Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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and onboard computing platform, software compa- nies use PeopleNet's Open Interface, which enables third-party applications to send and receive data such as location, messages, driver logs and vehicle data col- lected by the onboard system. Fleets that have custom applications they wish to integrate with PeopleNet can use PeopleNet Link, a tool that extracts informa- tion from the Open Interface into a database that resides in customers' IT systems; this allows fl eets to integrate applications internally at the database level using familiar tools such as SQL. Blue Tree Systems, which offers the R:Com fl eet man- agement system, also gives customers the option to host a database at their locations, allowing them to use SQL to create custom applications, alerts and reports, says Steve Katz, director of sales. Open hardware and soft- ware platforms such as An- droid also are helping speed the integration between the offi ce and cab. Fleets looking to deploy an integrated in- cab scanning system can have drivers download a mobile app from Pegasus TransTech or ACS TripPak Services to their personal smartphones. Other mobile apps on the Android platform include turn-by-turn navigation and proof-of-delivery systems with signature capture and barcode scanning. ACS Trip- Pak Services partnered with uFollowit to produce TripPak Mobile, an integrated freight tracking and document management solution for smartphones. More than 14,000 ap- plications for transpor- tation now are avail- able, and 86 percent of drivers are using some sort of smart device, says Christian Schenk, vice presi- dent of product marketing for Xata Corp. "As long as the platform is conducive, the opportunities are endless," Schenk says. Web browsing Some mobile comput- ing platforms now include a browser and Internet connectivity. This feature requires no integration to deploy applications such as Schneider's Crossroads driver Web portal in the cab. Rand McNally's TruckPC 2 platform includes an Internet browser. Companies can use the browser to give drivers access to the Fleet Watcher portal, the same Website that management would use to view driver performance. Drivers can view metrics on fuel, safety and other areas and how they rank in comparison to their peers, Meadows says. Another integra- tion trend is to include URLs within mobile applications, such as including a link to a training video about pretrip checks within the application that drivers use when mak- ing their inspections. Smartphones and tablets built for the lat- RAND MCNALLY INCLUDES ITS CONNECT THIRD-PARTY INTEGRA- TION SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR NO ADDITIONAL COST WITH THE PURCHASE OF A TND 760 AND A MONTHLY SERVICE PLAN. est cellular networks such as 4G LTE are equipped to run applications with stream- ing video content. Rugged devices also are making the migration; Panasonic recently launched two 4G-capable devices, the Toughbook 53 and Toughbook 31mk2. "As the world migrates to mobile apps, there is not a lot of software on the device," Schenk says. "The app communicates to a hosted database, which produces the majority of data and logic." ACS TRIPPAK SERVICES PART- NERED WITH UFOLLOWIT TO PRODUCE TRIPPAK MOBILE, AN INTEGRATED FREIGHT TRACKING AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR SMARTPHONES. Most in-cab platforms in the market today use the EVDO 1X network; this fi rst- generation digital network is not designed to handle browser communications, which is why more providers are adding a Wi-Fi option. PeopleNet plans to add Web browsing capability via Wi-Fi later this year. CarrierWeb plans to add Wi-Fi capability to its latest devices but doesn't have immediate plans to add a Web browser. Hours of service Fleets have adopted elec- tronic onboard recorders at a feverish pace in recent years, and integration has provided fl eet managers with the same hours-of-service visibility that drivers have in the cab. Gordon Sevig Trucking Co., 3 a 140-truck carrier based in Wolford, Iowa, uses the eDriv- er Logs application from its PeopleNet onboard comput- ing system; HOS information also is displayed in its dispatch software, TMW Suite. Tom Schmidt, GSTC vice president and general manager, says managers do not use the added visibility to micromanage drivers and make decisions for them. "(EOBRs) have made drivers better managers as far as time is concerned," Schmidt says. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2012 67