New Features Include Power and Tire Monitoring, Tractor-Trailer Mismatch Alerts
The company’s smart trailer features are enabled by the Samsara asset gateway device, which installs in under five minutes and can be mounted on trailer undercarriages to prevent tampering or theft. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fleet telematics vendor Samsara has expanded its smart trailer offerings with several new features aimed at improving maintenance and operational efficiency.
The new capabilities, including trailer power and tire monitoring as well as tractor-trailer mismatch alerts, give fleet operators and drivers greater insights into the health and status of their trailers.
The company’s smart trailer features are enabled by the Samsara asset gateway device, which installs in under five minutes and can be mounted on trailer undercarriages to prevent tampering or theft.
Samsara introduced its expanded trailer monitoring capabilities during a March 9 press briefing at American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.
Samsara’s new power monitoring feature detects when trailers lose power while they are on the road and helps fleets diagnose and resolve those issues.
Power loss can compromise the trailer’s anti-lock braking system, which in turn can increase stopping distances, pose safety risks and lead to power loss for other electrical peripherals on the trailer.
In most cases, trailer power loss is caused by a problem on the truck, such as a blown ABS fuse, Gal said. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
“We’ve been able to observe that at scale, about 15% of trailers in North America do not get power during a trip, which is a shocking statistic,” said David Gal, vice president of product and engineering at Samsara.
In most cases, trailer power loss is caused by a problem on the truck, such as a blown ABS fuse, Gal said. With power monitoring, fleets can investigate the truck that was pulling a trailer when it lost power and address the root cause.
Samsara’s power monitoring feature also can maintain real-time trailer tracking visibility even when 7-way power isn’t operational.
To proactively identify air leaks that might be masked by automatic inflation technology, Samsara now offers automatic tire inflation system monitoring. This feature provides real-time alerts on tire pressure issues to both drivers and the back office to help reduce the risk of tire blowouts and prevent trailer downtime.
(Samsara via YouTube)
Samsara announced additional integration partners for its connected trailer capabilities, including Hendrickson for ATIS monitoring and Continental and PressurePro for tire pressure monitoring systems.
Those integrations enable fleet customers to view ATIS, TPMS and wheel-end monitoring information directly in the Samsara dashboard to spot problems early and prevent unplanned downtime and regulatory compliance issues.
The company also introduced a new asset search feature that directs drivers to their assigned trailers via the Samsara app to eliminate time-consuming yard hunts and improve driver productivity.
Another added feature is Samsara’s tractor-trailer mismatch alert.
When drivers inadvertently pick up the wrong trailer, they may not discover the mistake until they arrive at their destination hundreds of miles later, resulting in lost fuel, time and productivity.
By tracking the tractor, trailer and driver on the same platform, however, Samsara can issue alerts that “nip this in the bud” within minutes to quickly stop incorrect pulls and help ensure on-time deliveries, Gal said.
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