What is a smart trailer?
Historically, trailers are “unintelligent” devices, meaning that they respond only to external inputs. This one-way dialog leaves untapped potential in the form of information embedded within the trailer that’s valuable when extracted and understood. This includes data about the status of each subsystem of the trailer and can include temperature and humidity of zones within the trailer, wheel-end temperature, tire pressure, cargo presence, trailer weight, lamp health, door openings, and more.
The more data that can be derived from, and provided to, a trailer, the more value that can be tapped.
Today, trailer components are often designed to produce these data streams. Tires now have embedded sensors. ABS units now output data separately from the power-line-carrier (PLC). Each component has its own method of measuring and disseminating this information. For this reason, 33% of the trailers on the road today could be considered to have telematics. However, it’s when these data outputs are aggregated and contextualized that it becomes a valuable asset, and a true smart trailer.