Enhance Samsara Vehicle Telematics With NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API

Samsara API users, rejoice! Fleet management was already a breeze with the tracking, monitoring and insights from Samsara’s excellent Vehicle Telematics offering. Now, you can take it from fleet management to fleet optimization by adding NextBillion.ai’s industry-leading Route Optimization API to the mix — and it’s a match made in heaven. Skeptical? Fair enough. But you’ll agree once you see what it can do for you. No rambling here; let’s get straight to it. 

What the NextBillion.ai Integration Does for You

Customize routing to meet unique needs

Although the Samsara API has its own route optimization capabilities, they are somewhat restricted. For instance, its optimization algorithm computes routes based on just a few elementary parameters. With a fixed starting location and final destination, it simply determines the order of the remaining stops that equates to the shortest total travel distance. While this may suffice for basic small-scale operations where timeliness and efficiency are less than critical, that’s certainly not the case for more elaborate fleet operations.

NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API, on the other hand, offers nuance and intricacy. It can optimize routes around over 50 custom parameters — driver behaviors, preferences and certifications; mixed fleets; vehicle capacity; service windows; shift timings; skills and more — to deliver maximum efficiency in all sorts of complex scenarios. Waste management, field services, last mile, construction, trucking… whatever the use case may be, our API feels right at home. Configure and customize it to meet your unique operational requirements and generate the most optimized routes.

Help scale business operations

Another example of the restrictive nature of the Samsara API’s route optimization algorithm is that you’re limited to optimizing routes for a maximum of 20 stops. This quickly becomes infeasible for anything but the smallest and simplest of fleet operations. NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API, though, can generate optimized routes for up to 2,000 locations with ease. 

That’s not the only way in which this integration can help your business scale. The enhanced productivity and operational efficiency that our API brings enables you to do more with less. With each driver accomplishing more tasks quicker and more affordably than before, you can either maintain your current operational scale with a smaller fleet of vehicles and drivers or, alternatively, expand operations without having to grow your fleet. 

Generate precise ETAs for predictable operations

Predictability is a competitive advantage; it allows you to plan operations accordingly to achieve maximum efficiency. NextBillion.ai’s real-time routing engine promotes predictability by incorporating data on traffic, speed profiles, vehicle types and other relevant operational and first-party data to generate highly accurate ETAs.

The predictability that comes with reliably accurate ETAs has significant positive knock-on effects. As already mentioned, it lets you plan operations more efficiently. This means fewer miles driven, less fuel consumed, more jobs completed per day and higher profit margins. But it’s not just your business that gains from precise ETAs — customers love it, too! Nobody likes missed or late deliveries, and good ETAs keep them from being a frequent occurrence.

Facilitate adaptability with seamless stop reordering

Unforeseen circumstances like traffic collisions, job cancellations and last-minute changes to job priorities or addresses are an inevitable reality of fleet management. Your operations need a certain level of flexibility and adaptability in order to offer reliable, resilient service delivery. That’s why NextBillion.ai’s routing solution, unlike the Samsara API, is engineered to permit easy on-the-go reordering of stops in already optimized routes.

With this feature, you can reoptimize stop sequences and task allocations to maintain operations timelines and efficiency while also accommodating any unpredictable disruptions that may come your way. The inherent performance of our API makes it possible to complete these reoptimizations in just a few seconds.

Lower operational costs and emissions

The integration of NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API with the Samsara API can boost your bottom line. Fewer miles driven result in less fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance required, which are significant costs in fleet operations. Accurate ETAs minimize missed or delayed deliveries/appointments, which would otherwise be unnecessary empty miles. Also, as previously touched upon, effective route optimization lets you maintain operational scale with fewer vehicles and drivers, further driving down costs and widening profit margins.

On the eco-friendliness front, the reduction in number of miles driven lowers fuel consumption, emissions and the total carbon footprint of your operation. These are important considerations, especially with a growing number of environmentally conscious consumers, as well as regulatory requirements and ESG guidelines.

With all that, the value of integrating NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API with Samsara Vehicle Telematics is undeniable. Some might even call it… a match made in heaven! Wouldn’t you agree?

Want to see firsthand a demo of how the integration works? Reach out to us here.