ZF acquires Bestmile’s tech for real-time vehicle-agnostic fleet management

ZF has acquired Bestmile’s technology, representing a significant step towards launching the commercial vehicle industry’s first Mobility Orchestration Platform.

Advancing ZF’s ‘Next Generation Mobility’ strategy, this platform will help operators to realise ambitions for Transportation as a Service (TaaS) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for all types of mobility applications and vehicles. Leveraging increasing transportation digitalization and vehicle automation, ZF’s Orchestration platform will provide real-time coordination and management of goods and people transportation on a large scale.

“Today, the transportation eco-system is rapidly changing, with OEMs and fleet operators facing numerous challenges – from competitive pressures to regulatory changes – as they increasingly digitalise and adopt autonomous, connected and electric mobility technologies,” said Dr. Christian Brenneke, Senior Vice-President, Product Engineering with ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Control Systems division. “This pace and diversity of applications has fragmented the transportation industry, creating digital silos, greater complexity and operational inefficiency for fleet management.”

“By incorporating Bestmile’s technology into our Next Generation Mobility strategy, ZF will provide an Orchestration Platform that optimises the information feeds, complex operational processes and stringent controls required to build and support connected transportation ecosystems,” added Brenneke.

“Based on this platform, ZF will open a gateway to enable higher levels of automation and connectivity between diverse mobility and transportation system providers and stakeholders, including cargo, shipping and commercial transportation supply chains. The platform also supports on-demand mobility providers by orchestrating every vehicle in a fleet in real time,” added Brenneke.

Building on its technology leadership in heavy duty commercial vehicles’ systems, onboard intelligent trailer technology and Fleet Management Solutions, ZF will leverage Bestmile’s capabilities to take vehicle connectivity-based solutions to the next level. Developments will introduce a fully automatic, KPI-based planning, routing, scheduling and dispatching solution based on connectivity between onboard technology, fleet optimization and artificial intelligence. This platform will help fleets significantly improve their operational efficiency, sustainability, safety and cargo security. The platform will also ultimately help facilitate fully autonomous mobility and cargo transportation within automated, multi-platform supply chains and logistics networks.

“My team and I are delighted to become part of ZF and take the next steps towards optimising cargo and people mobility. Our focus has always been to offer fleet operators a one-stop solution for orchestration technology to enable the smart, shared, electric, and autonomous mobility of the future already, today. With ZF’s innovation and strong technology leadership across the full range of transportation platforms and fleet management solutions, we gain additional thrust towards achieving this vision,” said Dr. Marco Laumanns, former Chief Technology Officer of Bestmile.