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Roadz launched in 2018 to become the central source for best-of-breed fleet management solutions. The platform helps commercial fleet operators find, procure, integrate, and implement the right solutions to address a full spectrum of fleet management needs, from ways to control operating costs to optimizing productivity to addressing safety and regulatory compliance.

With many years of fleet industry experience under their belts, the founders of Roadz realized that busy fleet managers need help discovering the exact right fleet management products for their needs within a rapidly growing and continuously changing industry. Multiple OEM challenges, broken supply chains, vendor mergers and acquisitions, fueling and charging confusion, shifting fleet performance metrics, and increasing regulations are just some of the issues that have made the procurement of digital fleet solutions a time-intensive, high-risk undertaking.

A Single, Intelligent Resource for a Multitude of Fleet Solutions
The Roadz team set out to develop an online SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution that connects a fleet not only with products from leading vendors but with pertinent technical and integration data to connect these applications together for greater operational visibility and decision support. Through the service, fleets can finally address their software needs faster and with unsurpassed technical and price assuredness.

Roadz’s newest SaaS marketplace is called Fleetstore, a Bosch Initiative. The sole aim of the branded marketplace is to bring together curated solutions from a range of top vendors in over 13 critical fleet management categories. The digital platform includes solutions to assist commercial fleets of all sizes in monitoring operational expenditures, workforce productivity, safety and regulatory compliance. The one-stop shop helps fleet operators save time and money by utilizing an intuitive marketplace user interface that enables fleet managers to discover, compare, and purchase solutions in a central location.

“We’re interconnecting the data from these solutions as well as offering the solutions to fleets at channel pricing,” said Amit Jain, Chief Operating Officer at Roadz. “We’re uniquely qualified to pass on the savings through our business model and have already received a tremendous response from smaller fleets that do not have the luxury of negotiating such pricing. The solutions in Fleetstore run the gamut from distracted driver prevention and driver training to roadside assistance, telematics, and much more.”

‘Smart Recommender’ Drives Fleets to the Exact Right Solution
Fleetstore is designed with an easy-to-use, consumer-like user interface that simplifies fleet managers’ purchases of the best solutions for their needs. In particular, the platform’s Smart Recommender function asks a few simple questions to efficiently drive fleet managers to the best solution for their size and vertical. Previously, fleet managers had to conduct general searches online to find the right fit among a multitude of choices and confusing claims. Complicating the situation was a lack of integration information and a dearth of pertinent use cases.

“A solution for an operator in the long-haul trucking industry won’t necessarily meet the needs of a business in the construction industry, for example,” noted Jain. “Likewise, a solution for a 1,000-vehicle fleet isn’t likely to help a company with just 10 vehicles. The Smart Recommender alleviates these problems, and a fleet manager gets the right solution to fit their precise needs.”

Additional Fleetstore Benefits
Fleetstore helps smaller fleets to leverage otherwise unavailable negotiated and channel pricing. What’s more, the savings are passed along through a single bill for all of the solutions purchased.

“A unified bill resolves potential complexities when putting together an end-to-end solution. Especially in smaller fleets, the same person is wearing multiple hats, and one unified bill is a lifesaver,” said Jain, who in the past has also worked in fleet-related positions for GE and Verizon and has talked with over 800 fleet operators about their needs. “I’ve seen fleets try many solutions over the years, and frankly, there’s a big churn problem. Why? Because after trying novel solutions, sometimes, the solution is just not a good fit.

“By picking the right solution from the get-go, Fleetstore customers save a lot of time and money in the long run by adopting the best solution for their needs from the start. They don’t need to waste time trying different solutions or pulling information from different sources, which may or may not work. In fact, the data integration enabled through Fleetstore not only saves on the cost of trying to integrate the solutions yourself, it also delivers greater visibility across a fleet’s entire operations. With the Fleetstore marketplace, you get holistic-based decisions in a fraction of the time and at a reduced cost.”

Success Stories
An example of one company that successfully used Fleetstore is a fleet already using a telematics solution. They purchased a predictive maintenance solution. Because a predictive maintenance solution cannot operate in a vacuum, a code was needed from the vehicle fleet to be sent to the application to provide the wealth of data that Fleetstore maintains.

Another success story of a user of the Fleetstore marketplace is a fleet company that purchased driver training solutions. While other providers give out LMS (Learning Management Systems) of general driver training modules that may not be best for them, Fleetstore provides training specific to drivers based on driving behavior. This is possible because of the integration of telematics solutions, which gives insight into individual drivers.

Since Fleetstore’s launch, many operators have changed from trying to search for solutions and integrate them on their own to using the simple, centralized marketplace that provides data integration along with competitive pricing and assistance in finding the best solution fit from a range of curated, best-in-class vendors.

According to Jain, in addition to Fleetstore, Roadz is powering digital marketplaces for leading telematics service providers and commercial auto insurers and is also in the process of launching digital ecosystems for leading energy companies, automotive OEMs, automotive suppliers, and other fleet-management companies.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards the adoption of electric trucks in the commercial trucking industry. This trend is particularly evident in California, where the state government has implemented a range of initiatives to promote the use of electric trucks, including the deployment of class 8 electric truck fleets. 

Class 8 electric trucks are heavy-duty commercial vehicles designed for long-haul transportation. These trucks have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of over 33,000 pounds and are typically used for hauling freight over long distances.

California’s class 8 electric truck fleets are part of the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), medium and heavy-duty trucks account for 23% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and are a significant source of air pollution.

To address this issue, CARB has set a target of 100% zero-emissions  truck sales by 2045. To achieve this goal, the state has implemented several initiatives to promote the use of electric trucks, including financial incentives, charging infrastructure, and regulatory mandates.

One of the most significant initiatives is the California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP). HVIP provides vouchers to fleet owners who purchase zero-emission trucks, including class 8 electric trucks. These vouchers can be used to offset the higher purchase cost of electric trucks, making them more affordable for fleet owners..

The adoption of class 8 electric truck fleets in California is still in its early stages, and there are several challenges that need to be addressed. These include the high upfront cost of electric trucks, the limited range of electric trucks compared to diesel trucks, and the need for more charging infrastructure.

Despite these challenges, the deployment of class 8 electric truck fleets in California represents a significant step forward in the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. As technology continues to improve, and charging infrastructure expands, we can expect to see more and more class 8 electric trucks on the roads of California and beyond.

Over the last few years Roadz, a Silicon Valley fleet-tech company, has pioneered and created the first open, connected ecosystem of smart fleet solutions. By working together and sharing data between them, the companies in the Roadz ecosystem provide commercial fleets with an accelerated path to cost optimization, safety, and overall efficiency in operations.

Today, as the world becomes more conscious about the impact of climate change and pollution, there is a growing demand for sustainable and eco-friendly transportation of people and goods by fleets. Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a viable option for companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint and minimize their impact on the environment. 

This inevitable and fundamental shift for fleets from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs has begun!   

At Roadz we know that this transition will be quite difficult and complex for fleets. Many companies that successfully operate fleets today are just starting to understand the technical, business, and operational complexities related to converting a fleet to electric vehicles. Selecting the right EVs and building an infrastructure to charge them is a big challenge, but that’s just the beginning. Integrating EVs with existing fleet ICE vehicles across applications such as dispatch and routing, maintenance, telematics, and other fleet management solutions, will be a difficult and complicated task.

So once again, now more than ever… fleets will require an ecosystem of solution providers and vendors to support the conversion. Over the coming months Roadz will expand its connected ecosystem of fleet service providers to include providers focused on electrification, electric vehicles, green infrastructure, and other clean technologies.  

The ‘ROADZ-electrify’ ecosystem will become a one-stop-shop for companies looking to make the switch to EVs. It will offer a wide range of technical, business, financial and operational resources to help companies navigate the process of converting their fleets to electric vehicles.

In the coming months, as this ecosystem grows, we will explore in our blog the many challenges that are faced by fleets (big and small) in the electrification journey and the service providers in the ROADZ-electrify ecosystem that are rising to meet the challenge. 

All over the world commercial fleets are paving the way for a greener, more eco-friendly future. 

The Roadz-electrify open ecosystem will be a valuable resource to these fleets in their electrification journey.