Fleet Inspection Automation with AI - Quick Tips & Benefits

Managing large vehicle fleets is very labour intensive and time-consuming, but also a very important process that ensures the safety of a company’s vehicle fleet.

A Fleet manager, while checking a vehicle’s health, is responsible for various activities, such as -

• Keeping track of the vehicle’s health, age, and how many miles it was driven
• On-time service of vehicles to ensure it is in its best working condition
• Frequently inspect the vehicle for damage and ensure on-time repairs to avoid major mishaps
• Properly document vehicle health, which could be needed for future investigations
• Make vehicle repair vs. replacement decisions on time

Tracking all this information manually and maintaining enormous amounts of paperwork is physically very draining for a human. However, this can easily be automated by implementing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the right places.

In this blog, we will explore the various challenges that Fleet Managers face regarding vehicle inspections, and how AI can help solve these problems. Let’s dive in!

What challenges do Fleet Managers face?

As a Fleet Manager dealing with large vehicle fleets, you will have to deal with various challenges such as -

• Maintaining piles of paperwork individually for each vehicle
• Wasting tons of time and effort on inspecting each vehicle in detail
• Fishing through old reports just to identify one vehicle damage from the past
• Finding it hard to inspect every vehicle because different vehicles require different inspection methods
• Reporting errors rising due to subjectivity and/or negligence
• Efficiently planning the vehicle’s service so that there’s no shortage in the fleet

All of these problems arise because the current Fleet Inspection process is done manually and is very labor-intensive.

However, thanks to the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Automation, this process can be delegated to machines and standardized easily, saving you a ton of time and effort in the process and enabling you to focus on more critical tasks.

How can digitization and AI help solve these problems?

Companies like Inspektlabs are working actively to revolutionize the traditional vehicle inspection process and are building AI-enabled solutions to help ease the process.

Some of the key features that can help ease a Fleet Manager’s work include -

• An online dashboard with a search feature to track all critical information like the vehicle’s make and model, VIN, registration number, odometer, damage history etc., without having to scurry through all the paperwork
• AI-powered inspections using smartphones/fixed camera setup which not only cuts down the time and effort of manual inspections, but also generates reports with 90%+ accuracy
• Fleet Managers don’t have to worry about learning the different inspection methods required for other vehicles because the AI model is already trained to detect and report damages on all types of vehicles.
• You can now streamline the entire inspection process and have some standardization to avoid risk of subjectivity and error due to human intervention
• Repair vs. replacement decision making and keeping track of when a vehicle is due for service becomes infinitely more manageable.

Industry-wise benefits of automating Fleet Inspections

=> Logistics/Delivery businesses

1. Using AI-based vehicle inspection solutions enables anyone to become an expert instructor i.e. no more relying only on one person (the fleet inspector in this case).
2. The AI model is also capable of identifying instances of fraud and can flag cases where the driver is trying to hide damages to avoid paying penalties.
3. Fleet managers can free up bandwidth for themselves by enabling the drivers to conduct inspections via their smartphones.
4. You also get a standardized report that’s free from subjectivity and error.

=> Car Rental/Leasing companies

1. AI-based inspections can speed up the vehicle inspection process, saving the company and the customer a significant amount of time.
2. Automated inspections also enable transparency, making it easier for the company to share the vehicle status with the customer.
3. Companies can also prevent instances of fraud because these AI models are smart enough to detect instances of vehicle switching, hiding damages, and many other cases.
4. Improved inspection accuracy also results in improved vehicle safety for the driver, and avoiding any major mishaps.

=> Ride-hailing/Taxi services

1. Automating vehicle inspections help you keep close track of the vehicle’s health and identify drivers with reckless driving patterns.
2. Keeping constant track of the vehicle’s health also helps you identify when a vehicle is due for service and when it needs to be repaired/replaced
3. Since you have a clear view of a vehicle’s before vs. after conditions, you can easily estimate when a damage had occurred.
4. Tracking the vehicle’s health, age, and usage pattern also becomes easier
5. The process also becomes easier for the driver as they don’t have to return to a said location after every shift and can inspect the vehicle remotely from anywhere.

Conclusion

As you can see, the current inspection process followed by Fleet Management companies is very labor intensive. It requires a lot of time and effort to keep track of every vehicle.

However, with the current advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, deploying the right tools at the right time can help significantly reduce the amount of time and effort that goes into this process, and also help the Fleet Manager to free up their bandwidth and focus on more crucial tasks.

There are a ton of companies out there that are already building tools to solve these problems and as time and technology progress, they are only going to get better and better.

Technology