BlackBerry introduces device to allow real-time trailer tracking, monitoring

Phone maker and software provider BlackBerry announced last week at the Mid-America Trucking Show it is bringing to the U.S. marketplace a trailer monitoring system that allows carriers to track their trailers in real-time and provide detailed reports based on the data derived by the system.

BlackBerry Radar, the system is called, works via the installation of a small device that mounts on a trailer’s door and a web-based portal — simplicity the company says is missing from other trailer tracking devices on the market currently. It then connects to available cellular networks, and it’s designed to work across all networks, the company says.

Using a bevy of sensors, the system monitors trailers’ GPS location, temperature, humidity and presence of cargo. It then creates in the cloud-based web portal map-based visualizations of trailer locations and status, along with data-driven reports on metrics like trailer utilization, detention and more.

Blackberry’s Derek Kuhn said at the show last week he was surprised by the number of owner-operators showing interest in Radar, citing the product’s ability to produce reports on detention time and its security benefits as reasons why.

The product will be ready for deployment this summer, BlackBerry says, but it couldn’t yet disclose pricing information.