Catalyst AI update offers deeper insights for fleet managers

Penske Truck Leasing has announced upgrades to its Catalyst AI platform, designed to provide fleet managers with enhanced data-driven capabilities for operational decision-making.

The new version of Catalyst AI analyses more than 100 billion data points annually and introduces several new tools, including the ability for fleet managers to create custom comparison sets of top-performing vehicles to identify and address performance gaps within their own fleets.

Among the key updates are four core enhancements. The Fantasy Fleet feature enables users to compare vehicles in their fleet with a set of high-performing, similar vehicles, pinpointing areas for potential improvement. Additionally, vehicle-level comparison allows for the precise identification of performance differences between individual vehicles, aiding fleet managers in targeting adjustments where they may have the greatest effect.

With the addition of hub-level comparison, the updated platform allows operational assessment by location, offering opportunities to increase efficiency by drilling down into specific hubs or facilities. The new release also brings a focus on impacting metrics, giving users detailed insights into the areas most relevant to their operations, such as fuel efficiency, maintenance costs, and utilisation.

Speaking on the release, Art Vallely, President of Penske Truck Leasing, said: "The new release marks a next chapter for Catalyst AI - one that makes complex data more usable, more scalable, and more actionable. We've enhanced the platform's ability to surface trends, benchmark at the vehicle level, and identify meaningful outliers across fleets and facilities. Built in-house, the platform was designed to help our customers spend less time chasing data and more time improving performance."

Catalyst AI has steadily evolved in recent years, aiming to keep pace with the increasingly complex needs of fleet operations. By offering faster insights and clearer performance benchmarks, the platform intends to support users as they respond to shifting operational and economic challenges.

The changes come as Penske publishes its 2025 Transportation Leaders Survey: A Road to AI Adoption, highlighting the widening demands and challenges in the sector. According to the survey, 40% of transportation and logistics leaders now identify fleet operations as one of their top challenges, up by ten percentage points from the previous year. In addition, 52% of respondents cite rising costs, and 45% point to ongoing supply chain disruptions as significant concerns.

The survey indicates that 36% of leaders feel only somewhat prepared to respond to sustained supply chain or economic disruptions. There is, however, strong consensus on the potential value of artificial intelligence, with 93% agreeing that AI can improve organisational resiliency and the ability to adapt to sudden shifts.

Surveyed leaders noted that targeted insights regarding maintenance costs (cited by 44%), fuel price trends (41%), and fleet utilisation rates (36%) were priority information areas for boosting decision-making and resiliency. Among organisations already using AI, about 40% reported achieving savings of at least 50% in fuel expenditure, operational costs, and distance travelled through optimised routing. Reported improvements also included fleet planning (36%), route optimisation (35%), and operational efficiencies (34%).

Despite this, 84% believe the industry is lagging behind in AI adoption, and a significant proportion remain uncertain about their ability to manage ongoing challenges, further highlighting the need for actionable, data-driven solutions.

Sherry Sanger, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Marketing at Penske Transportation Solutions, commented: "We've designed Catalyst AI with our customers' needs in mind. Catalyst AI represents a strategic leap forward in how fleets use data. It's not just about visibility - it's about empowering smarter decisions across the entire network with technology that works in the real world."

Since its initial launch in 2024, the Catalyst AI platform has expanded to serve thousands of users, becoming a central element in how many teams within the Penske network manage reporting, benchmarking, and planning across vehicles and locations.

Tim Haynes, Vice President of Digital and Customer Data at Penske, explained: "Catalyst AI now analyses over 100 billion data points annually. We've engineered a system that runs more than 300 models in real time - delivering comparison logic, trend detection, and scoring that is both scalable and immediate. This release reflects the technical backbone required to help fleets benchmark smarter and respond faster."

The enhanced Catalyst AI functionality is incorporated within Comparative Insights, a component of the Fleet Insight digital platform. Standard Comparative Insights, powered by Catalyst AI at the fleet level, remains available to Penske customers at no cost, while a premium subscription plan adds access to more granular vehicle and hub-level data, as well as the Fantasy Fleet feature.