Background: The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and telematics is reshaping fleet management, route optimization, emissions monitoring, and the broader logistics ecosystem. Recent market analyses predict rapid expansion in AI adoption for transportation systems, while applied studies report gains in cost-efficiency, predictive maintenance, and operational resilience (Mahajan, 2025; Kaluvakuri, 2023). This paper synthesizes multidisciplinary evidence from market reports, technical blogs, case-based industry sources, and peer-reviewed studies to produce an integrated, theory-driven account of AI’s role in modern transportation and fleet management.

 Methods: Using a rigorous, theory-explicit narrative synthesis grounded in the provided references, this study reconstructs methodological pathways employed across industry and academic contributions, translating disparate empirical findings into a unified explanatory framework. We employ a conceptual meta-methodology that traces data pipelines, analytics architectures, and decision-making loops commonly reported in telemetry-driven fleet systems (Microsoft Azure, 2024; Drozdov, 2024).

 Results: AI interventions manifest across six core domains: predictive maintenance, dynamic route optimization, energy and emissions management, demand-responsive logistics, autonomous vehicle integration, and strategic financial planning. Evidence indicates that real-time telemetry plus AI yields measurable reductions in idle time, fuel consumption, and operating costs while increasing fleet uptime and planning accuracy (Drozdov, 2024; Paul et al., 2025; Patil & Deshpande, 2025). Market projections suggest significant growth in AI-in-transportation spending through 2032 (Mahajan, 2025).

 Conclusions: The AI-enabled transition is both technologically tractable and institutionally complex. Successful deployment requires interoperable data architectures, clear performance metrics, ethical governance, and alignment with decarbonization goals. We propose an integrative research agenda to address measurement standardization, socio-technical risk, and regulatory harmonization, and outline practical recommendations for fleet operators, policymakers, and researchers.

artificial intelligence, fleet management, route optimization, predictive maintenance

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