FLEET MANAGEMENT TELEMETRY
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Vehicle utilisation is a key factor in reducing costs, so truck-makers have developed fleet management applications similar to those traditionally supplied by third-party suppliers, such as real-time tracking, job dispatch and order management.
An internet or web portal provides the communications interface. Managers can use it to dispatch jobs to vehicles already on the road, locate vehicles, send directions and communicate with drivers by SMS messages.
Darrell Taylor, head of market for Scania Onboard, points out hat a combination of geofences around delivery points and automatic SMS text alerts when vehicles move in and out of the designated area can be as effective as live tracking. "An SMS will give you a time stamp, recording the delivery time, which is as good as a historic trail when it comes to route analysis.'
He also says 90% of Scania Onboard users don't use the portal to access reports or track vehicles, but rely on exception reporting.
So the transport office receives an alert, for example, only if the
vehicle is late arriving at a delivery point. DR.
Most telematics systems include an automatic link to their roadside assistance services. The driver simply presses a button to send the location of the vehicle and its identification to the relevant service centre. Another benefit, says MAN, is that dealers
can get remote access to the vehicle CAN-bus and diagnostic moltâ–ª .
codes, increasing the chances of the technician arriving with the parts and tools.
The introduction of the latest generation of digital tachographs means telematics can help remove one fleet administration headache: the need to periodically download the mass data storage on the vehicle tachograph unit. The new-generation tachographs have an interface that makes this possible and it is expected to appeal to multi-depot, large fleets.