Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/772176
commercial carrier journal | january 2017 55 TECHNOLOGY: NEXT-GENERATION DRIVER TRAINING and delivers a set of metrics to fleet managers, neatly organized into nine panels, or tiles, in an online fuel management dashboard. Because True Fuel knows the vehicle's actual and potential mpg, it can capture the difference – the amount of fuel that is wasted or lost – while the vehicle is in motion. e model associates the fuel loss with specific driver behaviors such as speeding, idling and engine control or rpms. In the cab, True Fuel gives drivers instant audible feedback – a distinct set of tones – when fuel use exceeds the optimal bounds for their behavioral parameters. At the end of a trip when the ignition is turned off, drivers get an audible score on a scale of 100 that allows them to as- sess their fuel efficiency quickly and benchmark their efforts to improve. A score of 73 indicates the driver could have performed 27 percent better. e difference, or loss, is caused by behaviors that drivers control. If a driver is using an automatic trans- mission, easing up on the pedal before reaching 1,600 rpm – before an audible alert – would allow the truck to shi up at a lower rpm to save fuel. Other behaviors drivers can improve include engine idling and speeding. An audible alert might be heard when idling exceeds three minutes. Drivers also might receive an alert when they exceed a top speed threshold, such as 65 mph. While the idling and speed thresholds are configurable by each fleet, the rpm threshold is determined by True Fuel's data model and is specific to each vehicle and engine. True Fuel also normalizes the scores for factors outside of a driver's control, such as topography, road speed and load weight, Palum says. True Fuel also captures fuel loss associated with a truck not being geared correctly for the operation. If a driver exceeds 1,600 rpms while in top gear and is going less than the top speed of 65 mph, True Fuel records the fuel loss associated with this event, he says. Automated response Vigillo and J.J. Keller & Associates have joined forces to de- velop an automated system to analyze and remediate risk. Vigillo's big-data analytics platform, Athena, captures fleet Compliance Safety Accountability violations from roadside inspections, as well as real-time critical event and HOS data from telematics systems. Fleets use the platform to identify their areas of risk and deficiencies. J.J. Keller has a library of online driver training cours- es. The courses can be linked by topic to the specific areas of deficiency that Vigillo identifies for its fleet customers based on their CSA and telematics data, among other data sources. If a driver has a speeding event, Vigillo automatically assigns the driver an online training course from J.J. Keller on speeding. Similarly, a driver with an HOS violation, a bad pre-trip inspection or other risky or noncompliant behavior is assigned the appropriate training modules. When the training is assigned to a driver, he automat- ically receives an e-mail with a link to take the online module. J.J. Keller then updates Vigillo's database with the driver's training status and results. Steve Bryan, chief executive of Vigillo, says the new system is designed to not overwhelm drivers with train- ing videos. The training will be prioritized based on risk factors for each type of event. e system works like a "doctor-patient relationship," Bryan says. Vigillo diagnoses the problem and assigns the appropriate J.J. Keller training module as the prescription. The doctor-patient relationship doesn't end with the training prescription. Vigillo continues to monitor a fleet's CSA and telematics data and schedules "check-up visits" to determine if the prescription is working and if the fleet is seeing a steady decrease in violations and crash risk, he says. J.J. Keller also uses the ongoing analysis to find areas where new and more customized training courses can address risk factors further, says Brian Kubiak, director of marketing for J.J. Keller training. Vigillo is pilot-testing the new system and will offer it to fleet customers for a flat fee per driver and require an annual contractual agreement. Vigillo has been providing CSA scorecards and data-mining products to the transportation industry for more than nine years.