Phillips Connect Expands Trailer Intelligence Platform

“The insights that you have in a trailer are really important," says Mark Wallin of Phillips Connect. (Karen Foote/ATA)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Phillips Connect unveiled six platform enhancements to expand how fleets capture and use trailer intelligence. The update was made March 15 at American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.

Phillips said the enhancements are meant to sharpen visibility into trailer activity, cargo handling and overall performance, and to make smart-trailer data easier for easier for fleets to access and apply across their operations. This includes brakes, liftgates and roadside safety, as well as an update to its existing CargoVision platform, and a new service called JumpStart.

“Everybody knows that a trailer has not been one of those things heavily focused on,” said Mark Wallin, general manager and senior vice president of product at Phillips Connect. “For years, they’ve been investing in technology around a tractor, and it has really been helping the industry. But one of the things that had always been less invested in was on a trailer.”

Phillips Connect has focused on trailer technology that brings operational insights. This also has included finding ways to help customers better use that information, including making it more widely available and accessible.

“The insights that you have in a trailer are really important, but if it’s not made available to the people that can use it and operationalize it, the value is totally missed,” Wallin said. “With that investment, you start to look at how will organizations use it, and it’s across three big areas.”

Wallin pointed to maintenance as the area that traditionally has been where insights were collected. He also noted operations and safety as areas in which technology can enable further insights that fleets can gather.

JumpStart is designed to help fleets quickly begin capturing smart-trailer insights beyond basic location tracking. The service provides access to smart-trailer insights through six sensor points even if fleets are capturing location data from another provider, including automated TrailerID, cargo intelligence, brake systems, tire health, liftgate performance and temperature monitoring.

CargoVision was updated to better differentiate what is inside a trailer and whether it should be considered cargo. That includes identifying whether people are in the trailer and whether that should occur. The enhancement is aimed at giving fleets greater awareness of activity inside the trailer during loading, unloading and other operations, including unauthorized access to identify potential cargo thefts and safety risks.

Driver Behavior Insights also was added to the platform to provide visibility into how trailers are operated. The system uses smart-sensor data from the trailer to detect events such as harsh braking, aggressive acceleration and sharp cornering. The aim is to provide insights and visibility into driver behavior even when trailers are pulled by third-party tractors.

Phillips Connect also introduced new enhancements to expand how fleets manage roadside safety, brake performance and liftgate operations. The updates are aimed at strengthening how fleets capture operational intelligence from critical trailer systems and distribute those insights across maintenance, operations and safety teams. The safety updates include a partnership with Emergency Safety Solutions to trigger intelligent roadside hazard alerts.