Why the odometer only tells half of the story

• Road Condition Monitoring reveals the actual wear and tear experienced by vehicles
• Each kilometre driven is assessed on the basis of road load and vehicle load
• Objective use profiles support maintenance, running gear design and resale value
• Greater transparency for fleet managers – without the need for additional hardware

Wiehl, 28th October 2026 --- With Road Condition Monitoring, or RCM for short, BPW is adding another software-based function to its iC Plus intelligent trailer running gear. It records just how much wear and tear a trailer actually undergoes in day-to-day use – without the need for any additional sensors, cabling or maintenance-intensive hardware.

Trailers remain in service for longer nowadays

Increasing purchase costs and economic pressures are forcing companies to use their trailers as valuable capital assets for as long as possible. This highlights a question that the odometer alone cannot answer: how much wear and tear does a vehicle actually experience?

A trailer with 500,000 kilometres on the clock from consistent long-distance haulage may be in better condition than a vehicle with significantly fewer kilometres on the clock used for construction site or distribution transport. Potholes and speed bumps, unpaved roads, frequent manoeuvring and heavy loads cause different wear and tear to that caused by long motorway journeys under consistent conditions.

It's not just the distance that matters, it's also the stress

Road Condition Monitoring highlights these differences digitally. The system uses the existing air suspension data. When the trailer drives over uneven ground, the pressure in the air bags fluctuates. Based on the number and intensity of these pressure fluctuations, iC Plus determines how much stress the running gear was subjected to on the relevant section of the route.

Every kilometre travelled is assigned to a load class. At the same time, RCM takes into account whether the trailer was lightly, moderately or heavily laden. This provides a detailed use profile, whether for individual journeys or over the vehicle’s entire service life.

RCM does not just measure whether a road was in poor condition. This function shows just how hard the running gear actually had to work under the respective conditions. The results are clearly presented in the Cargofleet3 telematics portal from idem telematics in the form of a diagram and using intuitive traffic-light symbols.

See more. Less technology.

Many digital vehicle systems require additional sensors for new functions. BPW deliberately takes a different approach: instead of installing additional hardware, iC Plus uses the data that the vehicle already provides. The principle: if it isn’t fitted, it can’t fail.

For fleet operators, this means greater transparency about the actual condition and usage of their trailers – without the need for additional cabling, batteries or maintenance procedures. Greater cost-effectiveness is not achieved through more technology, but through more intelligent software.

The real value only becomes apparent when it is put to use

"The mileage alone does not tell us much about what a trailer has actually been through," says Jannis Schoger, Technical Applications Consultant for Digital Solutions at BPW. "Road Condition Monitoring allows us to track the actual usage and load profile throughout a vehicle’s service life. This gives fleet operators a sound basis for better coordinating maintenance, deployment and running gear design."

This feature is particularly useful for leasing companies, trailer hire firms and transport companies that use their vehicles on different routes and for a variety of tasks. They can tell whether a trailer has predominantly been used on well-maintained roads with a moderate load, or has regularly had to handle poor road conditions and heavy loads.

This opens up new possibilities for usage-based hire and leasing models and can help to show that the equipment has not been misused when it is resold. In the event of an accident, the load profile can even provide additional insights for analysing the causes and can help to ensure objectivity in discussions regarding warranty, guarantee or goodwill claims.

The right running gear for the job at hand

The collected data is not only useful for assessing an existing vehicle. It can also provide information for its successor. If the use profile consistently shows high loads, a particularly robust running gear solution may be advisable for the next generation of vehicles. However, if long-distance journeys under consistent conditions are predominant, it may be possible to implement lightweight construction and payload optimisation in a more targeted manner.

The more precisely the actual use profile is known, the more specifically a trailer can be designed for its task. Hence Road Condition Monitoring changes from an analytical tool to a component of long-term asset management.

From reactive to knowledge-based fleet management

The new function is part of consistent development of iC Plus into a digital trailer platform. Even now, the digital vehicle file and the digital maintenance schedule in Cargofleet 3 offer transparency about vehicle documents, maintenance and repairs. The axle load display also shows how heavily the vehicle is currently loaded, helping fleet operators to make the most efficient use of the available payload and to avoid overloading. The brake fault detection system identifies gradual overheating and under-heating issues before they lead to serious consequential damage. The brake pad wear assessment supports maintenance planning that is tailored to actual needs. Road Condition Monitoring records the stresses to which a trailer has been subjected during operation.

All in all, iC Plus answers key questions relating to day-to-day fleet management:

• The digital vehicle record documents what has happened to the trailer.
• The axle load indicator shows how heavily the vehicle is currently laden.
• The maintenance calendar shows when action needs to be taken.
• The condition monitoring of the brakes and tyre pressure detects when limit values are exceeded
• Road Condition Monitoring explains what stresses the vehicle has actually been subjected to.

And step by step, this creates an increasingly complete digital representation of the trailer. Fleet managers no longer have to wait until a fault or unplanned breakdown has already occurred before taking action. They have access to a comprehensive database to help them proactively manage maintenance, vehicle scheduling and investment decisions.

The new features will be made available to users of the Cargofleet 3 telematics portal via software. No additional hardware or complex retrofitting is required. For new vehicles and when retrofitting iC Plus, use of Cargofleet 3 is included in the first year.

As a result, the trailer evolves from a passive piece of equipment into an active source of information – and fleet management shifts from reactively addressing issues to making knowledge-based decisions.