Drivers stay content, connected and informed with satellite radio, Wi-Fi, IdleAir
Bette Garber
Contributing Editor
On-board computers, GPS, satellite radio, flat-screen TV with in-motion antennas, Wi-Fi technology. They're all here and they're all here now. And they're all driver-accepted.
In-cab tech-toys and tools are changing the way truckers communicate, interact with their carrier and clients, and spend their leisure time.
WHAT'S NEXT?
In the last year, high-speed wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access has sprung up in hundreds of truckstops, providing drivers instant entry to the Internet, delivering blinding-fast connections for optimum communications, and speedy uploads and downloads. Savvy, plugged-in drivers are using - and loving Wi-Fi.
This service holds the potential to transform trucking in new and exciting ways - but more on that later.
Now available and/or sprouting up at truckstops and travel centers nationwide, it is the new face of communications. Among the national chains offering proprietary and contracted services are Flying J and Petro, TravelCenters of America, Love's Travel Stops, Rip Griffin Travel Centers and Pilot Travel Centers, and others. If a facility doesn't have Wi-Fi yet - it will.
This new wave of communication options doesn't stop at Wi-Fi alone.
Big yellow tubes sprouting up in truckstops parking lots nationwide signal the presence of IdleAire's Advanced Travel Center Electrification (ATE) service, offering a long menu of amenities to drivers. These include heating and cooling services, wireless Internet access, local phone calls and satellite TV.
Through the ATE service, drivers can even take part in certification training classes in the comfort of their own cabs.
Anti-idling laws and sky-high fuel prices helped push the development and acceptance of ATE, but both drivers and fleets are liking and using it.
In fact, fleets have begun picking up the tab for this service as an added benefit for their drivers, and passing on their fleet discount price to their owner-operators.
Fleets win, of course, by reducing idling time and saving on fuel costs. The environment wins with the reduction in air pollutants. And drivers come out on top with the benefits of IdleAire's long menu of in-cab services.
Carrier spokesmen call it a win-win situation - benefitting the fleets' bottom line while providing comfort, real entertainment and educational opportunities for drivers.
Satellite radios are popular with drivers for offering reliable nationwide service. In addition to music and entertainment, satellite services provide news, weather and traffic information, as well as several trucking channels that give drivers a sense of community . Look for fleets to start providing their drivers with some or all of the new radio's boundless bounty.
FLEETS LIKE SATELLITE SIGNALS
Within the last year or so, fleets have started to look at in-cab amenities like satellite radio and ATE services through a recruiting and retention prism, as a means of sweetening the benefits pot. Some recruiting ads are even listing satellite radio as a driver perk.
In-cab satellite radio is hotter than hot right now, viewed not only as a driver lifestyle enhancement but, increasingly, as a necessary tool for improving job performance. With its coast to coast real-time weather and traffic reports, drivers can plan ahead to avoid traffic tie-ups and accidents, delivering goods on time.
For very large fleets, the issue of economics precludes buying satellite radios for every driver. That said, some of the nation's largest fleets offer discount-priced radios in their company stores.
Some have started ordering trucks wired for satellite radio and then either installing them or letting drivers buy the hardware through a special price program. Still others provide the radio factory-installed.
Developing special discount packages (hardware, maintenance, service) for fleets is the job of Gloria Clements, XM's national manager of fleets. In November, she said CFI is among the first fleets to provide XM radios for its drivers.
At John Christner Trucking, XM satellite radios were added to fleet trucks about a year ago, according to Bill Wilson, carrier vice president.
"We see it as a retention item. They are immensely popular with these guys. We have the units in over 100 trucks out of 600. It is a great creature comfort."
XM's Clements says interest is very high. "Truckers don't want to drive without it," adding that XM will help the fleets with dealers and service through PanaPacific.
Titan Transfer has used the XM radio as a safety perk, Clements noted, giving it to drivers with clean records. "Every driver thanked them for the gift that keeps on giving."
Smaller, attractively priced units helped kick up sales this year. In October Delphi and XM introduced the hand-held MyFy, a portable XM2GO radio, (MSRP: $349.99) with a built-in antenna that delivers the entire 130-digital channel play list in "live" mode and "Memory (five hours-plus) mode. It joins the Delphi-XM family that currently features SKYFi2 and Roady/Roady2 plug-and-play radios.
SIRIUS-LY LISTENING
Sirius Satellite Radio announced it signed up its millionth subscriber by year's end.
Spokesman Tom Stekback reports seeing "a huge increase in the number of fleets paying for their drivers' radio service in the last four to six months. What nicer thing could they do for drivers than provide the hardware or a subscription," he says. "It's a good fit for the fleets. The service is less than the cost of a CD or a couple of packs of cigarettes a month."
Prime Inc. has been providing Sirius satellite radios and IdleAire access to its drivers for about a year now. As a subscriber to IdleAire, Prime Inc. gets the discount use fee, which is passed on to the driver.
"We saw satellite radio was becoming very popular - beyond most people's imaginations. Drivers would say, 'You can take anything out of my truck, but not my satellite radio,' " says Don Lacy, Prime's vice-president of safety and recruiting.
About 600 fleet trucks, primarily Freightliners, have been factory-equipped with the satellite radios. Drivers pay for the service subscription.
Lacy, along with Prime in-house physician Bill Taylor and director of maintenance Brian Adkinson, make regular weekly guest appearances on "Open Road Cafe," the Sirius trucking station on Channel 138.
Schneider National successfully uses satellite radios in driver appreciation and safety promotions, according to Mike Norder, director of driver recruitment and capacity development. The units are also offered at a discounted price in the company store.
In January, Sirius debuted its Star Mate "Plug & Play" unit, which is about the size of a deck of cards, at the Consumer Electronics Show. It provides on-the-go access to Sirius' 65 channels of music as well as more than 55 channels of news, sports, weather, traffic information, original entertainment and call-in talk shows.
Featuring a three-line full display, the six-ounce Star Mate has 30 presets and a built-in wireless FM transmitter with 100 frequencies. Including both home and vehicle adapter kits, the Star Mate hit stores last month and is expected to retail at $129.95.
The Sirius Streamer and Streamer Lite are marketed solely through trucking outlets like OEMs, truckstops and fleet stores. Two popular models, the Audiovox and Xact, are sold to the trucking industry.
IN STORES NOW
Today's big toys for big boys and girls are readily available in truckstops as well as major retail outlets like Best Buy and Circuit City.
Small flat-screen televisions - perfect for truck sleeper use - fold out of sight when not in use. Screens can be installed under shelves, inside the back of seats, in the dash, ceiling or hung off the side of a cabinet or seat.
Two years ago, a husband and wife team we know bought a 12-inch flat-screen TV for their bunk. Price tag: $1,225. Today, a mere grand will buy a 10.4-inch flat-screen TV that can be installed into just about any flat surface, to flip out or fold down for viewing.
The price includes a DVD player, two sets of wireless headphones, remote control, and the ability to play through the truck speakers.
For about $200, a driver can purchase a portable DVD player to complement an aging TV/VCR. The same bucks will buy an Xbox or Sony Playstation 2 system, plus a couple of games with dazzling graphics, items that take easily to the road and enliven off-duty time.
In Rochelle, Ill., the Petro Stopping Center's lavishly stocked store is selling lots of the Xbox and Sony Playstation 2 systems, with the latter outselling the former because it comes with three games.
Here, videotapes and cassettes outsell CDs and DVDs. That will change, says store manager Jill Sanders, as the older TV/VCR combos become harder to find. She also sees drivers adding DVD players to their existing TV/VCR combo. Even these may become extinct since newer laptops can play DVD movies and music.
In-motion satellite TV antennas have come down in size but are still expensive. The KVH in-motion TracVision L2 and L3 (with receivers), only 14.5 by 32-inches, make crystal clear, in-motion reception a reality at $2,500 or less.
On the horizon: big changes. Satellite radio providers are working on mobile video service. Announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Sirius expects to make this service available in the second half of 2006.
HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS AT TRUCKSTOPS
At this writing, most major truckstop chains were offering high-speed wireless access to the Internet through either proprietary or contracted systems. With Wi-Fi, the user does not have to be attached to a cable in order to make an Internet connection. A driver can use the service inside the truck, in the restaurant - anywhere on the location.
And Wi-Fi connections are light-years faster than dial-up service. Computers require a Wi-Fi card to access the system.
Choice of provider is up to the driver or fleet paying the bill. Once that choice is made, access to either is quick and easy.
The fast connection makes possible real-time video chats via the Internet with families and loved ones. A $50 camera module connected to the computer is all it takes. Possibilities are wide-open, including video conferencing.
Look for Wi-Fi and other high-speed services to expand into thousands of truckstop and travel centers in coming years. The rapid rise in Wi-Fi hot spots - about 20,000 in the U.S. up from 12,000 a year ago - has also given rise to security concerns.
An article in USA Today in February warns that thieves are using wireless devices to broadcast a radio signal that overpowers the hot spot, allowing the theft of credit card numbers and other personal information from unsuspecting laptop users.
USA Today's top tips to avoid this type of robbery include turning off or removing the wireless card when the laptop is not using a hot spot, installing personal firewall and security patches, and using hot spots for Web surfing only, not for purchases or uses imparting personal information.
CLOSE-UP: WI-FI
Wireless access to the Internet has the long-range potential to change everything about driver and fleet communications, from sending and receiving messages to enhancing productivity. Speed and efficiency in moving data will go right to the bottom line.
Here are some examples offered by service providers: scanning delivery confirmations from the cab, sending damage reports with photos after an accident, reporting a poor experience with a shipper or receiver, completing logs online, and providing immediate reports to dispatch or management.
Fleets can now send videos from their own web site. Landstar is one carrier already doing that. The Wi-Fi vision includes using the Web to forward operations manuals and equipment upgrades, even to diagnosing truck components.
CLOSE-UP: IDLEAIRE
With the fluctuating price of fuel, saving a gallon an hour by eliminating extended idling is going to add up to hard cash savings.
That could be the reason why 600 fleets, representing about 132,000 trucks, signed up for access to IdleAire's system by late last year.
IdleAire is high-speed provider bringing wired and wireless Internet e-mail, Ethernet and wireless Internet access, as well as many more desirable services to the trucker.
Spokesman Brent Cantrell reports calls coming in from drivers wanting to know which fleets are paying for the services. "We are signing 20 fleets a week average," he said.
Two fleets using the service are Lone Star Trucking (700 trucks) and Continental Express (650 trucks, including company and lease drivers as well as owner-operators running under Northstar Express, LLC).
Spokespeople for both carriers report that using the service is a plus for them, their drivers and the environment, although drivers are still "getting acquainted with it."
Fleets pay a $1.25/hour charge for their drivers to use the system. Savings are gained in fuel, maintenance and engine wear by not idling while parked.
The only retrofit required is a $10 window adapter.Through IdleAire's distinctive large conduits, truckers receive access to 110-volt electrical shore power, filtered central heat and air and a range of communications and entertainment services in the truck cab.
These include a Pentium-speed computer with color touch screen, high-speed wired and wireless Internet e-mail, free local phone service, satellite television, movies on demand, Ethernet and wireless Internet access, and computer-based, interactive Tread-1 training programs.
A complete listing of locations is available on the company's web site (www.idleaire.com) and the hookup configuration can be viewed there as well.
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