Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/772176
commercial carrier journal | january 2017 35 technology Maintaining visibility Tech helps drivers, fleets synchronize schedules BY AARON HUFF E scaping the routine of an 8-to-5 workday may be appeal- ing to drivers, but creating a more agreeable schedule is a daily challenge. Nothing is certain with the dynamics of traffic, weather, parking availability, remaining hours of ser- vice and estimated arrival times. Fortunately, drivers can download trip-planning tools for personal devices, and fleets also have systems they use to provide more detailed, accurate schedul- ing information to drivers and maintain visibility of the plan as it changes. e technologies that drivers and fleets use for planning trips are likely to grow this year with the trucking industry converting to electronic log- ging devices ahead of this December's enforcement deadline. Truck parking Many drivers use mobile apps to locate available parking spots along their route, plan rest breaks, check fuel prices and find safe locations to spend their off-duty periods for HOS compliance. Trucker Path Pro uses crowdsourc- ing to gather more than 136,000 weekly parking updates from more than 400,000 drivers. e app com- bines the updates with three years of historical data to predict availability at thousands of parking locations by day of week and time of day. e Park My Truck app was devel- oped by the Truck Parking Leadership Initiative comprised of the American Transportation Research Institute, the American Trucking Associations and the National Association of Truck Stop Operators. Park My Truck allows any public or private parking provider to update real-time availability to drivers. Another free app, My One20, in- cludes navigation with trucker-friend- ly points of interest, weigh station status, map layers, search capabilities and ETA calculations that include HOS restriction estimates, travel times, traffic and speed. e developer, One20, also offers the One20 Tablet that includes a truck-safe mount, char- ger and protective case. Enterprise planning Fleets want drivers to be able to plan their schedules without losing sight of their ETA, remaining hours and avail- ability for the next load assignment. Fleets that use mobile computing and communications systems still have limited visibility if drivers don't use the platform's turn-by-turn navigation and other trip-planning tools. TMW Systems describes its upcom- ing Trip Insight application as a "com- prehensive journey management" tool that synchronizes the trip planning of drivers and fleet managers to provide continuous visibility. Trip Insight is a Soware-as-a-Ser- vice that combines route optimization soware running on a multi-tenant server in the cloud, ALK's CoPilot Truck navigation application running on PeopleNet mobile devices in the cab, and the TMW Suite transporta- tion management soware system in the office. When activated, Trip Insight appears as a tab in TMW Operations, a program that fleet managers use for planning loads and dispatching drivers. By clicking on the Trip Insight tab, a planner sees a driver's optimized trip plan – including recommended locations for HOS breaks and fuel, with ETAs for each stop – in sequence. Once a dispatch assignment is final- ized, the optimized trip plans are sent to the PeopleNet devices. As the route progresses, ETAs for each stop are visible to drivers and fleet managers. ey change dynamically as the planned route progresses and as real- time traffic and weather data from ALK are brought into the calculations. Trip Insight also calculates the projected day and time that drivers will be available to start their next dispatch assignment, known as PTA. As mobile technologies continue to evolve, fleets are able to deploy more advanced trip-planning tools that give drivers added control over their work schedules and routing preferences while maintaining total visibility. in focus: TRIP PLANNING The Trucker Path Pro app gathers more than 136,000 weekly parking updates from more than 400,000 active drivers through a crowdsourcing feature.