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Thursday, May 21, 2026
Logistics

Fleetworthy bets on AI, unified data as trucking margins tighten

AUSTIN— Fleetworthy executives say trucking operations are under mounting pressure from shrinking margins, rising compliance costs and increasingly complex operations — and the answer may be connecting safety, tolling, bypass and compliance data into a single platform.

Speaking with FreightWaves during the company’s Roadshow 2026 event in Austin, Fleetworthy CEO Tom Fogarty and President/Chief Strategy Officer Michael Precia said the company’s newly launched connected platform is aimed at helping fleets eliminate operational inefficiencies, reduce “cost leakage,” and improve fleet readiness through AI-driven analytics and unified data management.

“It was really the vision that we had when Mike and I put the organizations together,” Fogarty said. “How can we meet more of our client needs? It’s not just throwing development dollars at it. It’s about getting all the data in one place, figuring out how the data interacts.”

Fleetworthy announced several new platform features during the Austin event, including unified platform access, centralized vehicle management and the FleetworthyGO mobile application. The company said the tools are designed to connect fleet safety, compliance, toll management and weigh station bypass operations into one ecosystem.

Fleetworthy is a fleet management software and services provider that helps commercial trucking companies maintain regulatory compliance, streamline toll payments, and bypass weigh stations.

Fogarty said many fleets still operate with fragmented systems that require repetitive manual data entry and disconnected workflows.

“The state of the industry and our competitors is every time you want to get a vehicle active, you key in the VIN number, you key in the plate, you key in a whole bunch of information,” Fogarty said. “Someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, you’ll never have to key in a VIN number because we’ll work with the OEMs and the upfitters to make sure when it arrives at your site, it’s fleet-worthy, it’s ready to go.”

Precia said fleets are increasingly looking for strategic technology partners that can consolidate multiple functions while improving operational visibility.

“Our customers are always trying to drive efficiencies,” Precia said. “The more we can do as one vendor, one strategic partner for them, you can imagine the leverage they have.”

Related: Fleetworthy debuts connected fleet ecosystem, mobile app at Austin roadshow

Thin margins driving technology adoption

Fleetworthy executives said trucking’s difficult operating environment is accelerating demand for automation and predictive analytics.

Fogarty noted that for-hire fleets generated roughly $240,000 in annual revenue per truck in recent years, while industry profitability remained near break-even levels because of rising operating costs.

“When you measure your profits in hundreds of dollars or several thousand per vehicle, every dollar matters and it really adds up,” Fogarty said.

The company believes AI can help fleets identify hidden operational costs, including toll violations, compliance gaps and asset downtime.

“We process over two billion in tolls a year now,” Fogarty said. “That’s a lot of transactions. Trying to force our clients to go through all those lines to verify it — you really just need technology.”

Fleetworthy executives said the platform’s AI capabilities are designed to help carriers shift from reactive compliance management to more predictive operations.

“Today we can use both reporting and now getting into AI to identify gaps in programs,” Fogarty said. “This is coming up for expiration. This shouldn’t be on the road. Those types of things.”

Precia said disconnected systems often create costly delays when fleets add vehicles or drivers.

“If a carrier doesn’t have visibility into when that asset is born — meaning the MSO has been cut, starting to be manufactured — there’s all the choreography between the OEM, the chassis builder, the upfitter,” Precia said. “What happens is the asset’s delivered and it sits and sits and sits. Let’s get a plate. Let’s get a transponder. And they’re losing money.”

Driver retention, compliance remain major focus

Executives also said the company is focused on improving driver retention and reducing operational friction inside the cab.

Precia said Fleetworthy’s unified driver tools are designed to give drivers better visibility into compliance and operational performance.

“Our ability to show them, here’s how you look from a compliance lens, real time, does help the driver understand what things should I be aware of,” Precia said.

Integrating tolling, compliance, safety alerts and driver documentation into one system can also reduce operational blind spots, he said.

“A driver who’s really good on the compliance side … but no one’s paying attention that he’s blowing tolls and costing thousands and thousands of dollars in toll violations,” Precia said. “If you had solutions, you could deliver the driver to fix that much more valuable driver to the company.”

Fleetworthy said the company’s long-term growth strategy centers on expanding adoption of multiple products across fleets of all sizes.

“We want to keep the roads safer and fleets more efficient,” Precia said. “The real success measure will be how many are using our solution on multi-point parts of that delivery — bypass plus driver compliance, plus asset compliance, plus toll, plus safety alerts.”

Fogarty added that Fleetworthy also wants smaller carriers to gain access to enterprise-level compliance and safety tools before operational issues become existential threats.

“There is a place for me to start taking compliance seriously now so that I don’t get to a place where a nuclear verdict or some accident shuts my business down,” Fogarty said of the value proposition for smaller fleets.

The post Fleetworthy bets on AI, unified data as trucking margins tighten appeared first on FreightWaves.

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