For many transport operators, maintenance has traditionally been a reactive process. A warning light appears, a truck breaks down, or a scheduled service interval arrives, triggering action from the workshop.
However, advances in telematics, vehicle diagnostics and artificial intelligence are changing that approach. Instead of responding to failures after they occur, fleets are increasingly using data to identify potential problems before they result in downtime.
According to Geotab’s heavy transport team, predictive maintenance is emerging as one of the most valuable applications of connected vehicle technology, particularly as fleet operators face increasing pressure to maximise vehicle utilisation and reduce operating costs.
Alkan Ciftci, Business Development Manager at Geotab, said modern telematics platforms can now provide much richer maintenance information than traditional fault-code reporting.
“Through Geotab’s Maintenance Centre, our customers can access rich information, and it’s not a fault code that you need to decode yourself,” said Ciftci.
“It will tell you what the driver may be experiencing in cab, which components are faulty, and the likelihood of a breakdown.”
Rather than relying on technicians to interpret diagnostic codes, operators can quickly understand the operational impact of an issue and prioritise repairs accordingly.
Preventing Downtime Before It Happens
One example highlighted by Ciftci involves the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) system. A seemingly minor issue can eventually trigger vehicle derating, reducing performance and potentially taking a truck out of service.
“A real-life use case of this is things like a DPF fault, where you might have 1,000 hours to service,” he explained.
“By having this inside Geotab’s Maintenance Centre, the transport operator can be quite proactive in making sure that that is fixed before the truck is derated and leading to a longer section of downtime.”
For transport businesses operating tight delivery schedules, avoiding unplanned downtime can have a direct impact on customer service, productivity and profitability.
Batteries: The Small Component That Creates Big Problems
While advanced emissions systems attract plenty of attention, Andrew Hintz, AVP, Heavy Transport, APAC Region at Geotab, believes one of the biggest maintenance opportunities remains surprisingly simple – Battery health.
“I’d actually throw the rules engine into that as well,” said Hintz. “That gives an operator the ability to get ahead of, for example, batteries in a truck.”
Modern telematics systems can continuously monitor battery voltage and identify declining performance long before a complete failure occurs.
“If they’re not monitoring and understanding battery health, which you can do inside MyGeotab with the rules engine, measuring voltage at 100 times a second, that allows them to understand where the reserve capacity of those batteries is decreasing,” he said.
The consequences of missing those warning signs can be costly.
“The worst-case scenario is if you’re not monitoring that, you’re going to have that early morning non-start issue,” said Hintz.
“At that point you’re going to have a truck sitting there, a driver getting paid to stand around and wait, the cost of a sparky to come out to try and get it going, you’re going to have freight commitments downstream and ultimately the customer’s freight is going to be late.”
Detecting Alternator Failures Before a Truck Stops
The same predictive approach can also be applied to charging systems. Hintz said operators are increasingly using vehicle data to identify alternator failures before they strand a vehicle on the side of the road.
“What happens when the alternator stops charging?” he asked.
“With the rules engine, if you’re measuring voltage and you get a notification, we’ve had customers giving us examples where in the past the alternator stops charging, the truck stops on the side of the road and the service centre sends out a tow truck to go and get it.”
Instead of waiting for a breakdown, operators can intervene while the vehicle is still operational.
“How about we know it stopped charging? Can you put a technician in a vehicle with some batteries and an alternator, send them out to meet the truck, and we’re going to keep this thing going?”
“You’re not going to have the downtime, you’re not going to have the tow cost.”
AI is Making Maintenance Easier
Artificial intelligence is also helping maintenance teams access information more quickly. Rather than manually reviewing fault-code reports, Fleet Managers can ask questions using natural language and receive immediate answers.
“Customers can ask in natural language, ‘Did any of my trucks have a fault code overnight?’ and be directed straight to which truck might be needing some work done,” said Ciftci.
The ability to quickly identify emerging issues allows maintenance teams to focus their attention where it is needed most.
From Scheduled Maintenance to Condition-Based Maintenance
The broader shift is moving fleets away from purely time-based or kilometre-based servicing and towards maintenance driven by actual vehicle condition and operating data.
By monitoring fault codes, battery health, charging systems and other vehicle parameters in real time, fleets can reduce unnecessary downtime while preventing costly failures.
For transport operators, that means maintenance is no longer simply a compliance requirement or workshop function.
Increasingly, it is becoming a competitive advantage.
The fleets that can predict failures before they occur are reducing repair costs, improving vehicle availability and delivering more reliable service to customers.
In an industry where every hour of vehicle downtime matters, the ability to act before a breakdown occurs may prove to be one of the most valuable benefits of connected vehicle technology.
