Research Overview

The European trailer telematics market remains largely fragmented, despite its presence exceeding a decade; yet competition amongst individual players is too fierce for any sizable market consolidation to happen. However, an influx of new stakeholders from various points in the supply chain, such as manufacturers of hardware, engines, brakes, tires, and the like, is on the rise. These competitors are vigorously expanding their market portfolios to include telematics, which is a step-change from their traditional role as non-telematics companies.

The telematics market is attractive to many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier I suppliers that are penetrating in-organically through partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. In Europe, trailer OEMs have a significant presence as they operate their own solutions to tap into this market space. Moreover, the market is undergoing a transformation in terms of increased platform openness to integrate and complement various other ecosystem vendors as a way to offer more value to clients. Overall, hardware platforms are becoming modular while software architecture is becoming more open, thus allowing for extensive solution customization.

The role of telematics hardware providers is crucial in bridging the gap between platforms and end users. Along with offering hardware solutions, an obvious and effective strategy for companies is to include a comprehensive telematics suite and provide a holistic package directly to the user, where advanced AI-powered solutions in tandem with smart sensors, platform modularity, and innovative business models will create new revenue possibilities and drive the European trailer telematics market into the foreseeable future.