Attention school bus fleets with light-duty vehicles: Telematics provider Zonar Systems has unveiled its next generation Zonar LD™ Telematics Control Unit (TCU). 

This new iteration delivers more comprehensive and faster vehicle intelligence and security data, the company announced. It boasts advanced telematics capabilities, faster installation, and expanded vehicle coverage, allowing school bus operators to optimize operations while strengthening efficiency, safety, and performance.

School districts increasingly rely on smaller passenger vehicles to transport students to special programs and after-school activities, or to provide ride-share alternative transportation, and need to track students and vehicle safety alongside their school bus fleet.

With use for passenger vans and beyond, the Zonar LD TCU offers a plug-and-play telematics solution tailored to the needs of smaller vehicles beyond the bus. It provides Zonar Ground Traffic Control reporting, including in-depth diagnostics to ensure vehicle health and safety.

Enhanced features and key improvements include:

• Faster installation: Calibrate and sync in two minutes or less.

• Enhanced over-the-air updates: Receive device performance enhancements, including expanded vehicle, engine control module (ECM), odometer and diagnostic trouble code (DTC) coverage quickly and efficiently.

• Expanded vehicle coverage: Increased support for a broader range of vehicle models and types.

• Towing detection: Gain visibility into towing events for added security and situational awareness.

• Cold start event tracking: Detect soft or hard reboots to better identify device tampering to improve the security of fleet vehicles and technology assets.

"Demand for light-duty tracking and diagnostics capabilities continue to grow, particularly in field services, retail, grocery, package delivery, and passenger transport sectors," said Greg Colvin, senior director of solutions engineering at Zonar. "Fleets need a solution that's simple-to-install, easy-to-manage, and delivers complex vehicle data insights across the wide spectrum of light-duty fleet vehicles—all in one platform."

This announcement comes just one month after the company announced a merger with GPS Trackit.