Phillips Connect’s TrailerID automates tractor-trailer pairing
Phillips Connect’s new TrailerID automates trailer pairing, ensuring the correct trailer is identified the moment it’s connected to a tractor.
TrailerID confirms the connection and then shares that information across the systems fleets already use, resulting in a simpler experience for drivers and more reliable information for the teams responsible for keeping freight moving, Phillips said. Using TrailerID, fleets can avoid the incorrect pairings that potentially impact safety records, inspections, dispatch decisions, load security, and billing.
“Accurate trailer identification affects nearly every part of a fleet’s operation,” Mark Wallin, Phillips Connect general manger and senior vice president of product, said in a news release. “With TrailerID, logs stay cleaner, jobs line up with what actually happened, trailers are easier to account for, and billing is easier to start and reconcile. TrailerID removes guesswork and gives fleet teams a shared view of what’s really happening with their trailers.”
For fleets, that same automatic trailer identification carries through to compliance activities like hours-of-service logging and trailer inspections, Phillips added. When the correct trailer is already reflected in the system, logs and inspection records stay accurate without relying on manual entry, reducing errors, rework, and the risk of compliance issues. TrailerID also helps fleets make sure that the trailer that was planned for a job is the one that actually left the yard. When the system confirms which trailer moved, teams can quickly spot mismatches, prevent mispulls, and understand which trailers are available or sitting idle.
“The same clarity carries through to security and billing,” the company stated. “Knowing exactly when and where a trailer was dropped helps protect the load and reduce the risk of theft or fraud. It also allows billing to start based on a verified event, instead of waiting on manual confirmation or follow-up.”
TrailerID is built on a vertically integrated hardware and software platform that delivers more dependable results than methods based solely on GPS or proximity, Phillips asserted. Trailer connections are detected through the physical tractor-trailer connection using the T/T Pair connector and then validated through Phillips Connect software. Drivers experience this automatically in the cab through DriverAssist, while operations teams see the same events through Connect1 in the back office.
The result is a clearer record of what actually happened, rather than an estimate or assumption.