Telematics is a highly technological and evolving service with more than a few jargon words. This page explains the key jargon terms related to telematics services, relevant to the services provided by RentalMatics, or other telematics companies.

Telematics is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses telecommunications, vehicular technologies (road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedia, Internet, etc.).

A group (as of ships, planes, or trucks) operated under unified control

A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence could be dynamically generated or match a predefined set of boundaries. The use of a geofence is called geofencing, and one example of use involves a location-aware device of a location-based service user entering or exiting a geo-fence.

Contactless delivery is a delivery model in which the delivery executive delivers an item at the customer’s requested place without coming in direct contact with the customer. Any interactions can be managed through the app – customers can book rentals, upgrades and auxiliary services through a simple interface.

The ability to move easily using available resources. 

Using telematics data of journeys before, during and after an incident, you can be aware of fraudulent crash events.  When legitimate crashes occur, you will be armed with the data you need to manage insurance claims.

RentalMatics solutions help car rental agencies and fleets save fuel by providing insight and coaching opportunities for idling, speeding, rapid acceleration, routing, miles driven, unauthorized usage, and maintenance.  Comprehensive reports show if fuel is being used efficiently. This information can be used to save on costs and increase fleet driver safety.

A stock check is the process of counting and recording the amount and value of stock a business holds. The purpose of the stock take is to check that the accounting records that the business keeps agree to the stock that is held.

Geo-fencings allow you to set up triggers or alerts, so when a device enters (or exits) the boundaries (geofences) defined by you, an alert is issued.

RentalMatics telematics dashboard can be used for visualisation, sharing of insights, reporting and quick high-level diagnostics, improving branch or operational efficiency.

Digitisation It streamlines processes and uses data analysis to enhance vehicle safety, enable efficient running of your fleet and improve communication.

Accelerometers are devices that measure acceleration, which is the rate of change of the velocity of an object. They measure in meters per second squared (m/s2) or in G-forces (g).

A g-force is a measure of acceleration. A single G-force for us here on planet Earth is equivalent to 9.8 m/s2, but this does vary slightly with elevation (and will be a different value on different planets due to variations in gravitational pull).

A telematics device is an instrument that you install into your car. It records information about your driving behavior, including how fast you drive, how fast you brake, and the distance you drive. The output from the telematics device is communicated over a network. A vehicle installed with telematics can relay data such as GPS location, vehicle performance and fuel efficiency.

An application programming interface is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an API specification.

Digital transformation is the adoption of digital technology by a company. Common goals for its implementation are to improve efficiency, value or innovation.

A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence could be dynamically generated or match a predefined set of boundaries. The use of a geofence is called geofencing, and one example of use involves a location-aware device of a location-based service user entering or exiting a geo-fence.

Utilization is generally expressed as a measure of demand compared to some type of capacity or threshold. The value is often expressed as a percentage.

The Internet of things describes physical objects that are embedded with sensors, processing ability, software, and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks.

Business intelligence comprises the strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis and management of business information.

It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

The actual time during which something takes place. Real-time is the fact that there is only a very short time between a computer system receiving information and dealing with it

Vehicle tracking is monitoring the location, movements, status and behaviour of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles. This is achieved through a combination of a GPS (GNSS) receiver and an electronic device (usually comprising a GSM GPRS modem or SMS sender) installed in each vehicle, communicating with the user (dispatching, emergency or co-ordinating unit) and PC-based or web-based software.

An integrated system will make all processes in the business far more efficient and allow for improved, proactive fleet management and maintenance.

Fleet optimization is about getting more from your vehicles for less. More revenue for less cost and less environmental impact.

Fleet compliance is a continuous process encompassing the entire fleet management operation.