Xora Inc.'s Petition Sharpens The Onboard Recorder Debate
A petition by mobile communications provider Xora Inc. to offer a new hours of service tracking system has stirred up sharp commentary about the theory and practice of electronic onboard recorders.
Last May Xora asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for permission to market a system that uses global positioning linked to a cellular telephone. The company touts its product as an easy, low-cost way to automate driver log-keeping: A chip in the Nextel phone communicates with a federal positioning satellite every two minutes, providing location, speed, miles driven, date and time of day.
But the agency requires automated recorders to be "integrally synchronized" with the truck, a connection usually accomplished through the engine's electronic control module. Xora is asking for an exemption from that requirement, arguing that its system can provide all the information the agency wants without that connection.
This petition has drawn responses from the full scope of industry interests – some in support, some saying "yes, but," and others in adamant opposition. The commentary highlights the differences that have made it so difficult for the safety agency to come up with a workable rule for onboard recorders.
The strongest recommendation is from a truck line that has actually tested the Xora system. ABF Freight System told the agency that it ran Xora logs in parallel with its standard paper logs and learned in the process that the electronic system is more accurate and economical and less intrusive than the traditional method.
"(It) is a better platform for building additional driver support and management planning applications quickly and effectively," the company said.
ABF and another major less-than-truckload carrier, Yellow Roadway, are eager for the agency to drop the requirement of tethering the automated log to the truck. "Replacing a paper logbook system with a paperless logbook system should not be limited by requiring it to be tied to a vehicle," said Ted Scott, director of government relations for Yellow Roadway. Yellow Roadway declined to endorse the Xora device, specifically, however.
Bekins Van Lines supports Xora, as does the moving industry's national trade group, the American Moving and Storage Assn. "It is ironic," AMSA said, "that the absence of integral synchronization in Xora's proposed system is also absent with paper logbooks."
Another major fleet is troubled, however, by the idea of separating electronic logs from the truck. David Whiteside, senior director of compliance for J.B. Hunt, told the agency that a stand-alone system "would allow unscrupulous operators to make round-trip runs with their recording device at home base, not recording the driving time."
Whiteside, who supports electronic log-keeping, said the solution is for Xora to provide an adapter so the cellphone can be plugged into the engine's control module. The driver would be required to "plug in" at the beginning and end of each run, providing a way of double checking his electronic log.
Trucking interest groups have varied opinions. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. sees no advantage in the Xora solution. Because it requires driver input it can be tampered with, and it does not help drivers resist carrier pressure to falsify his log, OOIDA said.
The National Assn. of Small Trucking Companies, on the other hand, expressed unreserved support: "The application . . . could be an effective compromise to (electronic onboard recorders) at a fraction of the cost and without the intrusive stigma attached to forcing EOBRs."
American Trucking Assns. said it is not ready to take a position on Xora because it is in the midst of a process of constructing a "baseline motor carrier position" on EOBRs.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, whose members include state police as well as regulatory agencies and trucking officials, said it supports the idea but is troubled by Xora's "stand alone" approach. CVSA and J.B. Hunt use the exact same words, warning that "unscrupulous" operators could exploit the system and not record driving time unless the device is linked to the truck.
The activist groups Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety are opposed to Xora's petition. Public Citizen wants a universal EOBR requirement for all commercial carriers: "To ensure accuracy and effectiveness, EOBRs must combine engine and location data to monitor compliance with HOS regulations."
Also weighing in are several competitors. WebTech and PeopleNet, which supply wireless fleet management services that tie in to the truck, object to dropping that requirement. WebTech said the Xora approach would give an "unfair advantage" over carriers who choose integrated technology.
Qualcomm, the granddaddy of wireless onboard tracking, neither supports nor opposes the Xora request. It does support the idea of an exemption from the "integrally synchronized" requirement, provided the system meets the functional intent of the regulations.
A fourth entity, Report on Board LLC, filed a comprehensive rebuttal of Xora's petition. ROB is an investment group that does not have a product right now but will have one later this year, according to Bradley R. Larschan, Germantown, Tenn., who filed the comments.
Xora's petition is being played out against the backdrop of the comprehensive rulemaking the agency is conducting on electronic onboard recorders. That rulemaking began last year and the agency is now engaged in reviewing the 332 comments it received. It has not said when it intends to go public with the next step of that process.
The Xora docket may be viewed on the Docket Management System we site at http://dms.dot.gov. Go to docket number 21338.
— Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
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