Turvo supports asset tracking via telematics by associating automatic GPS/cellular updates received from telematics devices to specific Turvo events, such as a pickup or delivery. This allows operations personnel, as well as connected Turvo tenants, to view the driver’s location and reduce the number of check calls made to drivers during the shipment lifecycle. While we recommend using the Turvo Driver app for location updates, sometimes it makes more business sense to integrate with an existing telematics provider.
This article covers:
- Enabling the telematics connection
- Assigning telematics to assets
- Assigning telematics to a shipment
- Tracking a shipment with telematics
Note: Telematics integrations can only be configured by Turvo Admins.
Telematic provider integration prerequisites
Your organization must establish a relationship with a telematics provider and request specific information and credentials from the provider in order to establish the connection. Instructions outlining the credentials needed to establish each connection can be found on the About page for the telematics provider in Integration Hub.
See Enabling the telematics connection section for more details.
How it works
Telematics devices assigned to specified equipment send location updates that indicate the driver’s position. The telematics connection must be configured with the telematics provider as well as in Turvo. Once established, Turvo will ingest location information from the telematics device and those updates will be surfaced within the shipment to which that equipment is assigned.
Location information can be viewed on the shipment under the tracking icon, just like viewing tracking updates from the driver app.
If your tenant has a telematics integration configured, the specific telematics provider will appear in the Source column. If the shipment has been shared with your tenant, the Source will appear as the sharing tenant’s name.
Enabling the telematics connection
Turvo integrates with a variety of telematics providers. Using the Integration Hub, Admin users can establish the connection for any providers with a blue connection icon on their tile.
Note: For providers that do not have the blue connection icon or are not available in Integration hub, reach out to your Turvo representative to enable those integrations.
Instructions outlining the credentials needed to establish each connection can be found on the About page for the telematics provider in Integration Hub.
Once you have collected the required information from the provider, return to the Integrate tab and follow the setup instructions.
Assigning telematics to assets
In order for tracking to work correctly, telematics devices must be assigned to assets that have been added on the Assets tab in Turvo. This step can only be completed after enabling the connection in Integration Hub.
Note: Only one telematics integration can exist per tenant at a single time. Typically it makes the most sense for a carrier, asset-based broker, or logistics provider to configure a telematics integration with their assets in Turvo.
For more information on how to add an asset, see How to add assets in Turvo.
The telematics connection can be configured within the asset details modal during asset creation or after the asset has already been created in Turvo--whichever is most convenient for you.
Note: Connecting to telematics providers during asset creation is only available for assets with TL selected as their mode. TL assets can also be used on LTL shipments.
Key fields to note when assigning telematics devices to assets include Asset type, Asset number, Sensor provider, and Sensor ID.
To connect your assets to your telematics provider*, follow the steps outlined below:
*Note: LocusTraxx needs to be configured on a shipment level, rather than asset level. See our article Turvo's LocusTraxx integration for more information.
Step 1:
Navigate to the Assets > TL page using the left navigation bar.
Step 2:
Once in Assets > TL, open the asset details modal by editing an existing asset or clicking + Add asset to create a new one.
Step 3:
Next, add the appropriate Asset number. This number is how the asset in Turvo is linked to the telematics device. The Asset number in Turvo needs to exactly match the following unique identifier from telematics provider’s platform:
- Forward Thinking: vehicle ID
- Note: Tracking will not work if you put the Forward Thinking vehicle name as the asset number in Turvo, make sure to provide the vehicle ID.
- Geotab: truck number
- GPS Insight: VIN number
- LocusTraxx: See the Turvo's LocusTraxx integration article for more information.
- MacroPoint: See the MacroPoint-to-Turvo integration detailed in the Turvo's MacroPoint integrations for more information.
- MasterTrack: NoEconomico
- Motive Formerly KeepTruckin: Motive Internal Vehicle ID
- Omnitracs: vehicle ID
- OpenTrack: Sensor ID
- Orbcomm: assetID
- Peoplenet: truck_number
- Project44 (P44): See the Connecting P44 as a telematics provider for TL assets and shipments article for more information.
- Samsara: name
- Sensitech: Device ID
- Note: For more detailed instructions on connecting your tenant with Sensitech, see our Turvo’s Sensitech integration article.
- Skybitz: assetID
- Spireon: assetName
- TGG (Trans Global Geomatics): deviceId
- TrackNet: VIN
- Verizon: vehicleNumber
- Note: For more detailed instructions on connecting your tenant with Verizon, see our Turvo's Verizon Connect integration article.
Step 4:
Click +Add tracking provider to display the tracking provider fields.
Select the appropriate telematics provider as the provider from the Sensor provider drop-down menu at the bottom of the modal. The Sensor ID field is required for some, but not all, telematics integrations.*
*Note: For Geotab, you’ll click Link Device after entering the Asset number and selecting them as the provider from the Sensor provider drop-down. As long as the details are correct, Turvo will automatically fetch the Sensor ID from the integration and populate it in the Sensor ID field.
Connecting to MacroPoint or P44
Unlike other telematics providers, both MacroPoint or Project44 (P44) allow for multiple types of asset identifiers that can be used to connect an asset to their tracking services. Additionally, these integrations can be linked to a specific shipment rather than an asset.
If you selected MacroPoint or Project44 in the Sensor provider drop-down, the Asset identifier type drop-down will appear in the Tracking provider section of the modal and the Sensor ID field will change to Asset identifier value.
For more information on utilizing MacroPoint or P44 for asset or shipment-specific tracking, see our articles:
Final step:
Once all of the necessary fields are complete, click SAVE or CREATE to connect your asset to your telematics provider.
Assigning telematics to a shipment
In order for a shipment to be tracked using a telematics integration, the asset that is being used must be added on the Details tab of a shipment under the Carriers > Equipment used segment.
Protip: See our article, Add equipment to a shipment, to learn more about adding equipment to a shipment.
Note: For tenants utilizing P44 or MacroPoint telematics integrations, the Tracking provider segment below Equipment used can be used to include TL shipment-specific tracking information from P44 or MacroPoint. If you do not have these integrations, the segment will still appear on your TL shipments, but the Sensor provider drop-down will not include any fields. To avoid affecting another telematics integration used by the shipment’s assigned assets, do not update these fields.
Tracking a shipment with telematics
Shipments with tracking information are easily identified by the blue tracking symbol on the shipment card or summary page. Click this symbol to quickly view all location update details received from the telematics device.
The Location updates window contains all location updates received outside the location geofence and can be filtered by moving or stopped updates.
Location updates that are posted within the geofence are considered major events in the shipment lifecycle, such as a pickup or delivery, and are recorded on the shipment's Timeline tab.
Protip: To learn more about geofences and how to configure one, see Managing advanced location details.
List view
While viewing the Asset > TL list view, you can enable the Sensor Provider and Sensor ID columns to view the telematics provider and sensor ID information for assets.
Protip: The ability to filter shipments by Sensor Provider and Sensor ID is available in the Assets > TL page’s filter options under More filters. See our article, How to filter shipments, to learn more about filtering shipments in Turvo.
Setting a default tracking provider at the tenant level
Note: If a default tracking provider is set at both the tenant and account levels, the account-level settings take precedence.
To auto-populate tracking provider details in the Tracking provider segment of a shipment, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to Admin console via your profile icon at the top right of Turvo.
- Click the Settings tile.
- Click Shipments.
- Click Tracking provider.
- Toggle ON the Enable to set default tracking provider value to display when a carrier accepts the offer configuration and select the default tracking provider from the drop-down.
Note: If you are configuring P44 or MacroPoint as the default provider, you will need to fill out the Asset identifier type in addition to the Sensor provider.
Setting a default tracking provider at the account level
Note: If a default tracking provider is set at both the tenant and account levels, the account-level settings take precedence.
To auto-populate tracking provider details in the Tracking provider segment of a shipment, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to the carrier account that you want to set a default tracking provider for. Go to Accounts > Carriers and select the customer.
- Click the Details tab and then click Settings.
- In the expanded Settings segment, click Tracking provider.
- Toggle ON the Enable to set default tracking provider value to display when a carrier accepts the offer configuration and select the default tracking provider from the drop-down.
Note: If you are configuring P44 or MacroPoint as the default provider, you will need to fill out the Asset identifier type in addition to the Sensor provider.
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