Samsara for Government

Government fleet management or public fleet management is necessary because managing a public works fleet operation and fleet safety program is more challenging due to the wide variety of assets and equipment that are needed to support communities and infrastructure. Fleet management for public fleets to oversee their fleet performance and fleet maintenance and increase fleet efficiency, productivity, safety and sustainability  Public sector fleet management includes federal, state, and local government fleets. Federal, state and local governments are responsible for large fleets of police, fire, refuse, maintenance, public works and general service or military vehicles. Public sector fleet managers and other municipal agencies have been leveraging fleet management solutions and vehicle telematics data to analyze fleet vehicles, vehicle location, service delivery and coverage, driver behavior, community safety, routing, dispatch units, diagnostics and preventative maintenance so that they can optimize their service their communities and respond to citizens. 

Public fleets and public works vehicles are needed at peak community times, like snowstorms, community events that leave streets dirty, or overflowing trash - knowing where they are, in what condition they are and in and their status and efficiency are key to delivering efficient citizen services. Benefits of a public fleet or government fleet management system include: Benefits:

• Real-time visibility: Extract greater value from fleets and asset tracking and equipment tracking with real-timeGPS fleet tracking. Ensure an efficient fleet and routing and help reduce costs with preventative maintenance, remote diagnostics, and custom alerts that appear when it’s time for repairs. 

• Elevated citizen services:Provide more efficient, transparent, compliant, and sustainable  citizen services. Monitor service coverage with camera systems, and monitor material usage to manage costs and reduce overuse of materials. Keep citizens informed with access to a live map for instant status and location of services.

• Community & employee safety:Increase visibility into road conditions, promote employee and community safety, and alert capture incidents or proof of service completion with AI dash cameras, fleet dash cam footage as well as side, rear video from third-party cameras for instant upload and livestream footage. These can also reduce insurance premiums.

• Sustainability: Monitor routes and material usage to avoid excessive material usage to protect community infrastructure, and reduce environmental impact. 

• Operational efficiency:Real-time data to improve operational efficiency, with easy install and customization, centralized data and video footage management, APIs 3rd party Integrations with GIS, asset & work management and public information systems to increase productivity and manage costs.

Managing a public fleet of vehicles can be challenging, no matter the fleet size. That's why over 75% of government fleet managers rely on fleet management software or vehicle telematics to help support day-to-day operations in at least some of their fleet vehicles, according to data from Government Fleet’s annual benchmarking survey

Yes, Samsara is a Government approved vendor. Samsara is an approved vendor for some of the most common government contracts and cooperative purchasing which allows state and local governments to purchase a variety of commercial supplies (products) and services under specific contracts to save time, money and meet their everyday needs and missions. For example, GSA, SourceWell, Peppm as well as through a channel or reseller partner, such as CDWG, SHI, Transfinder Edulog etc. Samsara has partnered with hundreds of government agencies across the United States. 

Samsara’s IoT Gateways, Camera Modules, Environmental Monitors, and Accessories are NDAA-compliant. Samsara Fleet products, its chipsets, and other technology components listed here do not come from the list of prohibited Chinese companies in the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (NDAA). Read more.

Managing a government fleet of vehicles, heavy duty public works service vehicles, assets, equipment and public and employee facilities can be challenging, no matter the agency or fleet size. Samsara provides government agencies with advanced cloud-based technology for real-time visibility into their operations to track vehicle location and diagnostics and monitor service coverage and material usage. Confidently ensure that community roads or trash bins are efficiently serviced. Government agencies across the US use Samsara to keep their citizens informed, communities safe, and improve response times. The Samsara connected cloud platform enables governments of all sizes to harness the power of real-time data from sensors, cameras, and OEM integrations, and centralize all their operational data, across previously isolated departments like snow operations, solid waste and sanitation, street cleaning and public works — all on one unified platform. Benefits of Samsara’s unique unified platform include: complete operational visibility in a single dashboard across fleets, maintenance costs, safety to coach drivers equipment and facilities, streamlined workflows, accessible mobile app, plug ’n’ play & easy to use, and 24/7 US based customer support.

Government agencies use Samsara for telematics, maintenance, real-time GPS, safety Dash cams, side rear and interior camera footage,driver coaching, Vision Zero, fuel management, idling and PTO monitoring, electrification and electric vehicle transitioning and monitoring as well as surveillance and safety at facilities and remote locations. 

For government Fleet Managers, and City Managers some of the benefits of using Samsara include: real-time visibility, elevated citizen services, community and employee safety, immediate incident response, increased efficiency, reduced operational costs, optimized vehicle performance, automated workflows, streamlined compliance.  Read and watch these case studies to see how other Government agencies have improved their operations with Samsara: City of Fort Lauderdale, City of Syracuse, City of Boston, Athens Clarke County 

Many governments have various City or State mandated initiatives like Vision Zero, Clean Cities etc. that they work towards with the help of technology and smart fleet camera and driving habits tools that they invest in, Samsara’s connected platform can greatly improve these efforts across most initiatives that span across efficiency, safety and sustainability. Vision Zero is a global movement to end traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by taking a systemic approach to road safety- an approach that is widely used across public agencies and government municipalities. The goal of Vision Zero is to reduce all preventable road deaths and fatal injuries to zero, and deemed unacceptable. Samsara is a proud member and partner of Together for Safer roads (TSR), read more on how agencies can accelerate their in-cab fleet safety to coach drivers and optimize safe operations, through technology to promote a stronger safety culture such as dash cam solutions and dash cam video to capture driving events. Government agencies use Samsara to improve their community and employee safety and achieve vision zero goals with industry leading camera technology across their fleet and their facilities and remote locations. Having real-time visibility and AI tools to monitor driving behaviors, harsh braking, road conditions and facility  surveillance help government agencies across the U.S. take the necessary steps to achieving their vision zero goals.  Government agencies do that with telematics, real-time GPS, Safety Dash cams / dash cameras, side rear and interior camera footage,  driver coaching as well as  surveillance and safety at facilities and remote locations. 

Clean Cities is another example of an initiative that can be achieved in partnership with Samsara. Government fleets have unique requirements for environmental and sustainability management  when it comes to reduction or mandates for greenhouse gas emissions, electrification transition goals for EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and optimizing vehicle inventory as it is directly tied to public funds and taxpayer dollars. Clean Cities initiatives work to advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels, energy efficient mobility systems, and other fuel-saving technologies and practices.Samsara is a proud partner and member with various Clean City Coalitions across the nation. Government agencies do that with smart tools to monitor fuel management, idling and idle time, fuel costs, and PTO monitoring, electrification and electric vehicle transitioning and monitoring. Not only does Samsara work to build smart tools that promote sustainability - Samsara is also  committed to minimizing environmental impact as well and are taking steps to make Samsara a carbon-neutral business and reach net-zero emissions. 

Yes Samsara works and partners with hundreds of public agencies and government municipalities across the U.S. Read and watch these case studies to see how other Government agencies have improved their operations with Samsara: City of Fort Lauderdale, City of Syracuse, City of Boston, Athens Clarke County, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Agency (MBTA, City of Sacramento, Washington County Sheriff, City of Cocoa helping them leverage a variety of smart cloud based technology for tracking solutions, tracking devices, dash cam solutions, dash cam system, video telematics, real-time reporting, alerts and notifications to provide safer operations that reduce false claims with instant video recording and video upload for immediate video evidence.

Government fleet management or public fleet management face unique challenges and are generally more challenging to manage due to the wide variety of assets and equipment that are needed to support communities and infrastructure.Different from private entities, public services need to be delivered regardless of profitability or resource constraints.In fact citizen expectations of their municipality or government agency are sometimes higher than that of their private for pay vendors- due to the fact that it is funded by taxpayer dollars and tied to elected officials. Citizens expect their service in a timely fashion and in the most efficient, safe and sustainable way because they know it is coming out of their hard earned tax dollars, and therefore citizen expectations are high. Some of the specific challenges include:

• Public fleets and public works vehicles are needed at peak community times, like snowstorms, community events that leave streets dirty, or overflowing trash - knowing where they are, in what condition they are and in and their status and efficiency are key to delivering efficient citizen services. 

• Many of the Public works vehicles are specialized heavy duty vehicles that are complex and expensive to operate. Inefficient routes, or excess material usage (snow, brine, water etc.)  can cost a city thousands of unnecessary taxpayer dollars on every run and damage community infrastructure (such as streets and water) and hurt the environment.  

• Public works departments measure their success by their service deliverability and citizen transparency. Many of these services are critical to a citizen’s day to day routine and  well being and require efficient delivery and communication. Citizens want to know where and when the service will/has been completed so that they can go about their day. A small delay in snow operations could greatly impact a citizens work, childcare or healthcare needs. 

• Delivering these critical services have a direct and indirect impact on the community’s safety; sanitation or snow removal, road conditions (tree down, snow blocked road etc.), community infrastructure or property damage, and road or driver fatalities.  Ex. 24% of weather-related crashes happen during snowy weather, nearly 1,300 people killed and 116,800 injured each year on snowy, icy, or slushy pavement 

• Municipalities and government agencies across the US have set lofty zero emissions targets and are looking for the right data to help them achieve those goals. Many of these agencies also have unique requirements for environmental and sustainability management  when it comes to reduction or mandates for greenhouse gas emissions, electrification transition goals for EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and optimizing vehicle inventory as it is directly tied to public funds and taxpayer dollars. 

Fleet safety is a hot topic—for good reason especially for government fleets. Due to rising accident rates, increased in-cab distractions, and skyrocketing legal settlements, fleet managers increasingly see safety as not only a risk to their drivers, but also to their insurance costs. For example: according to the Solid Waste Association of North America, SWANA, solid waste collectors are in the top five most dangerous jobs. It’s very important for government staff and their communities to remain safe. Public fleets manage large trucks that drive down small community roads, with people on their phones and headphones not always paying attention as they cross the road- so without proper tools to ensure drivers are driving safely and not distracted, community fatalities will rise. People don't treat waste trucks like they treat a school bus, citizens don’t always see the person hanging off the side of the truck, or understand that the person needs to jump off and cross the road to access waste. Fleet managers have access to a wide variety of fleet safety technologies that fleet owners are adopting today. Some of the most advanced dash cams, such as Samsara AI Dash Cams, use a combination of g-force sensor data and embedded artificial intelligence (AI) to detect a wide range of hard-to-detect incidents, like distracted driving and tailgating, and even offer in-cab alerts to help drivers react to risk factors before an accident occurs. Today, there are a variety of additional camera configurations that can help solve a variety of different problems: Front-facing dash cams and dual-facing dash cams, exterior cameras to capture a 360° view of the surrounding road, rear-facing exterior cameras as well as interior cameras to ensure safety in or behind the vehicle. 

Asset utilization is extremely important in the public sector, and necessary for emergency relief prep like for generators or street lighting, without proper equipment or asset visibility and utilization reporting, a municipality can find without properly functioning equipment in a time of an emergency. A telematics solution that provides real-time GPS equipment tracking and utilization data can increase visibility. This can help government agencies track utilization in real time and make informed, data-based decisions more easily without the need for manual tracking. Samsara is a complete equipment monitoring solution that combines the power of IoT Asset Gateways and cloud-based reporting tools to help you track equipment utilization. With Samsara equipment tracking, you can get real-time remote access to engine diagnostics and insights from automated reports for everything from unpowered assets to construction equipment. Not only does this increase visibility into equipment utilization, but it can help save time locating equipment, prevent unauthorized use, and reduce technician response times. Benefits of using Samsara for asset utilization include equipment rightsizing and more efficient equipment allocation. Read more 

Samsara has been officially approved to participate in the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) Continuous Testing Pilot (CTP) and can now help eligible government fleets bypass in-person smog emissions testing in California by capturing vehicle diagnostic data via our Vehicle Gateway. With Samsara’s certified BAR CTP integration, BAR now has the ability to grant compliant vehicles that are enrolled in the CTP a passing score on their Smog Check, without the additional hassle of a manual inspection.