Jens Meggers, recently appointed president of GPS fleet tracking firm Teletrac Navman, is integrating artificial intelligence into the firm’s software that manages logistics and operations for transportation players.
The Garden Grove company’s software lets companies use large amounts of data to improve location pinpointing, safety, compliance, workflow and logistics.
Companies are “dispatching the goods on the trucks, calling up the drivers and redirecting them,” Meggers told the Business Journal, detailing Teletrac Navman’s tracking software.
He said the company has 50,000 transportation and construction company customers from small firms running laundry delivery vans to global shippers such as Heineken. About a quarter of the customers are in the U.S.
The company said it tracks more than 500,000 vehicles and other assets globally, with the customer paying anywhere from $25 to several hundred dollars a month.
It’s one of several notable telematics businesses in OC; others include Irvine-based CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP) and Aliso Viejo’s Verizon Connect, formerly Telogis.
Low, Tight
Transporters typically run in an industry with “very tight operations” and very low margins, he said. “Our job is to provide visibility into what they have not been able to see before.”
Teletrac Navman’s software also helps watch construction equipment onsite.
Transportation and construction historically lag in digital transformations, Teletrac Navman said, so the goal is to use AI to provide customers with previously unachievable visibility and insight into their assets and organizations by means of its software platform, called Director.
Meggers called out “a substantial market opportunity ahead for Teletrac Navman to bring in the latest technology and intelligence to these organizations.”
Drivers, Maintenance
Data collection includes arrival and departure times, maintenance and fuel consumption, and information on drivers’ allowable working hours.
“We see that demand growing,” said Meggers, who took the company’s top job in October. Federal regulations over the last several years has pushed trucking companies, for instance, toward electronic driving logs and more rigor in enforcing hours of operation rules.
Teletrac Navman helps companies shift from paper tracking to digital operations, Meggers said.
Before signing on, he helped lead Mountain View-based AI startup, Huddl.ai. He also previously served as senior vice president for Cisco’s Cloud work and held senior exec positions at cybersecurity giant Symantec.
“We are very happy with Orange County. We will stay here and grow,” Meggers said.
“The market is growing and we are growing with the market.”
