2020 has been a uniquely challenging year. Confronted with the first global pandemic in over a century, the world felt the repercussions of a new reality in more ways than one. At Samsara, this meant meeting our customers’ needs no matter what the year brought.

We launched more than 200 product updates in 2020 to help your fleet stay safe, sustainable, efficient, and compliant in a changing world. From AI-enabled safety features to remote-first tools that help your team stay connected, each new update reflects our promise to provide you with the technology, innovation, and ongoing partnership you need to be successful on the road ahead. 

Here’s a roundup of our customers’ favorite Samsara product updates from 2020.

<a href="#question1">Improving fleet safety</a>

<a href="#question2">Adapting to COVID-19</a>

<a href="#question3">Simplifying fleet management</a>

<a href="#question4">Increasing efficiency</a>

<a href="#question6">Streamlining compliance</a>

<a href="#question5">Supporting sustainability initiatives</a>

<a href="#question7">Connecting all your operations</a>

<div id="question1">Improving fleet safety</div>

One of Samsara’s priorities is keeping your team safe. We’re committed to creating products that combine preventative technology and data-driven insights. Here’s a look at some of the updates we released in 2020 that safety managers have used the most:

• Remote coaching with Live Streaming: To help onboard and coach new drivers in an increasingly remote workplace, we launched a new Live Streaming feature that enables virtual ride-alongs. You can now stream Samsara AI Dash Cam video directly to your dashboard, making it simple to communicate with drivers about their behavior in real time. To protect their privacy, drivers are always notified when a live stream starts or ends. Learn more → 

• Advanced tailgating and distracted driving detection with preventative in-cab alerts: As part of our continued effort to coach drivers proactively, Samsara AI Dash Cams now have the option to detect and alert drivers when they are distracted or following other vehicles too closely. This allows safety managers to adjust behaviors before accidents happen. Learn more → 

<div id="question2">Adapting to COVID-19</div>

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed new importance on hygiene and sanitization in an effort to protect our communities. To help support our customers during this time, we released updates that promote COVID-19 safety on the road and in the workplace. These include:

• Sanitization tracking: To reduce the spread of COVID-19 and ensure new sanitization practices are being followed, you can now customize your electronic DVIRs so that pre- and post-trip inspections incorporate specific cleaning procedures. For example, drivers can highlight things like wiping down the steering wheel with a cleaning solution. We also made it easy to identify vehicles in need of sanitization with a defect filter on the DVIR dashboard. Learn more → 

<div id="question3">Simplifying fleet management</div>

Whether you’re managing a few vehicles or thousands of trucks and assets, administrative tasks can compound. Finding ways to improve your workflows and simplify your day-to-day can unlock a more streamlined approach to your entire business, save time, and reduce costs. Here are some updates Samsara released this year to help simplify management: 

• Mobile app for admins: Samsara Fleet is a mobile app that puts the power of the Samsara platform in your pocket. Whether you are in the office, at home, or in-transit, the Samsara Fleet app lets you access real-time information about your vehicles and workers. You can set up in-app alerts, review and respond to safety incidents, and uplevel your customer experience and responsiveness no matter where you are. Learn more → 

• Redesigned dashboard: We know that it's important for every member of your team to have access to the information that matters so they can take action immediately. That’s why Samsara redesigned the dashboard to give fleet managers the power to see everything about their fleet, at any time and on any device. The new Samsara platform experience—which includes new navigation, optimized map viewing, and more—is available across both desktop and mobile, making it easier to stay on top of operations and take customer service to the next level. Learn more → 

• OEM integrations with Ford, Navistar, and more: For fleets that rely on both embedded telematics and aftermarket devices, it’s imperative to manage vehicles in a single, unified dashboard. That’s why Samsara’s open API and new turnkey integrations, with companies such as Ford and Navistar, can help your fleet more easily unlock vital data without the need for additional hardware. Learn more →  

<div id="question4">Increasing efficiency</div>

Samsara builds tools that help our customers improve productivity and save time so your teams can focus on growth and innovation. Updates to help your team stay efficient include: 

• Driver Efficiency Report: The Driver Efficiency Report is a powerful new resource to help your fleet surface inefficient driving habits, incentivize good behavior, and facilitate effective feedback. Its central feature is the efficiency score, which aggregates a number for your fleet based on seven different criteria including idling, cruise control, speed, coasting, and more. By tracking this information, the Samsara Driver Efficiency Report can provide efficiency benchmarks across your fleet while helping your drivers understand efficiency best practices. Learn more → 

<div id="question6">Streamlining compliance</div>

With continuously evolving compliance regulations, monitoring compliance across your fleet can be challenging. To support your fleet through these changes, we’ve stayed up to date with new regulations. Here’s a look at some of the new compliance tools we launched this year:

• Compliance Dashboard: We know it’s important to have compliance data at your fingertips. The new Compliance Dashboard provides at-a-glance visibility into your fleet’s Hours of Service (HOS) violations, unidentified driving, and unassigned hours. The dashboard aggregates compliance data into one easy-to-read view, making it simple to see all of the metrics you care about in one central location. Learn more → 

• Final Rule on HOS: In May, the FMCSA issued the Final Rule on HOS, which outlined four revisions to the current HOS regulations. These include changes to the 30-minute break, split sleeper berth exception, adverse driving condition exception, and the short-haul logging exception. Samsara provides full support for these new rules that went into effect on September 29, 2020, ensuring customers who need to stay compliant have no issues doing so. Learn more → 

• IFTA reporting: Samsara’s improvements to our IFTA Mileage Report help further simplify and streamline your IFTA filing process. New features include fuel purchase integration (via Comdata or manual CSV file upload), classification by fuel type, fuel breakdowns by tax paid gallons, and IFTA MPG by jurisdiction. Learn more → 

<div id="question5">Supporting sustainability initiatives</div>

When it comes to sustainability, we want to support your business in meeting their environmental goals. That’s why we released new updates this year to help your business craft an electrification strategy and prevent shipping spoilage:

• Fleet Electrification Report: Use this report to quickly analyze your light-duty vehicles and identify which ones are the best candidates to be replaced with electric vehicles (EVs). The report makes it easy to gather the right insights and proof you need to reassure your stakeholders that an EV can do the job just as efficiently as a traditional vehicle. Learn more → 

• Remote Reefer Control: You can now use Samsara's Asset Gateways to turn reefers on and off, change run mode, clear alarms, and adjust temperature set-points directly from your dashboard. Plus, Samsara is now compatible with Thermo King's third-party gateway protocols, so your cold chain operations are better supported in real time. Learn more →  

<div id="question7">Connecting all your operations</div>

Samsara is committed to helping you gain valuable insights across your operations, both in and out of the cab. From remote monitoring and control to intelligent video monitoring, here are some of this year’s offerings designed for industrial operations: 

• Asset Monitoring Dashboards: Our industrial products are used to monitor key parameters on everything from water and energy infrastructure to industrial equipment like generators, chillers, tanks, and compressors. Our new graphical monitoring dashboards make it easy for customers to build digital models for each of these assets, complete with alarms and analytics that help prevent downtime and facilitate efficient maintenance. And to help you quickly navigate between assets, our Asset Tree provides one-click access to every dashboard. Learn more →

• Mobile Forms app: Samsara now offers industrial customers a mobile app to capture production and compliance data in a digital form. Instead of using clipboards and paper to manually capture data from equipment, field technicians can use the Mobile Forms app. This app can help you reduce time spent filling out forms, improve reporting accuracy, and access consolidated data in real time. Learn more →

• Site Visibility: Site Visibility creates a new video monitoring experience, without replacing your existing infrastructure. By integrating with your existing cameras, you can connect your entire video operations so you can view all your footage in one place. This visibility allows you to create custom views, share footage, and gain on-the-go visibility from any device. Designed for industrial operations, Site Visibility can help you respond to unusual activity, identify workplace hazards, and improve operational inefficiencies. Learn more →  

Learn more: Register for the Samsara Quarterly Update webinar

With so many new product updates, it can be challenging to take full advantage of everything. Our webinar series, the Samsara Quarterly Update, is a great way to stay updated and understand how to use new features to improve your operations.

To learn about Samsara’s recent product updates, register for our January Samsara Quarterly Update webinar on January 28, 2021. You’ll see a live walk-through of the Samsara dashboard and hear about new features directly from a product expert. 

Register now →