Trimble’s Dave Morris shares how CoPilot replaces unpredictable consumer GPS with governed, truck-specific navigation to protect fleet margins and driver safety.
Between historically tight operating margins, volatile fuel costs, and shippers demanding pinpoint accuracy on delivery times, carriers simply cannot afford operational waste. Yet, one of the most critical elements of a fleet's daily workflow—in-cab navigation—remains a major blind spot for many organizations.
To understand how fleets can eliminate the hidden costs of on-road variability, we sat down with Dave Morris, Product Manager for Trimble CoPilot, our purpose-built commercial navigation solution, to discuss the challenges carriers face today and how enterprise-grade navigation is changing the game.
Question: With operating margins historically tight, what are the biggest hurdles fleets face today when trying to maintain profitability and meet incredibly high customer expectations?
Dave Morris: We’re looking at a tough environment right now—recent ATRI reports show average truckload operating margins actually slipping into the negative. When a single commercial truck costs over two dollars a mile to operate, there’s absolutely zero room for waste.
The biggest hurdle is unpredictability. Shippers expect Amazon-level visibility and to-the-minute ETAs, but out on the road, drivers are battling congestion, unpredictable weather and detours. When you mix those external pressures with internal inefficiencies—like drivers taking out-of-route miles because they're relying on their own local knowledge rather than a unified plan—you bleed money. It damages customer relationships and spikes fuel costs. Fleets need to control the controllable, and that starts with the route itself.
Q: Our recent article on ungoverned navigation highlights how consumer GPS apps bleed millions from fleet bottom lines. Why is the use of these consumer apps such a widespread, costly issue?
DM: It’s a classic case of convenience masking a massive problem. Consumer apps are great for your family road trip, but they don't know you're hauling 80,000 pounds of freight. Drivers use them because they're on their phones, free and easy to pull up.
But here's the catch: standard GPS treats a semi-truck like a Honda Civic. Two drivers leaving the same depot for the exact same delivery might take completely different routes. That variability destroys predictability and accountability. When you multiply those split-second, individual routing decisions across hundreds of trucks, the hidden costs—wasted fuel, unnecessary detours and downtime that can cost a fleet $1,000 a day per truck—quietly accumulate into millions of dollars.
Q: Bridge strikes are a massive safety and financial concern. How does Trimble CoPilot’s enterprise-grade navigation actively prevent these catastrophic incidents and keep commercial drivers out of harm's way?
DM: It’s frustrating because almost every single bridge strike is 100% preventable. In the US alone, we see around 15,000 collisions involving bridges every year. It’s a nightmare for the driver, a massive liability for the fleet and a tragedy for communities.
CoPilot stops this by taking the guesswork out of the cab. We build our routing on the Trimble PC*Miler engine, which is the industry standard for commercial vehicles. Fleet managers can pre-define a vehicle’s exact height, weight, width and cargo type—including hazmat. If a road has a low-clearance overpass or a strict weight limit, CoPilot simply won't route the truck that way. It proactively guides heavy vehicles away from hazards and narrow streets before the engine even starts.
Q: On-time deliveries are non-negotiable for shippers today. How does navigation variability impact a carrier's ability to provide accurate ETAs and avoid the costly cascading delays we're seeing in the industry?
DM: When you leave navigation up to individual preference, you lose the ability to accurately benchmark performance. If the back office plans a route based on one set of data, but the driver executes it using a consumer app, that disconnect throws everything off.
Missing a tight delivery window isn’t just an "oops" anymore. Even a standard stationary delay can cost operators $100 an hour, and if you miss your slot, it creates a cascading delay that wrecks the rest of the driver's day. CoPilot bridges that gap between the back office and the road. Powered by the PC*Miler routing engine, seamless TMS synchronization and live traffic updates, the planned route actually matches the driven route. Dispatchers can finally rely on accurate ETAs, stop putting out fires all day and eliminate variability.
CoPilot helps protect your drivers by keeping their eyes on the road and it protects your margins by ensuring every mile driven is compliant, legal and cost-effective. It empowers carriers to stop surviving the chaos of the road and start confidently managing their journey.
Q: Navigating the final mile into a facility is often a driver’s most stressful hurdle. How does CoPilot eliminate the guesswork and ensure safe, efficient arrivals directly at the dock?
Dave Morris: Ask any veteran driver, and they'll tell you the most stressful part of the trip isn't the 500 miles on the interstate—it's the last five miles to the facility. Consumer apps will get you to a vague street address, which often leaves a 53-foot trailer trying to perform a dangerous U-turn in a residential cul-de-sac because they missed the truck gate.
We solved this by integrating Trimble Places into CoPilot. We’re talking about over 6 millionhand-checked, verified commercial locations bounded by precise polygonal geofences. We don't just guide the driver to the street; we guide them to the exact authorized commercial entry gate and right up to the correct loading dock. It drastically cuts down dock-side dwell time and drops driver stress down to zero.
