Motor carriers are increasingly turning to telematics data for commercial vehicle intelligence, but a critical gap remains in how this information is used, according to new research from the American Transportation Research Institute.
The report, “From Telematics Data to Decisions: High-Value Performance Metrics for Trucking Operations,” provides the industry with a focused assessment of key performance indicators (KPIs), revealing a significant disconnect between what carriers find most valuable and what they actually measure on a day-to-day basis. ATRI’s latest findings indicate the metrics possessing the most impact are not always the most widely adopted by fleets.
“This research identifies the performance metrics that fleets find most valuable, and highlights those that, for some carriers, deserve more consideration,” Robert Braswell, executive director of the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council, said in a news release. “The report gives carriers a practical guide for evaluating what they currently measure versus what they ought to measure to improve safety, maintenance and operations.”
In the operations category, managing cost-per-mile received the highest Importance score, yet it is actively used by only 73% of survey respondents. Meanwhile, safety-related KPIs see the most widespread industry adoption. The four most widely adopted metrics are critical events, speeding, risky driving behavior, and hard braking, according to the report.
ATRI noted that the top 10 most utilized industry KPIs all fall exclusively under the safety category.
The research points to critical opportunities for greater adoption of maintenance metrics. Despite ranking highly in importance, tracking missed preventative maintenance and engine health remain underutilized by carriers. The report also highlights a broader structural challenge contributing to this gap: nearly half of all fleets surveyed—48%—currently do not integrate their telematics data with dedicated maintenance management software.
