantly increase
Slightly increase
Remain the same
Clearly, businesses see no sign of slowing down their digitisation. Almost the entire sample plans to either significantly or slightly increase investment in the near future.
When you look at the data on a country level, however, there are some notable differences. The number of fleet managers planning a significant increase in investment in many European countries.
For example, Germany (31%), UK (35%) and Poland (36%)—is markedly lower than countries outside of Europe such as South Africa (71%), Mexico (59%) and the USA (53%).
So: what will they be investing their money in?
What technologies will have the biggest impact on fleet management in the next five years?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Electric vehicles
Autonomous driving
Internet of Things (IoT) and connected vehicles
Hydrogen vehicles
Augmented/Virtual Reality
Vehicle to infrastructure (v2i)
Advanced telematics
Blockchain
Unsurprisingly, AI is high on the agenda for fleet managers. While 36% plan to add AI-enabled dashcams to their fleet within the next five years (on top of the 34% that already use them), AI and machine learning is also what businesses expect to influence their fleet management to the most significant degree.
Also, no surprise to see electric vehicles at the high end of the chart, particularly when you consider how fleet managers believe their vehicle mix is about to evolve.
Do you expect the mix of vehicle types that make up your fleet to change in the next five years?
*Data factors in the full vehicle mix including HGV, LCV and cars