The automotive aftermarket is about connections. Connections to the right parts, to the right places, to the right people. It’s the roads we travel down together that make us grow closer and bring us together. That’s the feeling that paves the Road to AAPEX as Babcox Media’s Joe Keene, an ASE-certified technician, traverses the Bonneville Salt Flats in his fixed-up Lincoln Blackwood. Flashback to fixes that made the journey possible: new tires and rims to fuel injectors, windows, and a new AC unit.

As Joe Keene and the Babcox technician team toils away on the Blackwood, Editor David Sickels investigates a different type of automotive connection: Telematics. He visits the Geotab headquarters where the company parses 55 billion automotive data points across 3.7 million connected vehicles. It starts with the basics, tracking and tracing vehicles using GPS data, then evolves to risk management by collecting data on harsh driving behaviors.

That connected knowledge extends to the EV world. EVs allow users to leverage telematics to monitor a myriad of data points, from voltage and battery health to charging effectiveness and potential battery faults. And then there’s the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has opened up new avenues for data analysis and interpretation. The next decade will be pivotal in determining the trajectory of telematics in the automotive industry. With the potential integration of autonomous driving and the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, the role of telematics will be integral in ensuring a seamless transition and enhancing road safety.

In the end, it’s still about connections and the relationships with people that help us navigate an ever-winding road. Watch this episode of Road to AAPEX to make your own connections to the issues that are important to the automotive aftermarket.