NASHVILLE. Omnitracs is holding its fourth annual user conference here this week. The event marks the telematics platform’s debut in the trucking industry 30 years ago and features an array of training sessions, workshops, industry briefings and exhibits.  

Ray Greer, Omnitracs CEO noted that it was 30 years ago that Omnitracs (then a part of Qualcomm) installed its first unit and it was 35 years ago that Omnitracs business unit RoadNet installed its first routing system. He also said that 30 years ago, only about 60,000 computers were connected to the Internet. 

Much has changed in the interim, of course, and recent changes to federal regulations requiring electronic logging devices has created a “ramp up” throughout the industry, he said.

He also commented on the changes in the industry brought about by e-commerce and talked about the so called, “uberization” of trucking. 

“For many years, we’ve been doing that – matching up trucks and customers,” he said. And while the industry has seen tremendous change over the last 30 years, Greer said he felt the industry is “in a period of great change,” and that Omnitracs is well positioned to capitalize on these changes. 

“It’s my belief this industry is undergoing the greatest transformation since deregulation due to the rapid advancement of technology,” he said. With the ELD mandate, every truck cab will have a computer in it, which will lead to even more connected things. 

He described the company’s new platform, Omnitracs One, as a secure, open, hardware-agnostic software system that “addresses what the industry has been moving toward – greater integration” and said it addresses the convergence of the first, middle and last miles in truck movement. 

“The industry grew up thinking about those things differently,” he said. It thought of the irregular route as different that other segments. Now, they are all seen as part of the same thing.