Is There A Way To Better Manage Truck Driver Behavior?

Behavior Management for Truck Drivers

Looking at December’s monthly figures, the sales rep frowned at the report in his hands which showed all the speeding tickets that the entire team received that month, and which had exceeded more than last month’s tickets.

What’s worse, the team even had five car accidents. The report also showed total mileage was reduced but fuel consumption actually increased by 10% compared to last month.

Mike, the sales guy immediately knew that all of these problems had to do with driving behavior, but was there a better way to manage driving behavior? This is a question many fleet owners ask.

On the U.S. highway, one often sees many huge trucks roaring by. These truckers are out on the road all day long and seldom return to their dispatch centers.

For example, one main provider of B2B interstate transportation services, known to be one of the best in U.S. transportation industry, owns up to 16,000 vehicles located in different dispatch centers across the country.

In the past, this company used to have a fleet management system that could only provide GPS tracking and scheduling, but as far as “people management” was concerned, an effective behavior management system for truckers was not available.

So, if there was a driver behavior violation that broke agreed company rules, fleet managers could only punish an individual driver afterward, such as docking their salary. A real-time system could have provided warnings with corrective advice, action, and even penalties.

Driving Behavior Sensor - Helps Drivers Follow the Rules

Fleet operators want to have a solution that can help them further manage driver behavior so as to reduce their insurance costs, accident probability, and wear & tear on tires and parts, all aiming towards the overall goal of the punctual delivery of goods.

Driving Coach is an instant fleet management device that combines Vnomics’ software and Advantech’s hardware, and perfectly meets fleet owners’ expectations.

Through sensing mechanisms, the device is able to detect any actions that truck drivers take with their vehicle. As soon as there is a behavior that is prohibited, against the rules or just dangerous, the Driving Coach system will immediately send reminders and alerts.

Some drivers park their trucks at the roadside to eat their food in the vehicle and enjoy the free air conditioning - sometimes for hours. Some drivers have a habit of pressing the gas pedal or the brake pedal suddenly. Some drivers don’t use their turn signals and some drivers even wait until the last second to shift gears, resulting in their vehicles running at high speeds in low gears.

All of these behaviors result in a significant increase in fuel consumption, maintenance costs, and even safety problems. All of these events can be sensed, and if they violate the rules, the system will sound an alarm and display a message asking drivers to rectify the situation.

Advantech’s in-vehicle computers can also read any error codes from the engine, including temperature abnormality, low oil levels etc. Not only will drivers be informed of this information, but also back-end management. Depending on the circumstances, the system will enforce the mandatory or non-mandatory policy to deal with a problem immediately.

For example, a message might appear on the display requiring the driver to go to any nearby service station to check the oil level within 30 minutes. If a driver fails to respond after that time, then the backend management staff will be notified to ask the driver to explain why he or she was unable to follow the command.

Fleet Efficiency Reduces Operating Costs

As long as drivers follow all the instructions, each vehicle can save up to about $3,000 USD a year including fuel, and maintenance fees. In fact, through the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System), one can avoid car accidents, and file for compensation from the tire company under the product warranty.

There is up to 20% fuel consumption difference “before and after” using this system. All of these savings will be reflected in the monthly report and fleet owners are satisfied with the improvement.

Advantech’s TREK-550 is the real-time fleet management’s in-vehicle computer and the display uses the TREK-303. Advantech’s Director of iService Business Group Van Lin said,

“Vnomics’ fleet management software solution is 100% compatible with Advantech’s in-vehicle computers. In order to avoid frequent recalls of vehicles for system repairs, the equipment used in fleet management must be highly stable and reliable and must have a high capability to integrate with additional modules in order to meet customer demands for expansion. These are the reasons why Vnomics continues to collaborate closely with Advantech.”

Unlike other in-vehicle computers that can only collect data to send to the back office for further processing, Advantech’s in-vehicle computer has a powerful chipset that can perform real-time calculations so it can provide immediate information and instructions to truck drivers.

Van Lin also said, “Real-time is the core concept behind Vnomics’ Driving Coach solution. In-vehicle computers must be able to handle large and complex amounts of data while the vehicle is in motion, in hot or cold environments - now that’s a challenge!”

By combining Vnomics’ software and Advantech’s hardware, the Driving Coach fleet management solution can monitor and correct truck driver behavior, thereby enhancing road safety and reducing operating costs.

Focusing on these goals, Vnomics and Advantech will pay close attention to customer needs, continue to strengthen the integration of hardware and software technologies, and develop more solutions that help fleet operators to effectively improve their management.