May 28, 2026 | Commercial Bus, Motorcoach, School Bus, Transit
For transportation providers, onboard video systems remain essential for safety, accountability and fleet oversight. But new challenges have emerged that many fleet managers didn’t anticipate: rising solid state drive prices and limited availability of NAND flash memory.
Solid state drives (SSDs) used in mobile DVRs rely on NAND flash components that are now costlier and more difficult to obtain. Research reported by CNBC indicates this isn’t a short-term fluctuation. As a result, fleet operators must reassess their video storage strategy to adapt to the ongoing shortage and to help control costs.
What’s Behind the Shortage?
The underlying cause is simple: demand is surpassing supply.
The rapid expansion of AI-driven data centers and cloud infrastructure demands unprecedented volumes of NAND flash memory, a key component in SSDs. Large technology companies are investing heavily in storage to support their AI and high-performance computing. In response, International Data Corporation notes that memory manufacturers have shifted production for consumer electronics toward memory used in AI data centers. This leaves limited supply available for other industries, including transportation.
How Memory Shortage Impacts Fleet Operations
The impact is twofold.
First, solid state drive prices are climbing. As NAND memory becomes more expensive, so do the storage devices used in mobile video systems.
“While we work to minimize pricing increases wherever possible, REI must remain aligned with current market conditions. Storage costs, in particular, have continued to rise above initial expectations. These challenges are not unique to REI, as they are impacting suppliers and providers across all industries,” notes Riley Hays, REI’s Sales Operations Manager.
Second, procurement timelines are increasing. Lengthy production timelines for memory chips and wafer bonding are further compounding the shortage. When combined with the limited number of memory manufacturers, these factors create significant procurement delays, adding strain to an already tight supply chain.
REI’s component supplier indicates that all NAND flash output for 2026 and 2027 is already committed. Demand is expected to remain high through 2027, according to NAND-Research.com. For fleet operators, this means ongoing pricing pressure and sourcing delays for storage hardware.
How Fleets Can Adapt to Rising SSD Prices
Fleets may realize shortage effects quickly and operationally. Higher solid state drive prices can negatively impact budgets, especially for operations expanding or upgrading their video systems across fleets. Procurement delays can also slow or halt installations, causing gaps in coverage. To help reduce the impact on your operation, consider alternative storage approaches.
Some systems are configured to record and retain full days of continuous video across every vehicle. While this approach is thorough, it creates a significant storage burden. Hours of uneventful footage deplete valuable space and intensify hardware demands. At a time when storage is expensive and constrained, this practice is not cost-effective.
REI offers these two tips to help you reduce storage demands for your operation:
1. Integrate ARMOR™ Software Suite
Rather than expanding storage to retain all footage, reduce storage demands by changing how you manage video. REI’s ARMOR™ Software Suite is designed with that goal in mind.
The suite automatically downloads flagged video clips from your fleet DVRs and stores them indefinitely in the optional ARMOR Cloud. You save only the clips that matter versus an entire day’s footage. This significantly reduces storage space.
By storing less unnecessary data, you can use smaller, lower cost hard drives without compromising your ability to capture and retain critical events. Review your state’s requirements for video retention. ARMOR and the cloud could be a cost-effective option.
2. Rethink SSDs
As solid state drive prices rise, REI suggests operations revisit their long-held assumptions that SSDs are more reliable than spinning disk drives (HDDs). It’s true that SSDs lack moving parts, but in mobile environments, reliability isn’t determined by that factor alone.
In fleet applications, REI believes dust, moisture and vibration are the leading causes of HDD failure. If these factors aren’t properly addressed, any storage medium is at risk. That’s where design and engineering become critical.
To counter these elements, REI designs fully sealed hard‑drive enclosures and fanless DVRs that minimize dust and moisture exposure. We also engineer these spinning-disk enclosures to minimize vibration on the drives. In these controlled environments, spinning disk drives can deliver reliability comparable to SSDs, allowing you to attain similar performance at a lower cost.
Planning Ahead for Higher Solid State Drive Prices
Demand for NAND flash memory isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon, according to the HP Workforce Experience. As AI infrastructure continues to expand, competition for storage resources will remain intense.
For transportation operations, that means adapting, not simply paying higher SSD prices. A smarter path forward is to improve your storage efficiency by implementing cloud-based solutions and the right hardware versus simply adding capacity. You can then optimize performance and maintain greater control over costs.
Let us help you choose the right solutions to mitigate storage issues within your operation. Talk to your REI sales rep or contact us to start the conversation. Together, we can keep your operation moving forward.
Jan 27, 2021 | Agriculture & Construction, Commercial Bus, Motorcoach, Transit
Today’s complex, intelligent technology is enhancing and advancing transportation like never before. Besides redefining existing infotainment systems for passengers, our motor coach and tour bus cameras, driver assistance, and PA system technology are introducing new concepts in safety, surveillance, troubleshooting and reporting to assist drivers and owner/operators—all from a single, central console.
What are these recent advancements? Are they easily integrated into your motorcoach or transit bus operations? What are the benefits? REI has the answers.
An Omaha, Nebraska-based engineering and manufacturing company, REI specializes in high-tech electronics for the global transportation industry, including motor coach and tour bus cameras, driver assistance, and PA system technology. Dave Chavez, senior electronics systems engineer at REI, notes, “Technology is advancing rapidly, and vehicles are becoming smarter, more connected, safer and easier to use. We collaborate with OEMs and partners around the world as we research and develop our motor coach and tour bus cameras, driver assistance, and PA system applications. The advancements and trends in intelligent technology that we’re creating now are taking us one step closer to artificial intelligence.”
Among REI’s complex solutions elevating travel experiences for today’s drivers, passengers and owner/operators: a touch-screen multimedia player and a 360-degree camera observation system with radar object detection. Each of our motor coach and tour bus cameras, driver assistance systems, PA systems, and more of our equipment is engineered explicitly to communicate with vehicles’ existing onboard computers to facilitate easy integration, operation and performance.
ECVR-6700T Multimedia Radio
The nerve center of REI integration, the new ECVR-6700T Multimedia Radio is a centralized, touch screen-controlled, human-to-machine interface (HMI) allowing complete, simple and seamless operation of all subsystems for drivers and passengers. In addition to driver features like dual-zone A/V controls, dual-zone Bluetooth pairing, a large 6.2-inch display and an HDMI switch option for 1080p playback, the ECVR-6700T offers HD views and notifications provided by optional, integrated advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Back-up views, 360-degree views, audio/visual alerts and radar are just a few examples.
Scott Hays, president of REI, adds, “Drivers contend with a multitude of uncontrollable variables at any given moment. Whether it’s watching for other motorists, vehicle health issues or keeping passengers happy, our ECVR-6700T monitors, detects, records, reports and displays crucial details for drivers, all from one convenient system. Its integrated capabilities are true advancements in transportation surveillance and infotainment.”
When integrated with onboard high-definition monitors and REI’s MP-5000HD Digital Media Player with GPS and passenger safety messaging, this unit delivers vivid, GPS-automated events and announcements.
3D 360˚ HD Surround View Camera System with Radar Object Detection
Among the ECVR-6700T’s features is its ability to display driver-assisted views, including those captured by REI’s 3D 360˚ HD Surround View Camera System. Integrating camera observation with radar object detection and a J1939 CAN-bus interface for easier installation, the system provides advanced, driver-assisted views for parking, turns and lane changes. This radar-based system makes intuitive, adaptive guidelines possible, allowing drivers to view and compensate for tail-swing in difficult situations.
“The in-dash 6700T puts owner/operators, drivers and passengers at the forefront of complex, integrated technology,” states Hays. “It may be retrofitted in the field or installed by manufacturers. More importantly, it elevates passenger and driver safety and infotainment to new levels.”
