Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/426899
52 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2014 TECHNOLOGY: FUEL-SAVING APPS management system that comes with the company's 2020 industrial-grade Android tablet display, V3 onboard computer and the Ground Traffic Control online man- agement portal. s #ARRIER7EB is developing new driver scoring and coaching applications for its CarrierMate mobile fleet management system. As a standard CarrierMate feature, driv- ers can view their individual performance statistics by trip using the in-cab Mobile Data Terminal when the vehicle is not in motion. Fleets also can allow drivers to access CarrierMate's online management portal to view individual performance metrics. The portal can be arranged to show drivers the fleet's goals for fuel economy, idle time, speed and other parameters, allowing drivers to track their own perfor- mance. CarrierWeb also is planning a graphical user interface for its Mobile Data Terminal to allow drivers to see how their perfor- mance measures up against peer groups. If the fleet is averaging 6.8 mpg, drivers can see where they rank within the lower, middle or upper tier of that parameter. CarrierWeb also is developing training tools to show drivers how to improve to reach the top tier, such as idle reduc- tion tips, shifting techniques and other areas. The company also is creating more real-time alerts to give drivers an ad- vance warning when the system detects a problem, such as a decline in fuel economy, before the alerts escalate to the fleet man- agement level. s /MNITRACS has added mpg perfor- mance information on its Mobile Com- puting Platform 110 (MCP110) and 200 (MCP200) user interfaces, allowing fuel efficiency feedback to be delivered directly to the driver via the in-cab unit. s &UEL/PPS is an application designed to provide feedback to drivers regarding fuel-efficient driving techniques based on the type of equipment they use. The application automatically transmits driver performance information from the fleet's existing mobile computing systems to the FuelOpps database on a daily basis. FuelOpps also sends messages to drivers through the fleet's mobile computing platforms. On Mondays, drivers might receive a message detailing skill strategies to attain the weekly goal. Midweek, their progress could be evaluated, with feedback relayed via another message. On Fridays, a summary would be available for review. Drivers also can access the FuelOpps da- tabase online, where a screen shows three ratings for fuel efficiency: acceleration and shifting, cruising and overall driving. For each rating, FuelOpps shows drivers a score on a 10-point scale. Shading around the score shows the range of all driver scores in the fleet for each group, such as local, regional and longhaul. Drivers also see their group percentile ranking and their overall FuelOpps rating, a blended ranking using the first two ratings. By scoring in the 55th percentile or higher, drivers earn points for every mile they drove that day within fleet parame- ters; no points are deducted. Depending on how the fleet sets up the program, drivers can redeem their Fuel- Opps points from an online gift catalog or for a fleet-specific award, such as a meal voucher or cash. s #ADEC designed its PowerVue fleet management platform to be integrated with many third-party products and to proactively coach drivers toward perfor- mance benchmarks. Managers can set parameters for speed, rpm and idling, and drivers can receive visual and audible alerts. s 3MART$RIVE offers a video-based driver risk management system that has both a safety and a fuel-saving application for drivers to monitor their performance. Fleets that implement SmartDrive typically start with the safety program, which measures 80 different driving skills. After fleets have seen the safety program's results, they tend to add the fuel efficiency application, says Jason Palmer, president of SmartDrive. The SmartDrive Fuel app shows drivers a score that is a measure of how their fuel-saving behaviors compare to other drivers and to the target mpg for their ve- hicle. The target mpg is based on individu- al route characteristics, such as the mix of freeway versus city driving. SmartDrive also captures fuel-inefficient events on video that fleet man- agers can review later with drivers to help them improve certain behaviors such as shifting tech- niques. The vid- eo is displayed on a dashboard that contains a number of digital gauges for rpms, speed and other parameters captured during the event. CarrierWeb is planning new driver scoring and coaching applications for its CarrierMate mobile fleet management system. Omnitracs added mpg performance information on its MCP110 and MCP200 user interfaces. SmartDrive offers a video-based driver risk management system that has both a safety and a fuel-saving application.