Clarience Technologies introduced a new in-line configuration option of its Road Ready Light Out Detection System, expanding coverage to now include every trailer type.

Road Ready’s Light Out Detection System is a telematics-enabled solution that monitors the trailer’s lighting system and alerts the fleet of any light outages. The new option uses a redesigned LODS device installed “in-line” on the trailer’s wiring harness, which allows it to be mounted below the frame rails, making it an option for customers running flatbed, tank, or chassis/intermodal trailers where there is no nosebox, the company said during an announcement this week during the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exposition in Austin, Texas.

“So, for the trailer applications where maybe you're specialized in a flatbed, or even a chassis, or a tank, you're now able to get the Light Out Detection System packaged up really in kind of an elegant way,” said Mark Johnson, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Clarience Technologies. “It allows us to bring the Light Out Detection System to all trailer types in the industry, expanding our coverage.”

The original nosebox option will still be available for customers who prefer that method over the new offering.

Telematics for MAC Trailers

Johnson also announced that MAC Liquid Tank Trailers has agreed to offer Road Ready trailer telematics as a factory-installed option on its trailers.

“Bulk transporters hauling heavier and more hazardous cargo stand to benefit from the operational safety and cargo security insights,” he said.

Data Integration

Clarience launched Fus1on, its digital data and analytics platform that powers its Road Ready telematics solution, in October 2022. This week during ATA MC&E, Nada Jiddou, executive vice president and chief digital officer, announced that the company is embarking on the next phase of the system.

As the Fus1on platform comes to market to fleet customers, Clarience Technologies said it is concurrently expanding its software development team to further enhance the capabilities of its fleet data platform. The company has already started work on Fus1on 2.0, which will offer more features and functionalities to meet the evolving needs of the transportation industry.

Initially, Fus1on was introduced as a replacement platform for Clarience's previous Road Ready and Fleetilla platforms.

“When we launched Fus1on last year, we focused on trailer telematics," Jiddou said. "We provided that as our initial solution, and we have successfully transitioned many of our customers over to the Fus1on platforms at this point in time. We plan to complete that migration by the end of this year where all of our telematics customers will be on Fus1on."

When it introduced the platform last year, Clarience said it planned to add increased functionality into the platform, including the ability for fleets to see the data from all their assets — trailers, tractors, trucks, containers, and other equipment — all on a single fleet dashboard.

This week, Jiddou said the company found many customers were asking for more than just the trailer telematics — they wanted to connect the telematics solution and the data into their internal systems and tie it into their operations.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to be able to take data from different systems that are sitting in the fleet operation space right now, and combine it into a single pane of glass, single platform, that can bring all these sources of data to life in a single place,” Jiddou explained.

She pointed out there are “a million other platforms that are out there” already, which is why Fus1on is adapting and changing to funnel all the data into one place. Fleets currently have to use different platforms to monitor maintenance, another one for inspections, another one measuring efficiency, and so on.

“What we're taking on is that dubious task of integrating all these different platforms into a single platform, single data source, that allows us then to power the AI engines and the analytics engines to allow these fleets to work more efficiently and have insight readily available at their hands,” she added.

She said Clarience is starting its integration efforts in parallel with its current telematics system and plans to have a beta testing group join in the effort.

“We are constructing that beta group right now. We have a few fleets identified. There'll be others that we would probably invite, or if they would like to come request to be part of our beta group, we would work with them,” she said.

Details on Fus1on 2.0 will be available in early 2024, according to the company.

Advanced Transportation Lighting Laboratory

About two years ago, Truck-Lite moved its headquarters to Erie, Pennsylvania, and earlier this year the company opened a transportation technology and lighting lab on the Penn State University campus.

The Truck-Lite Advanced Transportation Lighting Laboratory features a 100-foot light tunnel designed to measure optics performance across a variety of optics characteristics, including intensity, color, and distribution and spread.

“They've got all the most advanced technologies and lighting technologies in place,” said Johnson, as he briefed the media at ATA MC&E.

The lab can simulate real-world environments to evaluate durability and longevity of its products. Engineers can study long-term performance impact of exposure to extreme temperatures, wind, dust, and water, as well as the resiliency of products to shock, vibration, and impact.

Truck-Lite engineers use the lab to test and validate product designs against over 1,000 different standards set by the transportation industry.