The city of New Orleans will move the management of its city vehicle fleet to the cloud in a bid to improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of city fleet operations across its 41 departments.
For the move, the city will work with Samsara and deploy the company’s Connected Operations Cloud. As part of the initiative, the city said it is investing $75 million to move the vehicle fleets of 41 departments, including New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD), Department of Public Works (DPW), Division of Code Enforcement, Department of Parks and Parkways (PPW), and Department of Sanitation, to the cloud.
“The City of New Orleans’ partnership with Samsara is just another example of how we are continuing to prepare our workforce for the 21st century and ensuring that City employees, especially our public safety and public works teams, have innovative technology to work more efficiently,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “These teams rely on the city fleet to get the job done and to get it done well. Additionally, Samsara is aligned with our goal to transition to the use of electric vehicles as part of our efforts to combat climate change and the detrimental effects of emissions. Partnerships like these deliver great results for City government, which, in turn, allows us to deliver more progress for our residents.”
The city’s workforce operates a diverse fleet of approximately 2,800 light and heavy-duty vehicles and motorcycles. In a press release, city officials said they needed a “trusted digital transformation partner that would provide the data insights needed to reduce costs, maximize taxpayer dollars, and increase service transparency with its residents.”
With access to real-time data from Samsara’s Connected Operations Cloud, the city expects to strengthen its operations in various ways, including increased vehicle uptime and proactive maintenance, improved driver safety and support, better fuel efficiency and accelerated transition to electric vehicles, and faster communications.
This isn’t Samsara’s first time working in the city. The company has worked with New Orleans Emergency Medical Services (NOEMS) since 2021. NOEMS uses the company’s Video-Based Safety, Site Visibility and Vehicle Telematics solutions. The department said the technology solution has improved proactive maintenance, vehicle utilization, and driver safety and exoneration.
“New Orleans EMS has been utilizing Samsara for several years, and I am very satisfied with the capabilities it has provided us to create a safer and better maintained fleet,” said NOEMS Chief Bill Salmeron. “We are happy to see that the city has chosen Samara to expand to more vehicles in the fleet, which shows our commitment to maintaining the vehicles that we have invested in and that serve the public every day.”
