Fleet management, stolen vehicle recovery and insurance telematics services provider Cartrack has started operating in the US, with its operational base situated in Los Angeles.

“We believe the US is an established and increasingly active market for telematics. There are gains to be made in the market, which is growing rapidly. With the impending electronic logging device (ELD) mandate for fleets in the US, we see a large potential market for Cartrack’s telematics products,” Cartrack CEO Zak Calisto said on Wednesday.

Legislation requires all long-haul vehicles in the US to make use of ELDs to keep track of a driver’s record of duty status electronically, instead of the paper logbook system that some drivers currently use to record their compliance with hours of service requirements.

The deadline for US fleets to implement ELDs is December 2017.

Cartrack believes its technology compares well with what is on offer in the US.

“We offer at least the same features and, in several respects, the product may be even more advanced because of the uniqueness of the product design and numerous features that have been developed over the years for the South African market, which is a very demanding environment in respect of both security and driving conditions.

“I believe we have the ability to offer the US market a competitively-priced and higher-quality product than that which we have seen in the US market to date,” said Cartrack US CEO Travis Schmidt.

Calisto noted that it would take time to penetrate the US market and that there would be associated costs.
 
“However, we are committed to introducing ourselves into this market very carefully and selectively, while ensuring that we penetrate and compete effectively over time. We will be leveraging off our existing technology base, which is centrally managed from South Africa, and the marginal cost of expansion is, therefore, controlled and minimised,” he said.