CCJ

June 2015

Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal

Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/526371

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Navigation

Page 45 of 84

44 commercial carrier journal | june 2015 technology R outing software in the back office and GPS navigation apps are used by fleets and drivers to optimize time, mileage and fuel purchases. Many of these applications use real-time data for traffic, weather, fuel prices and more to update trip plans dynamically. Despite the many benefits of these systems, something seems to be missing from the calculation: where to park and if spots will be available when drivers arrive. Without this information, drivers are more likely to stop at familiar spots, which might sacrifice productive driving time. But encouraging maximum utiliza- tion could be worse if it leads to a night at an abandoned gas station, industrial area or freeway onramp as the 11th or 14th hour approaches. In 2009, the worst-case scenario hap- pened when trucker Jason Rivenburg was murdered while taking a break at an abandoned gas station in South Carolina, only 12 miles from his delivery. In 2012, the MAP-21 highway bill included a pro- vision called Jason's Law to help fund the expansion of public truck parking spaces. But technology may help alleviate the truck parking problem faster than infra- structure development, and that appears to be happening. In 2011, about 30 percent of truck drivers were connected with smart- phones and tablets, and by the end of 2014, 80 percent had the technology. Drivers now are using crowdsourcing apps to contribute real-time truck park- ing data to the routing process. Telogis Navigation Through its Software-as-a-Service offering, Telogis provides a "location intelligence platform" with a number of integrated components. Its naviga- tion platform combines a turn-by-turn navigation app and a cloud-based route optimization engine. Telogis Navigation uses multiple layers of map data with truck-specific points of interest such as truck stops, rest stops and other parking locations. Fleets and driv- ers can enter and save information about these spots to create preferred routes. The route optimization engine uses the vehicle's current location, planned stops and fleet-specific parameters to calculate routes. By factoring this data with the rest of the Telogis platform, a real-time estimated time of arrival is calculated for each scheduled delivery on a route. This dynamic ETA considers current vehicle, road and traffic speeds as well as drivers' hours-of-service constraints. By knowing the ETA, drivers are able to plan ahead for parking, says Kelly Frey, vice president of product marketing for Telogis. If a delivery is scheduled for the next morning in downtown Houston, the driver could see quickly that he would run out of hours before reaching the location because of traffic conditions. The driver may decide to park outside of Houston and arrive at the delivery spot before rush hour, unload and leave after traffic eases. "All of those things require optimiza- tion," Frey says. "Ultimately, one of the key things for driver retention is better trip planning." Telogis uses crowdsourcing to gather updates on weather and road alerts for routing, and it plans to extend its use to capture more information about parking locations. Up to 50 inputs are received daily from about 150,000 drivers at fleets using its navigation platform, which runs on all types of mobile devices, Frey says. Trucker Path When Ivan Tsybaev owned a Los Ange- les-based freight forwarding company, he became keenly aware of the inefficiencies and problems in transportation. Sensing an opportunity to provide a service to help others work around them, Tsybaev in focus: Routing softwaRe Time to pull over? Truck parking becoming part of routing equation by aaron huff Telogis Navigation uses multiple layers of map data with truck-specific points of interest such as truck stops, rest stops and other parking locations. EDITOR'S NOTE: To see how the latest in-cab navigation apps perform in the real world, check out CCJ Reader Reviews (www.ccjdigital.com/ reviews), where fleet managers rate ALK Co-Pilot, Telogis Navigation, Garmin Dezl and Rand McNally's IntelliRoute TND.

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