Changing World of Mobilecom
Today, fleets can find much of the technology they need from a single source.
Jim Beach
TechnologyEditor
Just four or five years ago, mobile communications providers focused mostly on large, for-hire truckload fleets, while on-board computing/electronic log providers catered to the private fleets.
Essentially what we had was two distinct industries selling to two distinct market segments.
Yet, as private and for-hire fleets pursued different onboard technologies, the nature of both the trucking and communications industries changed. Companies that once specialized in onboard computing began offering tracking and mobile communications products. At the same time, mobile communications companies began offering onboard computing functions such as fuel tax reporting and electronic logs.
Today, fleets can find much of the technology they need from a single source – a trend not anticipated by many a few years back. And as the product offerings from long-established providers continue to expand, a number of new providers are entering the market, offering new products for tracking, communicating and on-board computing.
Fifteen or 20 years ago, a fleet manager had few options if he wanted to monitor truck speed or communicate with a driver. Mechanical tachographs were available that recorded speed and distance traveled on removable paper discs. (Modern versions that record speed, distance, stops and idle times are still marketed by companies such as Abbott Enterprises.)
A fleet manager removed the discs at the end of each trip and he had a record to track speeds and distance. Not very high tech, to be sure, but it was a record. As for communicating with drivers, the only mode available 20 years ago was the truckstop pay phone, a low-tech, time-wasting means of communications that had the term inconvenience written all over it.
However, things began to change in the 1980s. Electronic black-boxes were being developed to monitor and record things like engine speed.
"The first device (produced at that time by Rockwell International) measured road speed and engine rpm over time – that was it," says Joel Beal, executive vice president of Tripmaster Corp. of Grand Prairie, Texas. "But if you think about it, you can tell a lot about driving habits based on road speed and rpm over time."
But the information wasn't readily available to the fleets. A device called a data link extracted the data from the onboard recorder and transferred it to a data tape that was mailed to Rockwell headquarters. Technicians there ran some reports and sent them back to the fleet. "It wasn't a real-time system, but it did the job," Beal notes.
Over the next three or four years, software was developed that ran on then-new personal computers, allowing fleets to manage their own data. The devices were expanded to monitor brakes and other systems. Onboard computing was a reality.
Communicating with drivers changed during this time as well. When Qualcomm began offering satellite GPS location reporting and two-way messaging, fleets could send messages directly to the truck cab. Good-bye pay phones.
As these technologies began to grow within the trucking market, they took two distinct paths, serving two distinct market segments. Mobile communications companies such as Qualcomm and those that came after, focused on the long-haul for-hire segment of the market, while onboard computing vendors focused on private fleets, because "that's who was paying the bills," Beal explains.
"It started back in the late '80s with two industries," says Brian McLaughlin, vice president of marketing and product planning for PeopleNet Communications, Minneapolis. "On the mobile communications side, the industry started with Qualcomm and focused on short messaging and GPS tracking. On the other side, you had companies like Tripmaster and others working mainly with private fleets, focusing on black box stuff, capturing trip data and engine data.
The fleets interested in the "black box" stuff tended to be private fleets, while for-hire carriers were interested in tracking and messaging.
"On the first track are people who want to track their stuff so they can plan and then make sure their drivers follow the plan," says Tom Lemke, vice president of Cadec, Manchester, N.H. "That was the private fleet – they wanted to automate all they could. Trucking to them was a cost center."
For the for-hire long-haul guys, the business was different, Lemke notes. The trucks generate the revenue. "Their reason for wanting to know where the driver was, and wanting to communicate with the driver, was mainly for the next load – they wanted to know which driver would be available to pick up the next load without that driver having to stop somewhere to call in."
Tracking trailers and cargo is also important for long-haul truckers and demand for those systems has increased in recent years. "Demand for the technology has come about because transportation companies are realizing a return on investment on this technology," says Mike Hammons, CEO of Argo Tracker, Tucson, Ariz. He says the demand is especially strong from carriers transporting high-value cargo. "We see it anywhere there is highly sensitive cargo, high tech, pharmaceuticals and other goods."
Private fleets typically have their trucks returning to the home terminal every night. Knowing where their trucks were wasn't an issue for them. But they wanted to know how their trucks were being operated, primarily to save fuel.
"The genesis was fuel economy," Beal says. Using the information gleaned from an onboard computer, fleet managers could identify problem drivers. Fleets could take steps to improve these drivers' driving habits. "And then it became obvious that it would be really nice if the driver could input some information. For example, if the driver could somehow tell us where he was when he stopped, we could now look at these trip reports and know when we arrived at a customer's location and when we departed. If the driver could tell us when he crossed a state line, then we could take these same trip reports and now we would know mileage by state."
From there, it wasn't too far a jump to automatic logging. "If you think about it, with basic trip recording and speed and driver's ability to punch in location, using it to do electronic logs was not a big step," Beal says. "All we had to do was give the driver the ability to punch in statuses. And when the DOT allowed electronic logging in 1988, it really significantly changed the business. All of us onboard computer companies ended up catering to private fleets, because private fleets were the ones that fully embraced the technology."
Cadec's Lemke agrees. "The electronic log was the result of monitoring, measuring and managing – the log was simply a result of automating all the other things a driver does." The Cadec 300 was one of the first automatic logging systems, going on line with a few private fleets even before the DOT allowed electronic logs in 1988.
Private fleets embraced this technology because, Beal says, "A private fleet in general has a lot more to lose from unsafe driving or irresponsible driving. A private fleet not only has the monetary hit that any truck fleet would have, but they also have pretty severe consequences from name recognition, negative good will and things like that."
In recent years, however, both trucking and the communications industry have changed significantly. As for truck fleets, there is no longer as much distinction between private and for-hire. "What we've seen is that carriers have become less one or the other, they've become more blended," PeopleNet's McLaughlin says. "The for-hire carriers are doing more dedicated stuff and becoming like private fleets, and the private fleets are doing more backhauls and trying to pick up the capabilities of for-hire fleets. What you are seeing is the fleets are converging and their technology needs are converging and that's what is happening to our industry across the board."
"What's happened is both segments have seen efficiencies in automating all the information they gather and tying many systems together," Lemke adds. "And having to go to only one place for these products has driven both to the same end."
Also driving the merging of the mobile communications and on-board recording business are reduced costs for both services and products.
"The thing that has changed is that the communications companies have brought the cost of communicating extremely low," Lemke notes. "You can send unlimited data for $15 a month with one of the cellular carriers. And of course, satellite data is obviously ubiquitous. Trucking companies are finding two things happening in the market: The cost of communications has come down for the amount of data and secondly, there are multiple communication choices in many systems."
Multiple communications choices means fleets can send the bulk of their data via lower-cost terrestrial cellular systems and then transmit via satellite when out of coverage from the less expensive choice. "The technology has changed, the cost of communications has changed and the understanding of how data can be tied together has changed," Lemke says.
More inexpensive communications options have led more fleets to become interested in capturing data from onboard recorders, Tripmaster's Beal says, making it much more attractive to over-the-road fleets. "It's nice to record data. It's interesting to know how fast the truck is going, how many stops the driver makes, when he makes those stops. But it's a whole lot more interesting if you know about it in a timely fashion," he says. "I would argue that the lowered cost of communications – specifically terrestrial communications – really opened up the world of onboard computing beyond the traditional fleet that brought their trucks home every night.
Other recent developments driving the cost of mobile communications and onboard computing down include ASPs, or web-based applications. Fleet managers can access information about their trucks via the Internet and do not have to invest in expensive servers or IT departments.
"The web has been a big part in bringing in mid-sized to small fleets," says Norm Ellis, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions. "You can use the web to manage your fleet and don't have to invest $50,000 in a server or hire an IT guy to manage it."
As mobile communications and on-board computing "converge" in McLaughlin's words, new products will build on this convergence. "It started out as a convergence of mobile communications and onboard computing over the last four or five years," he says. "Where we see things going to next is really the convergence of multiple networks and vehicle devices." This would include tying together all the "smart" elements found in today's Class 8 trucks, such as GPS tracking, electronic logs, tire sensors, brake sensors, cargo monitoring, RFID networks, anti-collision and lane-departure systems and others. "Fleets do not want to have to buy 10 different systems with 10 different communications networks and 10 different communications capabilities; they are going to want a centralized point of data collection and/or distribution."
Where PeopleNet and other providers are heading is to provide an "onboard hub" that will capture the data from these varied systems and deliver useful data back to the home office cost effectively.
"It's about these different systems and integrating them across the vehicle as vehicles get smarter and smarter," McLaughlin says.
As the terrestrial systems expand and their coverage increases, many providers will focus on using the extra bandwidth of these networks to deliver things to the truck cab to aid and entertain the driver.
"We're leveraging some of the increased bandwidth on the terrestrial side to do things like download training videos and safety videos," right to the cab, Ellis says.
McLaughlin says an onboard system could easily be tied into a high-bandwidth network and a display to allow for full-fledged web-surfing in the cab. "Maybe it only works when the vehicle is stopped and the driver is off-duty, but you can have a full-fledged computer in the truck that the driver can also benefit from."
Combining onboard computers, mobile communications systems and hand-held devices such as PDAs or cell phones will boost productivity for fleets of all sizes, says Tim Van Cleve, COO of Teletrac. "Workforce management is a big deal," he says. "Handhelds are certainly doing nice job in workforce management. They come up short in a few areas at this time, but I think they will be here for a long time."
AirClic, Newton, Pa., markets cell phones equipped with a barcode scanner that allow delivery drivers to scan products as they unload. The phone's GPS capability tracks drivers so fleet managers can better plan routes and deliveries. "The data goes over the air and is captured by our site," says Tim Bradley, CEO. "It can be viewed by our customers or downloaded to the customers' back office system."
As the cost of entry as fallen with the communications and hardware costs, new companies have begun selling into the trucking market.
"It's the old entrepreneurial spirit," Qualcomm's Ellis says. "Transportation has been an early adopter of technologies and that has attracted companies with products to sell. We welcome it. Competition is a good thing."
IT Solutions continued
