There are great numbers of vehicle manufacturers having different types of vehicles on the market. They all have specific individual in-vehicle communication systems. To be able to “understand” each vehicle, one has to learn all these specific “languages”.
Since the establishment of the FMS standard, there is no need to learn many, just one “language”: the FMS protocol. No matter which OEM produced the particular vehicle, if it is equipped with an FMS interface (FMS Gateway), you can get the same output, as you would do for all vehicles equipped with FMS interfaces. The standard itself was a huge step forward in fleet management, since telematics devices (AVL) could access vehicle technical information without the need of vehicle specific developments.
In this section you can read about the history of FMS Standard, understand the difference between Truck and Bus FMS, and search for a specific signal.
In the beginning of the XXI. century, GPS based vehicle tracking systems became more and more affordable, but they still could not provide vehicle related technical information. In 2002, six major truck manufacturers (Volvo, Scania, Iveco, MAN, DAF, Mercedes-Benz) decided to create a standardized vehicle interface for these GPS based tracking systems, called the FMS standard.
FMS Standard 1.0 (Initial standard issued in 2002)
Bus FMS standard (Ver. 00.01 issued in 2007, specialized standard for buses and coaches including specific signals like door openings, etc. Since then the original “FMS Standard 1.0” was also referred as “Truck FMS Standard”)
FMS Standard 2.0 (extended standard issued in 2010. This standard took over some signals from the Bus FMS Standard, but FMS Standard 2.0 was still handled separately for Trucks.)
FMS Standard 3.0 harmonized Bus and Truck standard (issued in 2012). From now on there is only FMS Standard 3.0, but there are separated sections inside for buses and trucks.
The development of FMS-standard is now under the umbrella of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). The dedicated working group “Heavy Truck Electronic Interface Group” meets regularly to discuss the needs of the FMS-standard.
FMS Standard 1.0 issued in 2002.
For buses and coaches there was no common interface standard for Fleet Management Systems, so the most significant European bus manufacturers decided to design an interface based on the (Truck) FMS Standard according to the J1939 standard. This common interface was called as Bus FMS Standard.
These establishing manufacturers were:
Daimler Buses - EvoBus GmbH, MAN Truck & Bus AG, Scania CV, Volvo Bus Corporation, IrisBus Iveco, VDL Bus International B.V.
Until the issue of FMS Standard 3.0, the Bus FMS Standard was developed separately from the original (Truck) FMS Standard. FMS Standard 3.0 contains the two different standards harmonized in one documentation.
FMS Standard until version 2.0 is also called as Truck-FMS Standard. See FMS standard for more information.
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