Top 4 fleet technology trends you need to watch in 2023

The year is slowly but surely coming to an end, and planning for 2023 is fast becoming a priority. So the question becomes, what’s your main focus for the new year? 2022 was over in a blink of an eye, so you need to ensure you’re well-planned for what seems to be another busy year coming.

In the transport and fleet industry, businesses are increasingly focused on innovation in their planning and are more open to new technologies; as such, fleet management tech is on track for strong growth in 2023 and beyond. A recent report published by MarketsandMarkets notes that the global fleet management market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.5 per cent, from AUD 38.14 billion in 2022 to almost double at AUD 78.38 billion by 2027.

It’s exciting to see the growth and innovation in fleet management tech, given its benefits in terms of productivity and efficiency, safety, compliance, and customer service. But what’s new with fleet management in 2023? And what other tech is on the horizon?

Here are the top 4 fleet technology trends you should be on the lookout for in 2023.

1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transport

No, it’s not self-driving trucks or robot drivers. Neither is it something out of the terminator. AI-powered tech is all about the intelligence gained – the AI can instantly analyse and interpret data to provide insights.

Businesses go through an enormous amount of data each day, whether manually entered in spreadsheets or through reports from a fleet management system. Given this, it’s critical to have an AI-powered solution that not only collects data but interprets it, which is why all kinds of fleet tech will incorporate AI and Machine Learning (ML) moving forward.

Leaders across transport, construction and local government already recognise the value of AI to identify inefficiencies and drive decision-making, and it’s set to continue changing the way businesses that operate fleets of vehicles and equipment. By 2030, it’s expected that AI could add a whopping $13 trillion to global economic output.

An AI and ML-based platform allows businesses to streamline processes, predict trends, and gain real-time insights. Businesses can help drivers boost productivity and improve on-road behaviour while better supporting their health and safety.

2 Growing uptake of smart cameras across fleets

Dashcams have been quite a standard technology installed in vehicles for many years, but the AI-equipped varieties are fast being adopted by more businesses, especially as we move into 2023. How come? Smart Dashcams offer businesses visibility beyond just video and audio. They’re an indispensable asset that helps to reduce incidents and insurance premiums, prevent fraudulent claims, and identify ways to improve driver behaviour.

Using built-in sensors, they can pick up on what’s happening inside and around the vehicle’s environment to better analyse and understand what happens on the road in real-time. From distracted driving and not using a seatbelt right through to illegal u-turns or following distance, they provide the transparency to engage with drivers positively and constructively, improving safety and performance by analysing every minute of driving time and telematics data. Better yet, the AI-enabled smarts within also learn from the environment they’re driven around in, meaning they get more and more accurate with time.

According to Berg Insight research, video telematics is now in a growth period. We’ll see strong uptake of video telematics solutions in all geographies, including Australia, in 2023 as barriers and concerns related to driver privacy are gradually overcome.

3 Electric Vehicles (EVs)

It’s no secret that EVs are growing in popularity. They’re consistently making headlines – they’re often better for the environment in the long run, better for drivers, reducing emissions, and offer financial benefits, especially with the increasing cost of fuel. While local government and fleet businesses are starting to catch on to the benefits, we’ll see more and more businesses implement them across industries.

Technology improves with market uptake, so the more people buy into EV ownership, the cheaper and more available the technology can be, improving the ROI and speeding up the positive environmental impact.

The Electric Vehicle Outlook: 2021 and Beyond report found that EVs will represent 48 per cent of all new cars sold globally in 2030. That is an enormous jump by any standard. To put it into perspective unit-wise, BloombergNEF predicts global EV sales will leap by 14 million in 2025, accounting for around 16 per cent of all passenger-vehicle sales.

EV sales (including fully electric and plug-in hybrids) doubled in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with more sold each week than in the whole of 2012 — a huge increase in 10 years. Fleet managers need to consider the growing use of EVs into account for future planning, factoring in costs for battery charging, repair, and transition as we move into tomorrow’s fleet today.

4 A driver safety focus

Safety is a growing concern for drivers and fleet managers, and for good reason. May 2022 BudgetDirect survey discovered that:

1. Nearly a third (30.1 per cent) of Australian respondents have experienced a microsleep or a fatigued moment they couldn’t remember while driving,
2. 4 per cent had driven for more than six hours without taking a break; and
3. 76 per cent who had experienced a microsleep also thought that driving while highly fatigued was the most dangerous state to drive in.

Fleet managers need to prioritise driver safety not only to ensure happy, healthy staff. Businesses in the transport industry are beginning to recognise the importance of driver safety and the benefits of technology in addressing safety concerns. As such, in 2023, there will be an increased focus on how fleet technology can improve driver safety and be used to improve existing safety programs and initiatives.

With the use of telematics and the information the tech can provide you in real-time, you can create individualised training and coaching programs for your drivers who need help and see which are performing best and reward positive behaviour. With these advances in tech, we’ll see more proactive approaches to safety like this across industries in the new year.  

What’s next for technology?

2023 will be a massive year as fleet management technology and industries continue to drive innovation. AI is poised to weave its way into more tech than ever before, the EV rollout will continue in force, and smart dashcams will be the new norm.

Where will we be five years from now? Ten years? We can predict and plan, but the future has already started, and it’s all driven by you, the people that use technology the most to solve real-world problems. Incorporating any of the above trends into your business in the new year will help you keep pace with change and make the most of the latest tech available – so you can thrive in this increasingly digitised world.