Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/550385
42 | Overdrive | August 2015 Early adopters A tlanta-based two-truck- fl eet owner-operator Rico Muhammad has been running the BigRoad smartphone application for his and his driver's logs for more than two years. While he's run with the initial version – not BigRoad's more recent DashLink, which has a connection to the engine's electronic control module – Muhammad is among some other nonleased independents and small fl eets who've begun experimenting with otherwise fully compliant automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs). "I don't want to get caught behind the curve," says Muhammad. Watchers note that, as concerns the electronic logging device mandate, there are a lot of trucks that will be newly required to be outfi tted with some electronic system, possibly in late 2017. Mark Kessler of PeopleNet, an AOBRD and telematics provider, estimates that as many as four million Courtesy of J.J. Keller Owner-operator views on the ELD mandate Source: OverdriveOnline.com poll, 1,245 respondents Opposed 81% In Favor 13% Neutral 4% Other 2% In separate questions, one in 10 operators noted changing opinions on a mandate for e-logs. Equal shares moved from favor to opposition or vice versa. Most owner- operators still oppose an electronic logging mandate as the fi nal rule gets closer. Yet some independents see benefi ts in trying out new technology to adjust to the expected rule. BY TODD DILLS J.J. Keller & Associates' Encompass system can be paired with the company's spe- cially designed tablet or with operators' per- sonal Android or iOS devices. Tom Heard, J.J. Keller marketing director, believes the company is well-positioned. "We're in vir- tually every truck stop in the country," he says. "We have a really good track record in the owner-op- erator market with paper logs. Right now, the electronic log at truck stops? We're not there yet." But it's coming soon. The hardware, minus the tablet, retails at about $200.