Spireon Testing Next-Gen GPS Device, Expects Trailer Tracking Market Growth

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Asset-tracking provider Spireon Inc. said that it is testing a next-generation GPS device for its FleetLocate trailer-tracking platform and predicted the trucking industry will increase spending on technology this year.

Spireon’s new device, which will follow the company’s FL11 product, is aimed at expanding FleetLocate’s capabilities be-yond basic GPS tracking, said Roni Taylor, Spireon’s vice president of marketing for trailer and asset intelligence.

The new GPS device will ac-commodate a “full suite” of sensors, Taylor said during a Jan. 15 editorial forum with Transport Topics in Arlington, Va.

Spireon, Knoxville, Tenn., is a relatively new player in the trailer tracking market, competing with other providers such as SkyBitz and Qualcomm Inc.’s Trailer Tracks platform. However, Spireon has a larger presence in other industries and currently tracks about 1.5 million assets with its GPS technology.

Taylor said the market for trailer tracking is beginning to expand because the technology now can provide fleets with more detailed information about the trailer.

Taylor said Spireon is looking at adding trailer weight and tire-pressure monitoring to its trailer tracking platform, as well as cargo sensors that could report which zones of a trailer — front, middle and back — are loaded.

The development staff is considering technologies such as infrared, lasers and imaging to improve cargo monitoring, Taylor said.

Spireon currently has about 20,000 GPS units on trailers, the majority of which were installed within the past year.

“For a long time, there was really only a 10% adoption rate, and we’re actually starting to see that pick up rather dramatically,” Taylor said. “We’ve seen it just in the last year.”

She also said Spireon has seen strong orders for its trailer-tracking products in early January, for both new equipment and retrofits for existing trailers.

“We’re seeing a high spend on technology,” she said. “We’re thinking this is going to be a very good year for us.”

Instead of reporting a “snapshot” of a trailer’s location once or twice per day, Spireon’s FleetLocate platform offers a continuous, real-time flow of information about

the trailer.

“The early adopters of trailer tracking are doing this; they’re moving to more and more data because they want that visibility,” Taylor said. “When you move into the real-time rich data, that’s when your trailer visibility and control skyrockets, and that’s where you can really start improving your bottom line, because you can turn your trailers more often.”

Continuous data also enable fleets to track actual GPS trailer mileage, which is a useful tool for planning preventive maintenance, said Brad Jarvis, Spireon’s chief marketing officer. With GPS mileage, carriers can move from a time-based preventive maintenance cycle to a mileage-based cycle, he said.

Spireon also offers a simplified tracking plan that reports status updates at set intervals, but the company encourages customers to take advantage of the real-time data instead.

Spireon emerged as a result of the merger of ProconGPS Inc. with EnfoTrace and PFS LLC in 2011.

The majority of Spireon’s GPS units are embedded vehicle telematics used by customers in the automotive financing business as well as national service van fleets and small, local fleets, including plumbers, construction companies and other service providers.

Spireon said it expects to ship about 900,000 new GPS units this year.