Fleet management glossary

Controller Area Network (CAN) bus is a standard in the automotive industry that was designed to make communication between microcontrollers possible, and serves as a control system for modern vehicles and industrial automation.

In a very broad sense, telematics can be used to reference a range of systems, including the internet itself. However, these days, it is more commonly used to apply to vehicle telematics, where location information (GPS tracking) and diagnostics data are collected in real-time to manage a business fleet — cars, trucks, and other assets.

A GPS tracking device is an electrical unit that can determine its exact location in real time using the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Commercial vehicles are, broadly speaking, vehicles used for business, in a range of commercial applications.

Dash cams (or dashboard cameras) are portable cameras fitted to a vehicle (often on the dashboard but can be in other locations) that provide a video recording of activity in the cab or around the vehicle.

A tachograph records driving time, distance and speed of commercial vehicles (over 3.5 tonnes) as part of a driver’s activity.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a bridge between independent software systems so they can interact, share data and improve the automation of common business processes.

A Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) is a classification for a large truck, the term common across the European Union (EU).

A Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) is a classification for a large truck, the term common across the European Union (EU).

Fleet tracking is real-time tracking of a fleet’s assets using the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Logistics is the process of managing the transportation of goods from a point of origin to their final destination.

Power take-offs enable the connection of industrial accessories to large vehicles (such as trucks, harvesters and tractors), converting the rotating engine power into hydraulic power.

Route planning is the process of finding the most optimised routes, and commonly happens as part of fleet management, particularly with delivery operations and field service businesses.