Telematics devices are small boxes with GPS, sensors and a SIM card, fitted in a vehicle or a machine, that report where it is, its speed, harsh braking, idling, fuel use and engine faults. The word telematics means sending data about a vehicle to a remote computer.
Each box is fitted to the vehicle's diagnostic port or wired into its battery. GPS tells it the position. Its sensors detect movement, so it knows when the vehicle brakes harshly or turns sharply. Through the vehicle's electronic control unit, it also reads the engine's data, such as fuel use and fault codes. The SIM card connects it to the mobile network through a cellular IoT module. It sends a report every few seconds while the vehicle moves. If the mobile network is lost, for instance in a tunnel, the box stores the reports and sends them when the network returns.
For instance, a milk tanker in Anand has a box under the dashboard. At 3:15 pm the tanker stops for six minutes with the engine running. The box reports the position, the stop and the idling. At 3:21 pm it reports that the tanker moved again. The dairy's transport manager does not need to phone the driver to ask where he is, and can see whether the tanker will reach the plant before the milk warms.
In India, a box of this kind is often not a choice. A standard called AIS-140 requires location-tracking devices with an emergency button in public service vehicles such as buses, taxis and school vans, and the boxes report to a state control room. For other owners the box is bought to cut fuel theft and idling.
The box does not only serve trucks and vans. It is fitted in construction and mining machines, farm machines and airport ground equipment, where the maker uses the engine hours to plan a service. In electric vehicles, it reads the battery pack too. The reports go to fleet management software and, for a carmaker, to the connected car platform. Insurers use the same data for usage-based insurance. The whole area is described in fleet management.