With Fleet Engine, you can track and share the progress of vehicles as
they complete jobs. A key concept in this process is the **Journey**. This
document provides an overview of what journeys are, how they are used, and how
they relate to other components of Fleet Engine.

## What is a Journey?

A **Journey** represents the route for a vehicle from the origin to the
termination of a specific assignment. This is the portion of a vehicle's
activity that you want to share, for example, with an end-user awaiting a
ride or a delivery.

Think of it like this: a delivery vehicle might be active for an 8-hour shift,
but a single journey might only be the trip from the warehouse to a specific
customer's address to drop off a package.

## Journeys in Action: Examples

Journeys are fundamental to both on-demand and scheduled services:

- **On-Demand Services:** For a ridesharing service, a journey typically represents a single ride for a passenger, from their pickup location to their destination.
- **Scheduled Services:** For deliveries, a journey could be the vehicle's travel to a single stop to deliver a particular package.

## Key Aspects of a Journey

Several pieces of information define and describe a journey:

- **Origin and Destination:** The defined start and end points of the assignment.
- **Vehicle:** The specific vehicle assigned to complete the journey.
- **Route:** The planned path the vehicle is expected to take.
- **Real-time Updates:** Fleet Engine provides real-time updates, including the vehicle's current location and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA).
- **Status:** Journeys have a lifecycle, with statuses such as *Active* , *Completed* , or *Cancelled*.

## How Journeys Relate to Other Fleet Engine Concepts

Journeys don't exist in isolation. They are closely tied to other core
concepts in Fleet Engine:

- **Vehicles:** Journeys are always performed *by* vehicles. You can learn more in the [Vehicles Introduction](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/essentials/vehicles-intro.md.txt).
- **Trips (On-Demand):** In the context of on-demand rides and deliveries, a journey often corresponds directly to a `Trip` entity. See the [Trips Introduction](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/essentials/trip-intro.md.txt).
- **Tasks (Scheduled):** For scheduled operations, such as multi-stop deliveries, a journey might represent the travel involved in completing one or more `Task` entities. See the [Tasks Introduction](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/essentials/tasks-intro.md.txt).

## Benefits of Tracking Journeys

Tracking journeys with Fleet Engine offers several advantages:

- **Enhanced End-User Experience:** Provide customers with real-time visibility into the status of their ride or delivery, including map visualizations and accurate ETAs.
- **Improved Operational Oversight:** Monitor the progress of assignments and vehicle locations in real time.
- **Accurate ETA Prediction:** Use Google's traffic data and routing capabilities for reliable ETAs.

## Next Steps

To dive deeper into how journeys are managed within Fleet Engine,
explore the following guides:

- Learn how journeys are used in on-demand services: [Manage Trips](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/journeys/trips.md.txt)
- Learn how journeys are used in scheduled services: [Manage Tasks](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/journeys/tasks.md.txt)