Editor’s note: This is the first part in a series about the evolution of telematics technology in the trucking industry.
Investment banker Solange Velazquez completed her first deal a decade ago, in satellite-based telematics. The technology at the heart of it was massive, expensive and required five days to install before it had any service, she recalled.
“Now it's come down to a little hockey puck that you plug in, and it's gotten much, much affordable,” said Velazquez, managing director in technology focused transportation with Solomon Partners.
Industry experts trace the history of the telematics technology she bet on to the company Omninet. In 1988, in collaboration with Qualcomm, Omninet pioneered the use of Ku-band satellite systems for mobile applications, NASA records show. The resulting network enabled two-way messaging and data positioning cheaply and efficiently, but the devices themselves were bulky — a far cry from today’s small hockey puck with the display unit.
Nearly 40 years later, the technology’s size speaks to its constant innovation. Cellular networks have, for the most part, replaced satellites; GPS data is old school. These and other advancements have even forced the definition of “telematics” to evolve, according to Velazquez.
“It became a broad term that incorporates, potentially, a lot of technology,” she said.
Redefining the word and its purpose
The word “telematics” is a mashup of the words “telecommunication” and “informatics.” Both are fairly general terms that, when combined, conjure something very specific: location data. Velazquez went so far as to say she barely uses the word “telematics” anymore, preferring “fleet management” to invite a broader technology into the conversation.
Even telematics vendors are moving on from the term, she added. Websites belonging to the largest telematics providers highlight words and phrases like “intelligence” and “fleet management” instead, Velazquez pointed out.
Burak Cendek, a partner at the early-stage venture capital firm Autotech Ventures, also noted that the vocabulary signals the deeper processes at play.
“It's not just about the telematics,” he said, referring to telematics providers. “They’ve started getting into more fleet management, more compliance.”
On the other hand, the word still resonates at ABF Freight. However, the company uses the word more as an umbrella category to describe its sensor- and camera-based technology strategy, ABF Freight President Matt Godfrey said in an interview. Technically, he said, sensors and cameras can provide location data — as the narrow definition of “telematics” prescribes.
Indeed, ABF Freight’s telematics program is extensive enough to span two categories: equipment metrics and driver safety. The first includes monitoring tire and brake pad wear, the charging performance of its lift gates and other component-level data. Doing so informs maintenance decisions and future investments, Godfrey explained. Meanwhile, the safety half includes tools such as blindspot cameras and acceleration technology.
It wasn’t always that way. Godfrey recalled a time when using data involved working with OEMs to identify optimal times for tire replacements and oil changes. But the company’s processes evolved alongside the technology. The automatic onboard recording devices it had installed eventually became ELDs, which led to interest in pulling data off of trailers and, after that, freight. Now, ABF Freight uses pilots to keep pace with telematics, enabling the company to evaluate new tools before committing to scale, Godfrey said.
Not all fleets have developed alongside telematics in this way, though. A recent survey from Verizon Connect, reflecting trends from 2025, showed that 28%, 16% and 10% of small, medium and enterprise companies, respectively, don’t use GPS tracking, in-cab video, field service/workforce management or tracking tools. But, the report found, for five years in a row, “at least four out of five respondents reported using at least one form of technology” — which suggests an appetite for long-term use after discovery.
More than a dot on a map
Adoption rates for technology are notoriously slow in the trucking industry. But the ELD mandate and coronavirus pandemic both catalyzed the trucking industry’s comfort level with telematics, Velazquez said. The former forced operators to accept tracking every mile, while the latter made real-time visibility a necessity. But that’s the old definition of “telematics.”
“Everybody's gotten very comfortable with the dot on the map,” Velazquez said, referring to the way most people interact with location data. “But what else can you do with the data that's getting pulled out of the vehicle?”
Startups are working to answer that question. Cendek, the partner at Autotech Ventures, noted that businesses in telematics-based insurance, app-based freight factoring and other digital tools are garnering attention. Godfrey flagged that cargo dimensioning and camera-powered driving displays are also emerging possibilities.
Cendek said GenLogs is one of the hottest startups in the space. It’s modernizing the dot on the map by gathering positioning data using its “truck-tracking camera network,” which spans across the U.S. No opt-ins necessary.
Velazquez said telematics has evolved past traditional hardware.
“Now you get real-time location, speed – you get everything real-time, and you don't even think about it,” she said.
