New Smart Trailer System Introduction

Dec 11, 2019 - 5 years ago

The Future Of Goods Mobility Is Here

Great Dane introduced its new smart trailer telematics system, FleetPulse, at the 2019 North American Commercial Vehicle Show (NACV Show). The company held a press conference to formally introduce the product to the market in Georgia at the World Congress Center.

“FleetPulse is laying the foundation for technologies beyond telematics,” said Mike Molitor, Great Dane’s Director of Business Development. “The transformational shifts that will occur in our industry, such as autonomy, electrification, and smart distribution centers, will require the trailer to be designed and wired differently than it is today. And we’ve built FleetPulse with these technological advances in mind.”

When Great Dane set out to build FleetPulse three years ago, the company considered what information a fleet starting from scratch would need and what would be the best possible way to give them that information. To answer these questions, Great Dane worked with customers as well as component suppliers to design a system that would provide robust and detailed data.

“FleetPulse provides a high-resolution view into the conditions of the trailer’s components, and pairs that information with other proprietary information on the asset, including things like specs, aftermarket parts numbers, and tools from all of the component suppliers that help drive maintenance costs down,” Molitor said. “Each trailer on the road is unique in how it was built, and that information is critical when it comes to maintaining trailers – and it’s information that only the OEM has.”

Beyond simply a GPS system, FleetPulse has been carefully designed from end-to-end to meet the high standards of even the most sophisticated fleets. The system’s built-in sensors collect precise measurements directly from the trailer’s components, keeping watch over key indicators like tire inflation systems, open doors, cargo weight, burned-out lights, ABS fault codes, and actual mileage. The data is collected and reported via a robust, powerful 4G platform, so fleets are alerted to potential issues and receive reports on what maintenance needs to occur and when. This totally integrated telematics system helps fleets to solve problems faster and increase uptime by leveraging each trailer’s usage and health data with access to Great Dane’s parts list.

“The platform and sensors are hardwired, reliable and accurate from day one,” Molitor said. “And the architecture, both on the physical trailer as well as the architecture of the data protocols flowing throughout the trailer and up to both the cloud and truck, are the reasons that an integrated solution like FleetPulse, built at the OEM level, is the only way to provide fleets with the clarity and insights needed to support and grow their operations into the future.”

Great Dane recently announced a partnership with Coretex, a global provider of supply chain compliance and fleet management solutions, to offer customers a comprehensive solution for refrigerated trailers, including insight into critical refrigerated components such as the reefer unit and temperature controls.