How To Develop A Fleet Management Software?

Have you ever heard about the term fleet? Do you know what is meant by fleet management software? If your answer to the above two questions is no, then please don’t worry. We are here to help you through this article. This article will give you a deep insight into what a fleet is and how it works.

I am sure you might have used cabs, like Uber and Ola. The companies which manage such vehicles, under one common software, are known as a fleet. The mechanism behind the controlling of such vehicles is known as fleet management software. It is software that tracks the vehicle to which it is attached. The software maintains a record of the vehicle’s speed, temperature data, fuel tank, direction, etc. These features can be tracked with the help of sensors that are installed on the vehicle.

Who Needs A Fleet Management Software?

Let’s check those people/companies who require fleet management software.

Corporate Fleet Companies

Corporate fleet companies are those companies that manage these vehicles in a bulk. These companies have a lot of vehicles of their own, which they give on a rental basis. The rental amount varies as it depends upon the duration for which you want to hire, how much distance you want to cover, the type of vehicle you want to hire, four-wheeler or two-wheeler vehicle among many other factors.

Transport and Logistic Firms

Transport and Logistic Firms are those companies which help in transportation of goods and services, from one source to the other. They use vehicles to deliver items, which they pick up from the origin point to the respective destination of the receiver. Logistic Firms are the online ordering applications on which you can order items you want to, and they deliver them to your doorstep. For example Amazon, Flip kart among others.

Flight and Aviation Companies

A lot of flights assembled which comprises usually military helicopters, headed by a single person are known as aviation fleet; which is also the military flight of a nation. It contains a lot of flights that are controlled by a single fleet management company.

Shipping and Marine Companies

Shipping and Marine companies are companies that provide ships in large quantities to its owner. It provides ship services to its owners all over the world. The services provided do vary, ranging from crew training to its advanced management requirements. Ships are not only required for commercial purposes but also used for the nation’s security purposes, importing and exporting goods from one nation to the other, etc.

Benefits Of Efficient Fleet Management Software

An efficient fleet management software helps in the following:

Low Fuel Consumption

The vehicle managed by the fleet management software, will use low fuel, as the software will be continuously updating from time to time, on ways to improve fuel consumption. This includes destination path prediction. Destination Path Prediction means the software, will calculate the shortest distance which is available with low traffic, to reach the destination. The shortest path calculation includes time to reach the destination as a primary factor.

Real-Time Tracking

The software tracks vehicles, in real-time, which makes it more reliable and efficient. Real-time data is also shared with the customers so that they can estimate the time of pick up and arrival at the destination, along with the location data which the satellite transmits to the application being used in the customer’s mobile.

Safe and Secure

As the company stores the details of all the drivers, operating those vehicles; it is safe for passengers. Even if any problem occurs, the company already has the details, through which they can contact the concerned driver. The driver too is safe if he/she faces any kind of threat from the customer, as the vehicle is already tracked under the software. If any abnormalities are detected the software will automatically alert the team controlling the software due to which the safety of both the parties involved, is intact.

Some Interesting Stats Of Fleet Management Software Market Size

As per research and market trends the current Fleet management market size is expected to grow upto $34,629 mn by the year 2022, from the previous evaluation of $7,755 mn in 2015. The growth rate is CAGR 24.5% from 2016 to 2022.

These days most automotive software solutions includes features like smart vehicle communication (V2X) and a fleet management system allows the businesses to track and maintain their automobiles in a cost-effective, quick, and accessible way.

On taking a closer look at all the market research from different sources it is evident that the fleet management software market is going to be profitable for any business who manages to develop a great product.

Top Fleet Management Software In The Market

Below we have mentioned some of the top fleet management software in the market:

Fleetio

Fleetio is a suite that manages the fleet vehicles and their products, such as screws, GPS trackers, etc.

US Fleet Tracking

It’s a company that is owned privately and is responsible for manufacturing and selling GPS products, which is used in the tracking of the fleet vehicles managed by the fleet software. It is recommended as most of the products are available in one place.

Chevin Fleet Wave

Chevin builds flexible fleet and management software, made for the use of professional people in the fleet industry. It is usually used by the developers responsible for developing software for fleet management companies.

Verizon Connect

It promotes safer driving by tracking the driver’s motion and body language, whether he/she is drowsy, drunk, or fit for driving, whether it’s rash driving or a safe one.

GPSTrackit

As the name suggests, GPSTrackit provides GPS equipment that can be installed in fleet vehicles for getting real-time information about the vehicle. Real-time information may include direction of the vehicle, speed, fuel level, engine tracking, etc.

Odoo

It is a platform that companies use to keep track of materials, warehouse management, finance, sales, etc.

Ten Core Services Offered By Top Fleet management Companies

What Are The Key Features Of The Fleet Management System?

Real-Time Fleet Tracking
Real-time tracking may save many types of disastrous events from happening. It warns us so that we can take precautionary measures to reduce the effect of the event. Real-time tracking provides information regarding the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, direction, traffic-based route, fuel level, the temperature of the engine, etc.

Mobile App based GPS Vehicle Tracking
From the time internet has come to use, almost all of us rely on applications that easily provide us commute from one place to the other. The applications and the type of vehicle preferred vary from one individual to the other. Few prefer a four-wheeler, and the other half relies on a two-wheeler. A mobile-based app provides accurate information to the customer where the vehicle has reached, and to the driver, the app provides the location of the customer.

OBD Based Vehicle Tracking
OBD tracker provides information about the vehicle it is plugged into. The information might be on tracking the vehicle, or it might be used by mechanics to know the exact problem of the vehicle.]

OBDII Based Vehicle Tracking
It is similar to the OBD port. The only difference is it is plugged into the OBD II port, which collects the information, and the report is sent to the software.

Vehicle Management and Maintenance
Vehicle management and maintenance are done by a team of members, who control the software. The software collects the information by using the tracker in the vehicle and sends the report to the software, wherefrom it is controlled and managed by the team of fleet companies.

Fuel Consumption Control
The software keeps a track of the fuel consumption level, which can give the data of whether the engine of the car is performing well or not. If the fuel consumption level is way too high, then there is surely a problem in the vehicle which needs due attention.

Driver Management and Safety
The software keeps a track of the driver, whether he is fit to drive or not. It is done by analyzing the posture of the driver, which sends the information to the software and alerts the team managing the software if the driver is not fit to drive or is driving rashly. It is taken great care of by the companies as it is directly connected to the safety of the passengers.

Dispatch Management
At which time, which vehicle will be available to use, is meant by dispatch management. As the fleet companies handle a lot of vehicles, it might be difficult for them to keep track of which vehicle is booked and which is not. If booked, for how long and when is the next time it will be available for use by other customers. Information as such is taken care of by the software.

Route Optimization
Route optimization is done by tracking which route is the busiest and which route has less traffic and is available for a faster commute. The software recommends the route by which customers can reach the destination faster as compared to the other route. This is how the software optimizes the route selection.

Geo-Fencing
It is a term used for calculating a virtual area in the real world, which allows us to get accurate information about the geographical area in which the vehicle is located. This helps the user to locate their cab, and also the fleet company knows where each of their vehicles is present inside any given area.

Accident and Claim Management
If any customer faces an accident while traveling by a particular fleet company’s vehicle, they can claim insurance from the company. The insurance is barred by the company under whom the fleet vehicle operates.

Compliance Assurance
It is used by the companies to keep an eye, whether the policies and agreements between the drivers, customers, and the concerned company is followed or not.

Fleet Summary Report
This report includes information ranging from the type of vehicle, count of vehicles managed by the fleet management company, the condition of a vehicle, the vehicle’s daily report, daily income generated from the vehicles, information regarding each driver associated with the company along with the customer’s database.

Analytics and Dashboards
Dashboards are used to check key data points regarding the vehicle, and analytics related to it. The dashboard displays information such as the fuel consumption and its cost, used by the vehicle in a day, the engine durability, tire pressure, etc.

What Hardware Is Required For GPS?

The hardware required to build a GPS has been listed below. Check the list out, if you are curious enough and want to build your GPS device.

Microcontroller units
It is an Internet of Things-based chip that contains all the related data to be controlled by the GPS.

GPS Module
The GPS module is a device that receives satellite data, based on which we can locate the device geographically. The geographical area is determined using the concept of Geo Tracking, which is a virtual perimeter used to track the location.

GSM Module
It is a mobile device that connects to the computer to display the data collected from the GPS device.

Relay Circuit
An electronic circuit used to communicate to the vehicle’s engine. This circuit will transmit data about the engine and its performance, etc. This information is again received from the satellite signals. The signals are received by chips embedded on the circuit and displays on the display screen.

Display Screen
The display screen displays the location of the vehicle, on mobile and computer-based applications, so that customers and fleet management companies know the accurate location of the vehicle.

Required Tech Stack For A Fleet Management Software

Mobile Compatibility of Fleet Management System

The fleet company must see to it that the software used by them should be compatible with mobile phones as well as with computers, along with being responsive to each of them. If the software only works with computers, the company will suffer a huge loss as customers tend to book vehicles on their mobile phones on the go.

What Team Structure Is Required To Develop A Fleet Management Software?

The development team may be divided into many small parts like the team which manages the finance section, other teams will be managing the customer requests, and then comes the marketing team, the team which will take care of complaints from the customers and solves their queries. Another big section in the development team will be the team that will continuously keep updating features and adding new ones to the software. The team is divided into two parts. One part is responsible for the administration and the other is responsible for the Operations part

How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Fleet Tracking Software?

It will cost somewhere between $700-$1350 along with two to three years of continuous development to build a fully-fledged software, with a minimum number of bugs. The development will depend upon factors like the geographical location of the development team. If the whole team is in one place, the development will take lesser time as compared to remote work. It will also depend on whether the whole team is in the same time zone or not. If not, it will take much longer to build the software as each part of the team has to wait for the other to rectify the bugs in their respective codes.

Conclusion

As we have come to the end of this article, we hope this article could help you gain a bit of information related to fleet and fleet management software. How they are managed and the cost it takes to develop a fleet management software along with the benefits it provides. Fleet management companies have got a boost in recent years due to the easy access to the internet with cheap data plans. The Internet has helped such companies enter the billion-dollar market in recent years.

So, if you have a project in mind related to this then get in touch with us. We have expertise in developing automotive software solutions that are robust and scalable.