Fleet managers used to be run to rags by paper trails, phone calls and blind belief in the old days. Drivers would write their mileage on the napkins. Location estimation was done by ambient road noise and psychic senses by the dispatchers. It almost worked. With the introduction of the best truck gps app, the digitalization of the paper trail was made overnight.

It was a miracle that the first systems worked. When I happened to be in a science fiction movie, a blinking dot was crawling through the map. The fleet managers were now able to know the actual location of the trucks as opposed to the ones provided by the drivers. Only then, when such a change was introduced, the turn of events changed. Accountability will make inefficiency not have many hiding places.

Telematics followed. The machine suddenly started to listen as well as follow movement. All figures started to emerge: engine, idle time, fuel consumption, speed and so on. And all those personalities did have a view. Those drivers who could manage to go an additional 50 miles out of a tank were identified and those who drove their cars like drag racers were exposed.

The software followed suit. Automated reports were put in place. There was something wrong with the second one, the alarms began to be heard. The sticky note maintenance scheduling was substituted by a more scientific one. The dispatchers started to sound confident and accurate and in command, as the job of air traffic controllers did.

Entering the AI era now. It does not only follow, but also forecasts. Climbing long inclines it is aware that truck #42 heats up. Your accountant is the one who finds that there is fuel efficiency before even he realizes it. It gives you faint hints of the issues before the issues ever come onto your radar. It does even with mathematics alone.

Actually, it’s funny. This began as a truck locating tool but became a complete business navigation tool. You can see exactly where the time is going, where the money is going and where the performance is also glowing.

Paper logs were not bad, of course, but they were not good. The technology helped to make that doubt absolute due to the modern tracking technology. Not only did they evolve, but they increased in degree. One simply needed to have a clipboard and some chance a few years ago; they need to do it with data, planning and a little smart clicking now. There is no way that you can return to the carbon-copy war frenzy after such a state of clarity.