Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/538378
48 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JULY 2015 COVER STORY: THE INTERNET OF TRANSPORTATION THINGS monitor and transmit information to the office. "Our industry has been doing the Internet of Things for a long time," says R. Fenton-May, chairman of CarrierWeb, a provider of mobile communications and telematics technology. Onboard devices such as CarrierWeb's CarrierMate use the J1939 connection to provide mis- sion-critical data for electronic logs, load tracking, driver performance monitoring and more. Mark Botticelli, chief technology officer of PeopleNet, says there is an opportunity to improve information sharing among various third-party systems that connect to vehicle networks, such as lane depar- ture warning and stability control. Cur- rently, most of these systems do not know what the other devices on the network are saying, Botticelli says. PeopleNet's latest onboard unit, the PeopleNet Mobile Gateway (PMG), is designed to enable greater data sharing among third-party systems in the truck. Perhaps an engine sends a certain fault code that several devices on the vehicle want to see immediately. The company is developing a service that will make it easier for third-party devices to get that information in real time. The Android platform Keeping up with technology is a challenge for any business – especially those serv- ing hundreds of fleet customers who each want to create their own version of the Internet of Transportation Things. During the past few years, companies that supply mobile fleet management technologies have aligned with trends in the consumer world to enable their plat- forms to connect with more third-party devices and applications. Rand McNally recently released an An- droid tablet that runs its truck-navigation software and suite of mobile applications. The provider also assembled a dedicated team focused on integrating its platform with "things" customers want, such as sensors. "We have teams that can jump on that now," says Dave Marsh, vice president of research and development. Rand McNally's HD 100 can use any Android or Apple device for the display. The small wallet-sized device plugs into the vehicle's diagnostics port to synchro- nize electronic logs and other software that comes with its client app. The HD 100 communicates with the display through a secure Wi-Fi connection and has an embedded cellular modem for long-range Internet connectivity. By using Android, the trucking indus- try is drawing closer to the consumer world in terms of having "plug and play" devices and applications, but the two worlds remain far apart. No mobile com- munications provider has the resources to deliver the same experience with their in-cab technology that consumers have when plugging a USB device into a per- sonal computer or pairing a keyboard to a tablet using Bluetooth. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple have the manpower to create thousands of "device drivers" to make this possible, says Mike McQuade, chief technology officer of Zonar Systems. As more fleets adopt Android plat- forms for their mobile computing needs, McQuade expects that compatibility will become less of an issue since Android already has a number of prebuilt device drivers to enable tablets and smartphones to use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to talk with peripherals such as sensors. Jeff Champa, senior director of product management for Omnitracs, agrees. "The application ecosystem may be limited when it comes to apps that integrate with our product solutions," Champa says. "We would want to make sure that any integrated apps work well, provide value and have a positive user experience. This is not too different from what Apple does, as they require all apps to go through a certification process." McQuade expects to see more indus- try suppliers doing what Zonar already has done – offer an industrial-strength SkyBitz's monthly sub- scription service includes the provider's Falcon series hardware, integra- tion with back-office soft- ware, onboarding support and real-time reporting and analysis tools. CarrierWeb's CarrierMate 2500 features a driv- er-friendly high-resolution interface, a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, electronic logging, auto dispatch and compliance alert notifications.