Truck data is everywhere. Real decisions are the hard part

Trucks produce a constant stream of information. Location, traffic, weather and vehicle health data all flow in every second of every trip. The trouble is that raw numbers rarely tell a driver, dispatcher or fleet manager what to do next.

Ahead of IAA Transportation 2026, we spoke with two HERE voices helping the industry close that gap. Here is a taste of what waits on stage.

Why context beats data volume

Sowmya Gopal, Head of Digital Cockpit Solutions and Virtualization at HERE, puts the challenge in plain terms. Most fleets already have plenty of data. What they lack is context.

"Getting a person from A to B is a lot simpler than moving an entire fleet, because fleets must account for a range of factors, such as tolls, safety requirements and truck restrictions," she said. “There is a lot at stake.”

A five-minute delay might annoy a commuter. For a fleet, it can mean a fine, a penalty or a real hit to margins.

That gap explains why chasing more data misses the point. Gopal describes fleet operations that stayed paper-based for years, where drivers phoned each other for directions when they got stuck. One customer had to mandate a HERE navigation solution before drivers would try it. Within months, the same drivers refused to leave the depot without the tablet. "Technology gets embraced only when the end user sees value in it," said Gopal.

Where efficiency delivers the biggest wins

Ask Gopal where the largest gains sit, and she does not hesitate. "If I have to vote, I will vote for efficiency," she said.

She traces it back to mapping the slope and curvature of roads for driver assistance systems. Commercial trucks adopted it first, not passenger cars. "If you or I save three percent on fuel getting from home to work, that’s nice, but it’s hardly a deal breaker," said Gopal. "For a fleet, however, that same percentage can mean millions in margins."

Truck makers built that slope data into predictive powertrain control more than a decade ago, and some published press releases about the double-digit millions it saved. Efficiency, she adds, tends to pull sustainability along with it.

Where agentic AI fits in

Bart Coppelmans, Senior Director of Product Management at HERE, picks up the artificial intelligence (AI) thread. He sees agentic systems, which gather information, weigh options and recommend actions, as one of the most promising shifts in commercial transportation. He also warns against starting in the wrong place.

"The biggest myth is that we’re approaching AI as a technology-first initiative," he said. "We're looking at starting with the AI instead of starting with your business process and workflow." Get that order wrong, he argues, and the results disappoint.

Trust, in his view, rests on ground truth. AI without real-world location context tends to hallucinate and make odd suggestions. That is why he frames the human role carefully. "Ethics sometimes call it human in the loop. I call it human in control," he said. The technology supports experienced operators rather than replacing decades of road knowledge.

See you in Hanover

Both speakers keep coming back to the importance of collaboration. Gopal notes that data often sits in silos across a complex web of pickups, drop-offs and last-mile handoffs. Bringing those sources together, she says, is where true location intelligence begins.

Coppelmans agrees the fix runs across the value chain. The industry, he suggests, should ask how stakeholders can better cooperate to access the right data, design the right workflows and feed the right intelligence back to everyone involved. Expect the panel to explore what that cooperation looks like over the next three to five years.

Join Sowmya Gopal, Bart Coppelmans and fellow industry voices for "From data to decisions: How location intelligence is transforming truck mobility" on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, on the Industry Stage at IAA Transportation in Hanover, Germany—and make sure to by the HERE booth afterward to keep the conversation going.