WheresMyTruckTM
WheresMyTruckTM is a low cost management system for road transport operators, which has been designed to help the sector meet these challenges. It has been developed in partnership with CPS Technology Group who are experts in telecommunications and mobile devices.
The Road Transport sector is facing some significant challenges:
- Rising fuel costs
- Increased demand
- Limited road capacity
- Pressure on margins
- Concerns over carbon emissions
- Additional regulation and legislation
You can find the official WheresMyTruckTM website here: http://www.wheresmytruck.com.au
What is WheresMyTruckTM?
Using any GPS device, including low cost devices such as mobile phones, trucks can be located in real-time and displayed on Google Maps. Data is also archived for reporting and analysis. The position of any truck can also be displayed against planned stop locations and times.
Reports are produced on task efficiency, and vehicle and driver utilization. Optionally, the performance of an operator can be benchmarked against the population of users.
The Fatigue Management module checks driver activity against the requirements of the legislation.
About WheresMyTruckTM
WheresMyTruckTM can be used by prime contractors to monitor sub-contractors, or by end customers to monitor their transport contractor. This includes:
Location and on-route/on-schedule information Fatigue management
With a representative sample, the database of WheresMyTruckTM has a wealth of useful information, including origin and destination, and driver behavior information, which is currently unavailable to road authorities at this level of detail.
What Makes WheresMyTruckTM Different
Mobile phones and other GPS devices are much cheaper than dedicated, hard-wired GPS. They can typically be purchased as part of a plan with no upfront cost. The cost of data calls is cheap – from about $5/month. WheresMyTruckTM uses Google Maps and not a proprietary Graphical Information System.
WheresMyTruckTM is a fully hosted service, accessible over a secure Internet connection. There is no requirement for hardware other than a browser and Internet connection. Excluding the phone and data call, the cost of the basic package is between $50 and $150 per truck per month, depending on the hours of service and reporting options.
WheresMyTruckTM is a fully hosted solution. Users access the system from http://www.wheresmytruck.com.au and log in to their part of a secure server.
GPS devices are registered with the system and the position, etc. data is sent from the device to the database, which is linked to GoogleMaps.
Technology
Open Database
WheresMyTruckTM uses a standard SQL database and the information is available to the user for any other purpose. Information can be sent to an existing system, and/or extracted from existing GPS devices.
Performance Reporting
WheresMyTruckTM has standard reports for efficiency and productivity, for example, but also supports custom reports that the user can configure.
Fatigue Management
This module ties in location reporting with secure sign/sign off on the GPS device. It monitors, warns of potential problems, and reports after the event.
Supervision
Customers and prime contractors can access information that they need to comply with Chain of Responsibility. They can also see where their consignment is, in real-time.
Situational Awareness
Using any GPS device, including mobile phones and proof-of-delivery devices, the location of any truck can be displayed in real-time on dedicated instance of Google Maps. Plans can be uploaded so that at any time the position of a truck can be compared to the planned stop locations and times. The location and direction of each vehicle is shown, and the history of a vehicle can also be displayed. Other graphs, such as speed, are available.
Performance Monitoring
Reports are produced showing productivity and driver and truck utilization. This example is for pick-up and delivery, where it is important to monitor and compare number of stops, distance driven and time taken between stops.
Fatigue Management
WheresMyTruckTM is unique in that it combines route, schedule, position, driving history, data archiving and secure sign on/sign off in one system.
This enables operators to:
Plan taking fatigue into account Monitor fatigue in real time and avoid problems Create reports Archive data for compliance reporting
In addition the system can be used to monitor suppliers and sub contractors.
Benefit Analysis
With all the data in one database, it will be possible to compare the performance of an individual operator with the population in general. This is optional, but those operators who consent to their (suitably anonymised) data being available will be able to access this service.