How AI is helping fleets predict breakdowns

CVW takes an updated look at Intangles’ AI product and how its helping fleets predict breakdowns.
New to the UK industry, Intangles provides predictive maintenance alerts for fleet operators – basically flagging vehicle issues before a vehicle fault code is triggered. This aims to create substantial savings in operating costs through improving fuel efficiency and reducing downtime. It also decreases maintenance costs by improving turnaround time with lower costs of repairs.
If you ask most people what AI is they will point you towards large language models like ChatGPT or Gemini, however the reality is that AI is already firmly embedded in the road haulage industry, be it through driver behaviour monitoring, geolocation and smart route mapping. However, no system to date has come close to predicting when a vehicle is going to fail, until now.
Data monitoring
Intangles has developed an AI product that can do just this. Intangles systems operate at a 95 per cent accuracy rate. Customer fleets in the US are reporting a reduction in fuel use of up to 10 per cent due to greater efficiency, reduction in maintenance costs of up to 10 per cent, and a reduction in breakdowns of up to 75 per cent, figures that represent enormous savings.
The system intelligently monitors all the data that is processed in a vehicle’s CAN bus in real time. This equates to millions of data points every day. Its algorithms then use physics-based modelling to produce a digital twin of each individual vehicle’s systems. This is then used in conjunction with the information from the live vehicle to create an accurate model of current vehicle health and then raise alerts to the fleet manager where there are causes for concern, along with the ordered recommendations to address them. This means that a vehicle could be on a run, and a minor predictive alert could be raised informing the maintenance staff of work that can be scheduled upon the vehicle’s return, or in the case of a critical alert, the vehicle could be diverted to a safe location along its route to avoid breakdown and costly recovery.
The Intangles system has been installed on over 300,000 vehicles worldwide and as a result the dataset is incredibly rich – it holds over 60 TB of curated data – a figure that increases daily. When new engine platforms are introduced to the AI, accurate and tailored new models are created within just a few days of vehicle operation.
Intangles’ solution
The Intangles solution is OEM and powertrain agnostic and currently supports over 3,000 different engine specifications across multiple vehicle classes and fuel sources (diesel and petrol ICE, alternative fuels, and electric). The Intangles InRoute platform also contains a full suite of telematics and driver behaviour monitoring features allowing fleets to maintain a broad perspective of all aspects of their operations from within a single view. The user interface has been carefully designed to make it easy to use and simple to learn. The platform comes with a convenient iOS and Android mobile app which can keep you informed on critical alerts while on the go. Device installation can be done in just a few minutes and is guaranteed to not interfere with any other existing systems in the vehicle.
Overall, the Intangles solution offers fleets value through multiple areas of benefit. Fleets will experience lower maintenance and fuel costs along with increased availability thanks to the accuracy of the insights that the system provides.