Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to grow its influence on decisions made around fleet management, Freeway Fleet Systems believes
Managing Director Patrick Tandy says that human intelligence is “overwhelmed” by the volume of data available in that field. Freeway’s platform has a large vault of data generated on the workshop floor, but key to AI-based interpretation of it is the delivery of actionable insights.
“Senior managers need to be in the driving seat with data to set goals and agendas,” Mr Tandy adds. “That is why we provide a variety of dashboards to bring it together.”
Those dashboards have been influenced by feedback from customer RATP Dev. They give “a perspective on data,” and engineering managers can then then ask questions of the results that will be answered by AI.
Freeway dashboards are designed to leverage AI in analysing the fleet management data presented. Predictive patterns can also be drawn. “This is a sophisticated process using data modelling and it is achieved by putting data into the cloud,” Mr Tandy continues.
Sample questions can be around costs, vehicle type and age, and asset efficiency. Answers may lead to informed decisions on areas including spare ratios or asset replacement. Another customer justified its spend on Freeway by a reduction in spare coverage identified by the platform.
Parts holding is a further benefit of Freeway. Stock can be optimised using data, with that considering seasonal variation in the need for some items. Auto-replenishment is part of the package to prevent outages.
Freeway has seen market penetration grow significantly over the past two years, with a further major tender won recently. It is now looking towards growing its reach with smaller operators.
“We will package the product to suit those businesses,” adds Mr Tandy. “We have learned a lot of lessons on delivering solutions efficiently with existing customers and we can leverage that for smaller businesses.”
