Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/661432
10 www.studentdriverplacement.com March '16 fi ed, development path for future applications both inside and outside the vehicle. The IVG is a tethered, tablet-style device with an 8-inch touchscreen dis- play and a quad-core processor that gives it signifi cantly faster response time than the MCP, at a fraction of the cost. An intelligent voice interface (IVI pronounced "Ivie") responds to certain voice commands from drivers. IVI uses a woman's voice that sounds and functions similar to the Siri as- sistant of Apple devices. Only instead of holding the home button to activate, a driver can execute functions hands- free while in motion. The initial set of voice commands for "Ivie" will give drivers the time remaining on their duty cycle clocks, let them adjust the volume, screen brightness, and return to the home screen. Like the MCP devices, IVG has text-to-speech functionality to read incoming messages and alerts to drivers. IVG rests in a dash-mounted cradle with a cable that connects the com- puter to the vehicle's diagnostics port. Installation time is less than 30 minutes, the company says. Drivers can hand the device to an inspection offi cer outside the cab or take it to the sleeper to send messages and complete work. Omnitracs has been beta testing the new platform for the past two months. Commercial release is planned for March. The initial release will have all of applications available today on the MCP 50 – messaging, hours of ser- vice, vehicle inspection reports, critical event reporting and navigation. A future release, scheduled for later this year, will be compatible with all of the applications currently available for the MCP 200. A Wi-Fi hotspot will be added this year as well, and an HTML-5 browser is scheduled for early next year. The new device has multi-channel Bluetooth wireless for communicating with other smart de- vices, such as printers, scanners, and Tools Trucking John Graham, CEO of Omnitracs, gave the keynote address at the company's second user conference, Feb. 1, in Dallas.