Indian Fleet & Logistics Glossary

AIS-140 full form is Automotive Industry Standard 140. It mandates Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTD) and emergency panic buttons in public and commercial transport vehicles. Certified devices transmit real-time location to state backend control centres and must meet defined hardware, connectivity, and emergency-response requirements.

VLTD full form is Vehicle Location Tracking Device. It is the GPS hardware unit required under AIS-140 that continuously reports a vehicle’s location, speed and status, and links to one or more emergency panic buttons. VLTDs communicate with state-designated backend servers over cellular networks.

An eWay Bill is an electronic document required under India’s GST regime for moving goods worth more than a threshold value. It has two parts: Part-A (invoice and consignment details) and Part-B (vehicle and transporter details). It is generated on the NIC eWay Bill portal.

Part-B of an eWay Bill contains transport details such as the vehicle number or transport document. Applicable updates are needed when the conveyance changes. Limited exceptions have specific conditions; Part-B is not a continuous GPS-coordinate feed.

Vahan is India’s government vehicle registration system. This MoboSafe guide explains the official service paths for vehicle records and RC-related applications.

Sarathi is India’s government driving-licence system. This MoboSafe guide explains the official service path and how Sarathi differs from Vahan.

The RTO is the Indian state authority responsible for vehicle registration, driving licences, fitness certificates, and permits. Commercial vehicles must clear RTO checks to operate legally.

A challan is an official traffic or transport penalty issued in India for violations such as overspeeding, missing documents, or an invalid eWay Bill. E-challans are issued electronically and linked to the vehicle.

OBD-II is a standardised vehicle self-diagnostics port that exposes engine and system data, RPM, coolant temperature, fault codes, and more. Plug-and-play OBD devices read this data for tracking and diagnostics without hard-wiring.

A DTC is a standardised code (for example P0128) reported by a vehicle’s onboard computer when it detects a fault. Each code maps to a specific system issue, allowing technicians to diagnose problems quickly.

Geofencing draws a virtual boundary around a location, a depot, customer site, or restricted zone, and triggers alerts when a vehicle enters, exits, or dwells too long inside it.

Telematics is the combination of telecommunications and vehicle data, using GPS and onboard sensors to transmit location, speed, engine, and behaviour data to a central platform for monitoring and analysis.

Hardware-agnostic fleet software supports compatible devices from multiple manufacturers rather than only one vendor’s hardware. Support depends on the model, protocol, and data access; it does not imply compatibility with every device.

Predictive maintenance uses live vehicle data, engine parameters, fault codes, and usage patterns, to service vehicles based on their actual condition and predicted failures, rather than on fixed calendar intervals.

Fuel monitoring pairs GPS with fuel-level sensors to track a vehicle’s tank in real time, detecting sudden drops, siphoning, and unauthorised refuelling, with each event mapped to a location and time.

ePOD is the digital capture of delivery confirmation, replacing paper receipts with digital signatures, timestamped and geotagged photos, and barcode scans. Offline-first ePOD apps sync when connectivity returns, which suits Indian highway conditions.

FASTag is India’s RFID-based electronic toll-collection system. A tag affixed to the windshield is automatically debited at toll plazas, removing the need to stop and pay cash.

A Fleet Management System is software that centralises the monitoring and management of a fleet, tracking, maintenance, fuel, driver behaviour, compliance, and reporting, in one platform.

A Transport Management System manages the operational and commercial side of freight, load booking, trip planning, freight billing, driver settlement, and consignment documentation.

A logistics control tower is a centralised platform that aggregates data across a fleet or supply chain into one intelligent view, with alerts, analytics, and exception management. A hardware-agnostic control tower unifies devices from multiple brands.

Route optimization uses algorithms to plan the most efficient sequence of stops and paths for one or more vehicles, factoring in distance, time windows, traffic, and vehicle constraints.

Cold chain refers to the temperature-controlled transport and storage of perishable goods, food, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, where temperature must stay within a defined range throughout the journey.

ADAS uses cameras and edge AI to warn drivers of imminent risks in real time, forward-collision warnings, lane-departure warnings, and following-distance alerts. In commercial dashcams it runs on-device to alert the driver before an incident occurs.

A DMS is an inward-facing camera system that uses AI to detect unsafe driver behaviour, drowsiness, yawning, mobile-phone use, smoking, and distraction, and alerts the driver or fleet manager in real time.

Video telematics adds camera footage to conventional telematics, combining GPS and sensor data with AI-analysed video from dashcams (ADAS/DMS) to give context to events like harsh braking or collisions.

An AI voice agent is software that holds a spoken phone conversation on its own, understanding open-ended replies instead of following a menu. It places or answers the call, works out what was meant, decides what to do, and speaks back. For fleets, that means calling drivers to confirm routes and ETAs, or escalating an incident to a manager while it can still be acted on.

Driver behaviour monitoring scores driving events, harsh braking, rapid acceleration, sharp cornering, overspeeding, and (with cameras) distraction, to build a picture of each driver’s risk profile.

Geotagging attaches precise location coordinates (and usually a timestamp) to a piece of data such as a photo or a delivery confirmation, proving where and when it was captured.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act is India’s data-protection law governing how personal data is collected, processed, and stored, with obligations on data fiduciaries and rights for individuals.

CERT-In is India’s national agency for cybersecurity incident response and guidelines. It issues directions on logging, reporting, and data-handling practices for organisations operating in India.