What is Telematics?

Telematics is the field of science that deals with long-distance transmission of computer-based information. Normally the word is used to refer to vehicle telematics where information such as location and speed is sent from a vehicle to a remote computer.

How does Telematics work?

There are several stages involved with receiving, storing and sending telematics information.

• GPS satellites transmit position data to earth via radiowaves.
• GPS receivers (e.g. built-in tracking devices, smartphones etc.) collect this data to calculate their GPS coordinates (latitude & longitude) and then transmit this information along with other vehicle-related data (e.g. speed, engine performance, trouble codes etc.) using the cellular network (e.g. 4G).
• Cellphone towers collect this data and pass it on to web-based computer servers.
• The computer servers store and process the data, converting it into usable information.
• Fleet owners can access the vehicle data by logging in to a secure website.