The State of the Fleet Management Industry: Growing Regulatory and Compliance Challenges 

Fleet management broadly impacts the way vehicles, people, and goods travel along roads, and on that journey, they can experience numerous challenges standing in the way. As the spotlight turns on this critical component of the supply chain and overall economy in 2024, fleet management faces several significant hurdles in compliance and meeting regulatory standards.  

Compliance in Fleet Management 

Numerous regulations to create safety and sustainability in fleet management are either firmly in place or in development, including: 

Safety

Meeting evolving safety standards, including driver safety protocols and vehicle safety features is another key challenge in fleet management. These include hours of service (HOS) that limit driving hours to prevent fatigue; electronic logging devices (ELDs) to record drivers hours; department of transportation regulations governing vehicle safety standards, driver qualifications and more. 

Approaches to meeting compliance include:

• Driver Training and Certification:

• Ensuring drivers are trained in safety protocols, defensive driving, and proper handling of hazardous materials.
• Certification and continuous education programs to keep drivers updated on regulatory changes.

• Vehicle Maintenance and Inspection:
  • Regular inspections and maintenance schedules to ensure vehicles meet safety standards.
  • Record-keeping of maintenance activities and repairs for regulatory audits.
• Accident Reporting and Analysis:
  • Mandatory reporting of accidents and incidents.
  • Analysis of accident data to identify trends and implement corrective measures.
• Safety Policies and Procedures:
  • Development and enforcement of comprehensive safety policies.
  • Clear procedures for emergency situations, vehicle operation, and accident response.

Electrification 

While more far-reaching, integrating electric vehicles into fleets will ultimately be a consideration within fleet management. 

In the United States, recent legislation has established guidelines to support more widespread adoption and investment into electric transportation. The policies are categorized into purchase incentives, charging infrastructure funding, federal fleet electrification funding, and EV manufacturing and supply chain funding and programs. These are expected to converge to support both light-duty and medium-to-heavy-duty sectors. For fleet managers, the hurdles in integration involve overcoming barriers related to charging infrastructure, vehicle range, and initial investment costs.

Sustainability Goals 

Meeting stringent environmental regulations and corporate sustainability goals requires substantial changes in fleet operations, including adopting green technologies and practices.

Transportation contributes to roughly 23% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions, with road transport responsible for 72% of the EU’s domestic and international transport greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Tailpipe emissions from road vehicles make up nearly 75% of the carbon emissions in the mobility sector, amounting to approximately 6 gigatons (Gt) of CO₂ annually and about 15% of global CO₂ emissions.

In both the automotive and fleet industry, legislation will likely govern aspects of sustainability goals. Whether this is integrating logging devices for emissions or integrating other green policies, fleet managers have to consider how to ultimately implement this in their roadmaps.  

Integrating Technology in Fleet Management

On the whole, the future of fleet and automotive industry faces a digital transformation that will require hefty technological integration, including telematics and data management. Being able to effectively use telematics to collect, analyze and act on vast amounts of data for improved operational efficiency and safety lies at the core. 

The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in fleet management is going to help fleet managers tackle compliance and adherence challenges, but a critical component in ensuring technology works effectively is meeting connectivity requirements. 

floLIVE Series on Fleet Management

floLIVE is offering a summer series line up of key fleet management topics regarding connectivity and how to offer the most robust, reliable, and always-on connections for crucial fleet management solutions. 

Sign up now to have these short, 10-minute videos from floLIVE experts delivered straight to your inbox so you can get a quick glimpse into the power of global, high-performance connectivity from a single source. 

Our series includes:

• Episode 1: Global Connectivity for Always-On Solutions
• Episode 2: Cross-Border, Cross-Network Connectivity: How to Overcome Going Dark
• Episode 3: Mobile Eyes on the Road and Beyond
• Episode 4: Removing the Cringe from Regulatory Compliance Across Borders 
• Episode 5: eUICC, eSIM, Single SKU: SIM-plified Connectivity in Fleet Telematics