With the fleet 660 for light commercial vehicle fleets and the fleet 670 for commercial truck fleets, customers can introduce off-the-shelf or purpose built apps that meet their unique requirements. The new devices also connect to and control a wide range of external devices over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

‘The fleet 660 and 670 are our first products that combine trusted Garmin navigation and hardware with the flexibility of Android,’ explained Clive Taylor, director, fleet management & commercial business at Garmin. ‘These new devices will wonderfully address some simple needs of fleets, such as signature capture for proof of delivery, and be able to solve many business issues we haven’t even yet thought of.’

The fleet 660 and 670 hardware is optimised for in-cab use with a rugged dust-proof design, high-sensitivity GPS, extra loud speaker, and a sunlight readable, 6-inch capacitive touch screen that is designed to make driving-related information easy to read at a glance.

A powered magnetic mount allows for a quick and easy removal for use outside the vehicle, and the devices can wirelessly connect to a black box data transponder or other sensors and peripherals, such as a wireless printer or camera.

The fleet 660 and 670 include the latest navigation technology from Garmin, such as Garmin Real Directions, voice activated navigation, Active Lane Guidance, with voice prompts as well as free lifetime traffic and maps.

Both devices also feature an integrated gyroscope to record and analyse driving behaviour and support Near Field Communication (NFC) for driver and vehicle identification and data synchronization.

Both devices are expected to become available in the fourth quarter of 2014.