What is fleet management software?
Fleet management software is the system or platform used to organize and monitor vehicles, drivers, maintenance, safety and operating data. In trucking, many products also connect to GPS or telematics hardware, ELDs and cameras. The exact scope varies by vendor, so terms such as fleet management system and fleet management platform do not guarantee the same feature set.
Fleet management software vs telematics
Telematics is the connected vehicle-data layer: location, diagnostics, driver events and other information transmitted from the truck. A fleet-management platform may include telematics, but it can also center on maintenance, compliance, video safety or asset records. Telematics-first products are included here when they also function as broader fleet-management systems; buyers who primarily need live vehicle data can narrow the field on the telematics page.
Fleet management software vs TMS
A TMS usually owns freight workflows such as loads, dispatch, documents, billing and settlements. Fleet-management software usually owns more of the vehicle, driver-compliance, safety and maintenance layer. Many trucking companies use both and integrate them rather than forcing one product to do everything.