Vehicle Telematics

The automotive industry has made many safety improvements using technology over the years. Some include driver alerts, lane departure warnings, and automatic emergency braking. Fleet Services has equipped vehicles with Telematics that integrate with our billing, fuel, odometer reporting, and Fleet Management Information System (FMIS). Before operating any University vehicle, please make yourself familiar with the vehicle, including any safety features, adjust all mirrors, your seat, and always buckle up.

Please note: Fleet has several driver safety training courses offered through lms.ucdavis.edu including the Safe Driver Awareness course that is required prior to driving University Vehicles.

  • What is Telematics
  • Telematics is a method of collecting data from the vehicle computers, sensors, and GPS. Data is used to report trip mileage, fuel use, vehicle speed, engine faults, emissions compliance, and even the state of charge of EV and hybrid vehicles. This information is then transmitted over a network, typically cellular, for storage and analysis.
  • What is the benefit of Telematics?
  • 1. Visibility & Tracking - Insight into location of vehicles through a GPS system. 
    2. Maintenance - Telematics devices can pull engine data directly from the vehicle. This can help identify problems so that the shop can schedule the vehicle in for diagnosis before there is a major failure. It can also help to set up a more accurate schedule for preventative maintenance based on actual usage instead of time based. 
    3. Safety - Since the data can identify driving behavior, it can help identify coaching opportunities for safety. Some of the driver behavior it can identify is speeding, harsh braking/accelerating, harsh cornering, and seat-belt use. 
    4. Cost Reductions - Telematics can identify excess fuel usage from idling or identify more efficient routing. 
    5. Compliance - Telematics can report emission status for CARB smog reporting, tracking hours of service for commercial drivers, and pre/post trip inspections.
  • What does Fleet Services do with the data?
  • Fleet uses the data for reports on fleet utilization, trip optimization, fuel and idling patterns, identifying vehicles that can be switched to EV, business decisions, and safety considerations for driver coaching.
  • Why is the device beeping?
  • Check your speed, audio alerts are activated to warn drivers when speeding occurs.