Dive Brief:
- Pilot Co.’s partnership with Bridgestone to provide tire monitoring and service for commercial fleets has expanded further than envisioned since launching last July, according to a press release.
- The travel center chain has installed the Nashville-based tire company’s Fleet Care tire monitoring technology at the fuel canopies of 300 Pilot locations in North America so far — surpassing the 200 sites they had initially targeted.
- The program brings “actionable tire intelligence” to commercial drivers and companies. Fleet customers said they saw “significant business efficiencies and savings, including reductions in labor hours, emergency roadside incidents and overall operational and maintenance costs.”
Dive Insight:
The remote monitoring system works through routers that read sensors attached to the valve stems of each tire on the fleet’s vehicles. These sensors monitor safety aspects like tire pressure and temperature. When an issue is found, a manager for the fleet is notified so they can get it addressed before it becomes a bigger problem.
This technology may encourage more fleet drivers to use those locations, since it helps them be more proactive about their safety on the road.
“Fleet Care allows for new fleet and business efficiencies and helps keep the roads and highways safe for both professional drivers and passenger vehicles,” said David Hughes, senior vice president of sales at Pilot.
One of Pilot’s fleets already using the service, Watsontown Trucking Company, uses it to monitor 475 tractors, 1,200 van trailers, 90 open-top vans, 75 flatbeds and five electric trucks. Since signing on, the fleet has saved 867 annual labor hours on inspections and reduced its emergency roadside incident rate by 10% — eliminating almost 1,300 annual breakdown hours — and has seen operational and maintenance savings of about $126,000.
Pilot has a number of tools and features specifically for fleets. In addition to this partnership with Bridgestone and its tire and truck maintenance program, it also offers a fleet fueling card, as well as numerous driver perks through its MyRewards Plus loyalty program.
In mid-June, the retailer also added Relay digital payments to most of its North American footprint, making it easier for commercial organizations to pay for commercial diesel, diesel emission fluid and reefer fuel.
Knoxville, Tennessee-based Pilot, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, has more than 750 travel centers in 44 states and six provinces under its Pilot and Flying J brands, along with nearly 100 One9 Fuel Network locations.
