Samsara, the leading connected operations platform, recently hosted a panel on how automation is transforming the way businesses manage their fleets through advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence.
In an interview following the event, Samsara co-founder and CEO Sanjit Biswas and Chief Product Officer Kiren Sekar sat down with FreightWaves to talk about how the company’s technology is helping customers automate operations, improve safety and prepare for an autonomous future.
Data and AI driving automation
Across Samsara’s customer base, data and AI are changing fleet operations through better customer experiences and improving safety. According to Biswas, one of the clearest examples is in the automation of estimated time of arrival notifications.
“One of the themes we’ve seen across the customer base is automation helps with customer experiences for their end customers,” said Biswas. “Think about estimated time of arrival. If you’re in field services, if you’re in utilities construction, you want to show up on time, and if you can’t show up on time, you want to notify the customer that you’re going to be a little delayed.”
What previously required multiple driver check calls can now be automated through Workflows and AI, providing multistop ETA calculations that adjust throughout the day as conditions change.
Safety management has also been augmented and improved by automation. With safety managers’ limited time, AI-powered coaching has become a huge time saver. “Safety managers have only so much time in the day. They can’t sit down with drivers and coach them every day. If you can automate that and provide some tips and tricks at the end of that shift, or maybe the end of the week … it makes everyone’s life a little bit better,” Biswas explained.
Sekar noted that customers using Samsara’s AI safety technologies have seen marked improvement in accident reduction – often 25%-50% – by using AI and Samsara systems.
Establishing a baseline level of safety also sets expectations when customers look to adopt autonomous solutions. “Now, when we think about introducing autonomy, it gives customers a baseline, because you always want to say, considering autonomy, it actually shouldn’t be just as good as a human. It actually needs to be significantly better,” added Sekar.
Evolving with customer operations
As customers become more comfortable with automation, Samsara has observed that they quickly expand their integration footprint. This has prompted the company to develop streamlined, one-click integration processes.
“What we’re seeing is our customers, once they get started with automations and integrations … they’re on a roll,” said Biswas. “We see our large customers integrate us with half a dozen systems. So what we’re doing now is trying to streamline that process to make it basically one click.”
This approach has manifested in an app store-like setup that makes connecting with transportation management systems, fleet management companies and other operational software simple enough for operations teams to handle without extensive IT support.
Sekar emphasized that data provides critical insights for companies considering autonomous technologies: “With our platform, specifically, customers have data into their safety, into their efficiency, into their routes, into their asset utilization. They can find the bottlenecks, and they can use those to say, OK, when I’m ready to start embracing autonomy, … I can see where it’s going to have the biggest impact.”
Making informed decisions with AI and data
For fleet operators, making data accessible and actionable is just as important as collecting it. Samsara focuses on helping customers turn raw information into concrete improvements through recognition programs and clear metrics.
“The way you make informed decisions is by using data and making sense of that data,” Biswas noted. “One of the interesting things we’re seeing with the customer base is basically rewards and recognition programs. So if someone’s doing great on their miles per gallon, like they’re really fuel-efficient, or they’re doing great with their driver logs and they maintain compliance, … we’re helping make that easy.”
Rather than overwhelming fleet managers with extensive reports, Samsara’s AI highlights what needs attention, enabling more effective decision-making. “No one wants to sit in piles and piles of reports. You just want the AI to tell you what needs to happen, and that’s a lot of what we’re doing,” added Biswas.
The power of OEM integrations to enhance data flow
Samsara’s partnerships with major equipment manufacturers like Ford, GM, Caterpillar, John Deere and Freightliner are also allowing customers to incorporate data from their assets directly into the Samsara platform.
“The assets, the equipment that’s coming off the line these days [are] more sophisticated than ever. There’s a lot of data available on there,” said Biswas. “Because of our scale, we’re able to build some pretty deep relationships with them that could be on everything from engine fault codes and understanding what’s going on under the hood, to tire pressure monitoring, just to overall servicing.”
Sekar added that this integration capability is particularly valuable for companies with diverse assets: “If they’re a logistics company, they typically buy trucks from multiple vendors. If they are [a] field services company, they have medium duty, heavy duty, light duty. They might have construction equipment, forklifts. They have very diverse assets.”
The cloud-to-cloud integration with newer equipment that comes with built-in connectivity has been a game-changer, especially for large fleets. “In some cases, we have customers who do not have to install any hardware,” Biswas remarked. “The whole idea is to make it practical for them to get the data. We’re not religious about the hardware; if the OEMs can partner with us on it, we love it.”
Preparing for the future of fleet management
As technology improves, Samsara recognizes that fleet management has expanded beyond just vehicle tracking and into driver training and development.
“Fleet management used to be about the trucks and compliance and fuel mileage and things like that. Now this is about people and like, how do we do training? How do we do enablement? How can we make that driver’s experience even better?” said Biswas.
This approach is important as companies continue to face driver recruitment and retention challenges. “If you think about the driver experience and retention, and recruiting, it’s a huge problem,” noted Biswas. He adds that anything that can be done to make the front-line experience better will result in the overall organization getting better.
Sekar highlighted two essential elements in Samsara’s strategy for future-readiness: “One is customer feedback. … The most important thing is spending time with operators, with drivers, with mechanics, with dispatchers … understanding what’s working, what opportunities they see, what challenges they have.”
The second element is substantial investment in research and development. “We invest hundreds of millions of dollars a year in R&D to continue to evolve our products, because this problem set is not static,” Sekar explained.
With fleets increasingly blending human operators with autonomous technologies, Samsara’s technology is situated to provide a unified view to help customers understand performance across their entire operation. This allows companies to rethink operational strategies to take advantage of emerging capabilities like nighttime autonomous driving or energy-optimized scheduling.
With a strong foundation in data analytics and AI, Samsara is poised to help companies manage their current fleets while better preparing them for a future in which automation and human expertise work hand in hand to create safer, more efficient operations.
Click here to learn more about Samsara.
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