Trucking Tech, 2003 Style
John Bendel
Technology Editor
This year was subtle in terms of developments in information technology. It brought few major breakthroughs, but lots of smaller ones. Although it could seem that little was changing during the year, those smaller steps forward could prove to be very significant.
Mobile Communications
So-called third-generation digital networks continued to build out in 2003, bringing advanced digital services to ever widening areas. Larger service areas increased the appeal of low-cost tracking, communications and dispatch systems that work on cellphones. Nextel led the way with two announcements in June.
First, Nextel expanded its Direct Connect, walkie-talkie-style service from regional areas to the entire country. Nextel phones, already popular among regional private and LTL fleets, might now appeal to long-haul and truckload fleets. The same month, Nextel introduced a relatively inexpensive bar-code scanner attachment for its Motorola-made phones. Bar-code scanning added to earlier phone enhancements — GPS and the ability to run programs — made mobile phones competitive with onboard computers, at least in some cases.
Well-known technology providers offered services for inexpensive handsets over the Nextel network, among them @Road, Aether Systems, AirIQ, Datatrac, Dynamic Mobile Data, Gearworks, Intermec, ServiceHub and UPS Logistics Group. Innovative new companies provided dispatch and other applications. For example, Enterprise Information Systems of suburban Chicago offered software for private fleets or LTL regional fleets.
Later in the year, Verizon became the only other wireless provider to offer walkie-talkie-style service. Verizon calls their version Push-To-Talk. Sprint has promised a similar service.
Tracking Trailers
Arguably the biggest trailer tracking announcement of the year came from GE TIP, the trailer leasing giant, which introduced its new trailer tracking product called VeriWise in April. GE TIP said VeriWise was a satellite-based system, but wouldn't say which satellite provider was involved. That announcement came in August: VeriWise would work over the Orbcomm low-earth-orbit satellite system.
GE got a running start in the market with its own enormous trailer fleet and numerous leasing customers. The company clearly intends to use GE's corporate reach and brand recognition to sell VeriWise.
2003 was the year Qualcomm became a major trailer tracking player again — without actually having a trailer tracking product on the market. The company announced it had gathered some of the nation's largest fleets in a consortium to hone a Qualcomm trailer tracking product that will replace TrailerTRACS, which was pulled from the market two years ago. Among the consortium fleets: Schneider, Swift, Werner and Celadon.
Consortium fleets are testing and providing feedback on a version of the GlobalTRACS asset tracking solution Qualcomm introduced for the construction industry in February. GlobalTRACS works on both digital and non-digital networks. If the consortium fleets become customers as anticipated, Qualcomm will come out of the gate with a substantial market share. Qualcomm has not announced a name for its anticipated trailer tracking product.
Other major competitors include SkyBitz — which announced that LandStar would install its tracking system — and U.S.Xpress, which said it would install a new trailer tracking solution called GeoLogic from Aether Systems on 12,000 trailers.
New trailer tracking products included solutions from Fleetilla, Teletouch, TrackStar among others, and WebTech.
Wi-Fi Set to Expand
During 2003, the name Wi-Fi — short for wireless fidelity — caught on, while the technology it represents dropped in price. Wi-Fi (see sidebar) is used in many proprietary fleet networks such as yard and warehouse management applications, for example. But in 2003, the technology standard was poised for quantum growth in the larger trucking community.
Flying J said it will install Wi-Fi in its truckstops in a deal involving Sprint PCS and Truckstop.net. The companies say they will bring Wi-Fi to 3,000 truckstop locations. Drivers with laptop computers and a Wi-Fi card will log onto the Internet, often from their cabs, for e-mail and entertainment. Some drivers claim that Wi-Fi availability is already causing a shortage of parking spaces at Wi-Fi equipped truckstops.
Wi-Fi will offer fleet management opportunities as well. Onboard computers can be equipped to communicate with Wi-Fi networks from which data can be forwarded to and from dispatch or a central office. Operational or engine information could be automatically downloaded when a truck pulls into a truckstop, much the way some regional fleets automatically download data when a truck passes through a terminal gate. Wi-Fi enables the exchange of large amounts of data at low cost, especially when compared to satellite communications.
In a precursor of things to come, SiriCOMM Inc. demonstrated a product called InstaCheck that uses Wi-Fi networks to keep tabs on truck and engine data for diagnostic and maintenance purposes. A truckstop Wi-Fi network downloads the data and transmits it to the company in Joplin, Mo. There it is formatted and made available on the Internet for the customer, who only needs a computer and an Internet connection.
Software Evolves
The most immediate drivers of software evolution in 2003 were high fuel prices and federal regulations.
On the hours of service front, providers of log scanning solutions such as Scanware, Prophesy and J.J.Keller, brought their products up to date. So did providers of automated logs, among them Qualcomm, Tripmaster, Cadec, Peoplenet and Xata. New companies like @Road and MobileAria jumped into what is seen as a rapidly expanding market for automated logs.
Similarly, rules for managing driver qualification documentation created opportunities for another set of solution providers. RAIR Technologies, for example, introduced a Internet-based service to remotely manage required paperwork for CDL drivers and driver log records. More general personnel solutions came from providers such as Unicru Inc., which introduced its Unicru Total Workforce Acquisition solution for trucking. The software includes modules for salaried and hourly workers.
Fuel prices drove many fleets to shop for fuel-saving and smart-fuel-buying software. Companies like Comdata, Integrated Decision Support, Manhattan Associates, Profit Tools, ProMiles, Prophesy, T-Chek and TMW, filled the need.
Trucking Tech continued...
