Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/936627
40 commercial carrier journal | february 2018 technology BlackBerry is back with Radar for asset, cargo monitoring B lackBerry devices once were the most popular con- nectivity tools for business professionals. Many became skilled at tapping out emails using the miniature keyboards of their devices. en in 2007, Apple came out with its iPhone, and others quickly jumped on the bandwagon to develop smartphones with full touchscreens, high-definition cameras and an ecosys- tem of apps. With this new wave of consumer technology, BlackBerry turned to opportunities in the burgeoning market of connected vehicles and transportation. BlackBerry's QNX soware division soon became the domi- nant soware platform of infotainment systems, communica- tions and autonomous vehicle platforms. e soware today powers more than 60 million vehicles on the road. In the commercial vehicle space, BlackBerry was focused on fleet management technology and recently developed a management platform for trailers called BlackBerry Radar. BlackBerry Radar now is available through more than 2,800 heavy-duty truck dealerships across North America through an agreement with Pana-Pacific. "We decided to add BlackBerry Radar to our portfolio be- cause we believe the near-real-time information it provides will empower our customers to make better business decisions and improve the overall performance of their transportation opera- tions," said John Trenberth, chief executive of Pana-Pacific. "We're excited to partner with forward-thinking companies like Pana-Pacific who realize the value that technology and actionable data can provide to the transportation and logistics industry," said Philip Poulidis, senior vice president and general manager of BlackBerry Radar. e latest BlackBerry Radar platform uses a self-contained device to capture location and status information about equipment and cargo. Its internal sensors capture GPS loca- tions, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and cargo and door status. Whereas cargo sensors of competing systems capture binary loaded/unloaded status, BlackBerry Radar uses infrared sensors that capture the percentage of load remaining in a trailer and the door's open or closed status. e mobile device records location and sensor data in five- minute increments, and the data record is transmitted wirelessly to the cloud-based system in intervals that preserve battery life and meet the information needs of fleets. BlackBerry Radar uses high-capacity lithium chloride bat- teries that are not rechargeable, by design, to eliminate failure points of wired connections to an external power supply from the tractor or from solar panels. Poulidis said the batteries last more than three years if fleets configure BlackBerry Radar to transmit data in 15-minute intervals. Most fleets will be satisfied using two-hour transmis- sion intervals, at which rate the batteries will last for eight years. With no wiring or external sensors, the product can be installed in less than 10 minutes, he says, and fleets can expect zero maintenance even in harsh environments such as extreme cold, heat, humidity and altitudes. Soon aer announcing BlackBerry Radar, the company entered into a relationship with Fleet Complete, an in-cab fleet management technology supplier. e companies have paired their two systems to give motor carriers visibility of tractor and trailer assets. One benefit of using both systems is that fleets can give driv- ers visibility of trailer, chassis or container locations when dis- patched to a yard to pick up their equipment. e trailer asset's location will be made visible to the driver in Fleet Complete's in-cab display, eliminating time spent searching in a yard. e partnership also enables new business models. Last March, Fleet Complete acquired BigRoad and in November announced BigRoad Freight, a load-matching platform that now is available within the BigRoad mobile app used by owner- operators and small carrier drivers. By using the app, drivers can find available loads from freight brokers and provide visibility of shipments and hours-of-service status. As more assets are equipped with Fleet Complete and BlackBerry Radar, the capabilities of BigRoad Freight grow as more assets can be made visible to shippers and freight brokers to offer loads, Poulidis says. – Aaron Huff The BlackBerry Radar platform for trailer tracking uses a self- contained unit with internal sensors. BlackBerry Radar captures location, temperature, humidity, baro- metric pressure and more in five-minute intervals.