Rand McNally to integrate Australian Fleetsu provider after acquisition
The Teleo Capital company is integrating the longtime mapping and technology company Rand McNally, acquired by Teleo in 2020, with the newly purchased Australia-based Fleetsu. The purchase of Fleetsu brings together Rand McNally’s fleet business with Fleetsu’s platform, data, and analytics capabilities with intention to build a global enterprise that will bring innovative tech solutions to fleets worldwide. The new Rand McNally will strive to assist fleet operators in maximizing business productivity through access to real-time, on-the-road data, providing valuable insights in areas from driver location and safety to engine performance and vehicle efficiency.
“Fleetsu takes our existing expertise to the next level," said Aaron Dannenbring, CEO of Rand McNally, "complementing our already robust hardware, navigation, logistics, and publishing businesses.”
[Related: A closer look at Rand McNally's new 10-inch tablet]
Jakub Felinski, Fleetsu's founder, will become Chief Innovation Officer of Rand McNally, and looked forward to combining efforts "with Rand McNally's strong navigation and transportation expertise and our already deep bench of leading engineers focused on creating technology data solution."
In recent years, Fleetsu has won several very high-profile vehicle fleet customers, including Toyota Motor Corporation, Australia. In 2021, Toyota selected Fleetsu as the platform to launch its Toyota Halo connected fleet management solution. Other Fleetsu customers include Avis, Budget and Cummins.
KeepTruckin provider of ELD technology, and more, is now Motive
KeepTruckin has changed its name to Motive, underscoring an expanded focus and direction as it launches what the company is calling the "Automated Operations Platform," a combination of hardware and AI-powered applications that connect and "automate physical operations," the company said, amid a rise in expectations around quality, reliability and speed of delivery all around transportation.
KeepTruckin remains a popular choice of small fleets and owner-operators for electronic-logging-device technology. As recently as 2020, then-recent Overdrive surveys indicated it controlled almost 20% of the owner-operator/small fleet market for such devices, and in recent years has expanded its products to include its "Smart Load Board," increasingly sophisticated dashcam technology, a Facility Insights tool tracking wait times at shippers and receivers, and more.
A spokesperson stressed nothing fundamentally would change for users of the KeepTruckin ELD and other products and services, yet the new platform's "AI applications are built on a shared platform that enables rapid innovation. With the rebrand, the company will now be able to deliver an expanded set of applications addressing business problems."
The focus is shifting, too, from over-the-road trucking -- or, rather, according to company CEO and founder Shoaib Makani, the name change is in part a result of a desire to better reflect "the diversity of customers we serve and problems we solve." Press materials emphasize the company's current presence in, for instance, construction, oil and gas, food and beverage, field service, agriculture, and passenger transit, in addition to trucking and logistics.
The new Automated Operations Platform combines hardware with AI-powered applications to automate vehicle and equipment tracking; management of driver safety, compliance, maintenance and spending; and more, the company said.
Motive aims to increasingly work at "identifying the risks, problems, and opportunities companies have, and automatically taking actions on behalf of managers," said Jai Ranganathan, Chief Product Officer. Its new website address is GoMotive.com.
