Select Fleet Technologies Go Mainstream ; Small Fleets' Readiness To Adopt Accelerated
New data from award-winning data analytics and advisory firm Escalent reveal the overall Fleet Technology Index score—a relative measure and indication of market readiness for technologies—has increased by 83% over the past six years. In 2020, the first year of the Fleet Technology Index, the market for fleet technologies was exclusive to early adopters. But as select technologies gain considerable mindshare among fleet decision-makers, this significant evolution highlights the need for product manufacturers and service providers to reposition their offerings toward meeting the needs of smaller businesses.
These are the latest findings from Escalent’s Fleet Advisory Hub™ (FAH), a leading insights tool designed to explore the needs, expectations and emotions of commercial vehicle and fleet decision-makers. The FAH program, developed in 2019 by Escalent, offers an annual snapshot of the state of various forward-looking technologies among commercial vehicle and fleet businesses through the firm’s flagship Fleet Technology Index (FTI) report. For each technology, the FTI provides an analytically based sense of market readiness and expectation for technology adoption that reflects a point in time, taking into consideration the perceptions of the current business environment and several predictive factors.
Among the four evaluated core technologies, data analytics has exceeded the halfway mark with an FTI score of 55.7, showcasing continual year-over-year improvement. Also gaining traction, telematics is just shy of the halfway point, at 48.2, while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have rebounded to 44.3 following a dip a year prior. Early hype for autonomous vehicles has waned, which have an FTI score of 31.3, performing more like an emerging technology than core technology. For the emerging technologies—artificial intelligence (AI), mobility services/shared assets, drones and blockchain—only the explosion of AI stands out, as it also enters the mainstream with an FTI score of 53.5.
“Scaled from 0 to 100, a 100 FTI score indicates full adoption and the most positive ratings for a technology. While it is mathematically possible, it may never truly be achievable. Instead, a score of 50 is considered the critical halfway point, marking a technology’s entry into the mainstream mindshare among fleet decision-makers,” said Lucas Lowden, an Automotive & Mobility insights consultant at Escalent. “This is clear evidence that in today’s market, larger fleets lead as early adopters, but it’s the smaller fleets—which form the majority of the market—that are now actively evaluating and embracing these technologies with increasing positivity.”
Looking to remain competitive in an increasingly dynamic environment, small fleets have become fast followers, with their aggregate core technology score rising 23% year over year to 54.6. In addition, small fleets’ FTI scores for both data analytics (66.2) and telematics (59.7) have surpassed the halfway point, further affirming that these technologies are firmly on the radar for decision-makers who operate smaller fleets.
“The market shift has significant implications for providers. Up until now, providers have targeted large, capital-rich fleets, but now they must adapt their messaging and positioning to resonate with the distinct needs of smaller fleets,” said Dania Rich-Spencer, a vice president in the Automotive & Mobility group at Escalent. “And the time for them to act is now. Businesses expect to implement technologies like data analytics and telematics four to five months sooner than they did in 2024. This reduced time frame to expected use has been supercharged by heightened receptivity, an improved business environment and greater confidence in these technologies.”
