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GPS Fleet Tracking for Truckload Carriers
GPS fleet tracking and ELD compliance for truckload carriers: hours of service, IFTA, trailer tracking, billable detention and dash cam video for claims.

Updated September 21, 2026
GPS fleet tracking and ELD compliance for truckload carriers from High Point GPS covers hours of service, IFTA, trailer tracking, detention billing and dash cam video from one GPS tracking device per tractor and the driver app in the cab. It is built for for-hire truckload carriers, whose margins a single audit, a lost trailer or a disputed claim can erase. The tractor has to run legal hours, the fuel tax has to be filed by jurisdiction, the trailer has to be where the load is, and the driver has to want to stay. The driver gets an ELD registered with FMCSA in the US and certified by an accredited body in Canada, and the safety manager gets an hours-of-service summary that shows violations before a roadside inspection does. IFTA distance by jurisdiction comes from the same GPS record, with fuel-card purchases matched to it, so the quarterly return is a report you run instead of a pile of trip sheets. Battery-powered trackers on trailers report their position and their dwell at each shipper and receiver, which is the detention record the carrier bills against. Driver scoring is set up to reward the drivers the carrier wants to keep, and AI dash cams with road-facing and driver-facing views put video behind every collision claim and disputed event. Fuel economy by driver and by lane, engine fault codes to the shop, maintenance on engine hours and an open API into the TMS and payroll complete the setup, all in one High Point GPS platform database.
Common challenges
- Hours-of-service violations found at roadside or in an audit, not in the office the day they happened
- IFTA returns built from trip sheets and fuel receipts, with distance by jurisdiction that does not match the odometer
- Trailers sitting somewhere in a customer's yard, unbillable while they wait and impossible to find when a load is ready
- Detention the carrier cannot bill because the only record is the driver's word against the shipper's
- Drivers leaving for a competitor over a safety score they consider unfair or a dispatcher who can't see their situation
- Collision and cargo claims settled against the carrier because there was no video and no record to rebuild the event
How High Point GPS helps
- ELD in the driver app for US and Canadian hours-of-service rules, with ruleset switching for cross-border runs
- Hours-of-service summary and violation reports for the safety manager, with remaining drive time visible to dispatch
- IFTA distance by jurisdiction from the GPS record, with fuel-card purchases matched to the trip for the quarterly return
- Battery-powered trailer trackers that show position, the paired tractor and the days a trailer has sat
- Geofence arrival and departure at every shipper and receiver, the time-stamped dwell that detention is billed against
- AI dash cams with road-facing and driver-facing views, with event video retrieved by trip for claims and coaching
- Driver scoring on speed, harsh events, idling and fuel economy, shown to each driver as their own scorecard
- Fuel economy by driver, by lane and by tractor, with fault codes sent to the shop and maintenance on engine hours
How does a truckload carrier stay ahead of hours-of-service violations?
A truckload carrier stays ahead of violations by reviewing every driver's hours in the office the morning after, with the data coming from the ELD in each cab. The driver app in the cab is an ELD registered with FMCSA in the US and certified by an accredited body in Canada, switches rulesets on a cross-border run, and shows the driver remaining drive time and the next required break on the same screen. The safety manager sees the whole fleet: every driver's remaining hours, every violation from the previous day and every unassigned driving segment that needs to be claimed or annotated before it turns into an audit finding.
Dispatch plans from the same hours. A load planner who can see that a driver has four hours left won't send them on a six-hour run and hope. At a roadside inspection, the driver transfers the logs from the app and the officer sees a clean record. In an audit, the reports High Point GPS configured at setup give the violation history, the edits and the annotations for the period requested. The device stores trips through dead zones and uploads them when coverage returns, so the log doesn't lose a segment.
IFTA from the GPS record, and the trailer where the load is
IFTA reconciles distance by jurisdiction against fuel bought by jurisdiction, and the trip sheet is where the numbers go wrong. The GPS tracking device records every kilometre with the state or province it was driven in, and the High Point GPS platform totals it by jurisdiction per tractor for the quarter. A fuel-card integration matches each purchase to the trip it belongs to, and the quarterly return comes out of a report rather than a shoebox. The same record supports IRP, and it answers an auditor who wants to see the distance behind a specific quarter's filing without a driver reconstructing a route from memory.
A truckload carrier's trailer pool is its second fleet, and it moves without an engine. Battery-powered trackers report each trailer's position on a schedule and more often when moving, and the platform shows which tractor it is paired with and how many days it has sat at a given location. A dispatcher looking for an empty trailer near a pickup finds it on the map rather than by phoning drivers. A trailer that has been in a customer's yard for eleven days is a conversation with the customer about trailer-pool terms, backed by the geofence record of when it arrived.

Detention you can bill and drivers who stay
Detention is lost money when the only record is the driver's word. A geofence around every shipper and receiver stamps the time the tractor entered the yard and the time it left, and the difference minus the free time in the contract is the detention invoice. High Point GPS sets the geofences up from the customer list in the TMS and configures the report so that billing sees the dwell by stop each week. When a shipper disputes the charge, the trip replay shows the truck at the dock from 9:14 to 13:52. The same dwell data shows which customers cost the carrier the most time, which is the argument for a rate increase or for declining the freight.
Driver retention is the truckload carrier's hardest problem, and telematics can make it worse or better depending on how it is used. High Point GPS configures scoring so the driver sees their own scorecard on speed, harsh events, idling and fuel economy, compared to the fleet rather than to a target no one explained. A supervisor's coaching conversation starts from a specific event on a specific day, with the dash cam clip if there is one, and the drivers with the best scores are as visible as the ones with the worst. Carriers that pay a safety or fuel bonus draw it from the same record, and a driver who can see the number they are being paid on trusts it more.
Claims, fuel and the rest of the operation
A collision claim without video is settled on the other party's account. An AI dash cam in every tractor records the road ahead and, when the carrier chooses, the driver, and it uploads the clip around a harsh-braking or collision event on its own. The safety manager has the video before the driver has finished the phone call, and the claims adjuster has it the same day. Cargo claims use the same record: the trip replay shows whether the trailer was opened at an unplanned stop, and a door sensor through an IOX-AUXM input adds the time the doors moved. With event-based retrieval, a review takes a few clips instead of a day of footage.
Fuel is one of a carrier's largest operating costs, and the platform reports it by driver, by lane and by tractor. Idling at the receiver, speed above the carrier's set limit and hard acceleration each show up as litres, and the fuel-card integration flags a purchase that does not match the tractor's location or tank size. Engine fault codes reach the shop as the tractor logs them, maintenance reminders run on engine hours and kilometres, and electronic DVIR in the driver app puts the pre-trip defect in front of the shop before the truck leaves the yard. The open API carries all of it into the TMS, the payroll system and the carrier's own dashboards.
Frequently asked questions
Does the ELD cover both US and Canadian hours-of-service rules?
Yes. The driver app is an ELD registered with FMCSA in the US and certified in Canada, and it switches rulesets when a driver crosses the border. The driver sees remaining drive time and the next required break. From the office the next morning, the safety manager sees every driver's hours, violations and unassigned driving segments, and can deal with them before an audit.
How does it produce the IFTA return?
The GPS tracking device records every kilometre with the jurisdiction it was driven in, and the High Point GPS platform totals distance by state and province per tractor for the quarter. A fuel-card integration matches purchases to trips. The quarterly report gives the distance and fuel figures the return needs, with the trip record behind them for an audit.
Can we track trailers that are not connected to a tractor?
Yes. Battery-powered trackers report each trailer's position on a schedule, and more often while it moves, with no connection to the tractor needed. The platform shows the tractor it is paired with, its location and the days it has sat, and a geofence records when it reached a customer yard and how long it has been there.
How does it help bill detention?
A geofence around every shipper and receiver stamps the tractor's arrival and departure, and the dwell minus the contract's free time is the detention charge. The weekly report gives billing the dwell by stop, and when a shipper disputes the invoice, the trip replay shows exactly when the truck arrived at the yard and when it left.
Will drivers accept dash cams and scoring?
Most do when the carrier is clear about how it uses them. High Point GPS sets up a scorecard each driver can see that compares them to the fleet, event video pulled for incidents and coaching instead of watched continuously, and the option to run a road-facing camera only. The same record can back a safety bonus.
Related solutions
Related guides
- FMCSA Hours of Service Rules (US): 11-Hour and 14-Hour Limits →
- IFTA Reporting Software: How High Point GPS Automates Fuel Tax Reports →
- How Does Trailer GPS Tracking Work, With or Without a Truck? →
- Detention Time in Trucking: What It Costs and How to Bill Detention Pay With GPS →
- Dash Cam Footage for Insurance Claims: What to Send the Insurer →
- Truck Driver Shortage 2026: Why Retention Matters More →
- How to Review, Edit and Certify Your HOS Logs in Geotab Drive →
- How to Log In to Geotab Drive and Select a Vehicle →
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