Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/409540
40 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2014 technology M any software applications are focused on maximizing the 30 percent of fuel economy under the driver's control. One thing these products have in common is the ability to correlate mpg to specific driving behaviors that can be improved. But simply reporting data from a truck's electronic control module does not guarantee that drivers and fleet man- agers will know how to use it to improve behavior. How this information is pre- sented to drivers, and how they interact with it, is what makes the difference. Fuel-training apps Nobody, drivers included, really wants more data. "They want solutions," says Jeff Baer, founder and chief executive officer of LinkeDrive, which offers the Pedal- Coach fuel-saving application. "Those solutions must be 'human-centric,' as we are running out of non-human OEM and accessory hardware 'things' to hang on a truck or trailer to save fuel." PedalCoach shows drivers a digital gauge with a needle that represents the flow rate of fuel to the engine. The gauge's "green" area represents the fueling target – the appropriate amount of fuel for the truck at any given moment. PedalCoach connects to the vehicle's J1939 databus to perform instantaneous calculations using ECM data. LinkeDrive also combines the Pedal- Coach application with driver recogni- tion and reward programs. Drivers who strive for higher scores figure out how and when to slow down without sacrific- ing revenue miles or time, Baer says. SmartDrive's video-based driver risk management system has both fuel-saving and safety applications that drivers can use to monitor their performance in both areas. Fleets typically start by implement- ing SmartDrive's safety program that measures 80 different driving skills. After fleets have seen positive results from the safety program, they tend to implement in focus: FUEL-SAVING APPS The ZFuel app keeps a detailed record of fuel performance along a route. Users can drill down to see what driving behaviors caused poor performance. Maximizing mpg smartly Driver-focused apps show what it takes to move the needle BY AARON HUFF Zonar's ZFuel shows the actual amount of fuel that fleets are losing due to less-than-optimal driving behaviors.