GPS Tracking ROI

Today I saw some troubling new news regarding the Federal Hours Of Service (HOS) regulations for commercial trucking. The law was changed at the beginning of the year, with wrenching results to some areas of the industry. The reason for the change in the law was trumpeted as a step to reduce drivers working too many hours and having fatigue and sleep related accidents. Well, as recorded in the Electric Trucker:

Not only are more drivers suffering drowsiness and sleep incidents at the wheel, but at least 25% are violating the law, to drive longer, make more money and put themselves and others at risk. For years the law has been enforced by self-recorded paper log books, maintained by the drivers themselves. See an excellent example and explanation here:

It’s no coincidence that for years these books have carried the name “swindle sheets”. Sometimes this appellation is earned by cheating people but much more often it’s a case of everything being so darned complicated and hard to check up on. You would think, giving the huge costs and serious safety issues involved that this would be handled by computers. Well, you’d be wrong. Exactly 1 (yes one) major long haul carrier keeps their drivers safe and legal solely by means of on-board GPS tracking and a computerized log program. (The company is Werner Enterprises and their GPS tracking partner, Qualcomm, and hats off to them for doing it). There are tons of logging programs that keep the “swindle Sheet” electronically, but the data is still dependent on the drivers memory, integrity and ability to code with the ever more complex regulations.

The purpose of today’s rant is to wonder why more companies don’t make use of simple, cheap GPS logging systems that could save lives and millions of dollars per year? Perhaps they are waiting for even more government regulations?

Dave
www.satviz.com

I’ve written here a number of time before about the hidden benefits of GPS tracking.  While many seem overly-concerned about invasions of their privacy, those who can see a little further into the future can see how using anonymous information that is being produced by their own GPS tracking, coupled with the data from thousands of other equally anonymous users can benefit all.  reduced fuel costs.  reduced pollution. Reduced time on the road … all equal an easier workday and increased bottom line profits to business.

What is Mobile Millennium?

Phone with traffic flow map

Mobile Millennium is a partnership between Nokia, NAVTEQ, and UC Berkeley, based at the California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT), a deployment-focused research center at Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies. It is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s SafeTrip-21 Initiative and the California Department of Transportation.

Researchers from Nokia and Berkeley have constructed an unprecedented traffic monitoring system capable of fusing GPS data from cell phones with data from existing traffic sensors. The research and development phase of this project was dubbed Mobile Millennium for the potential thousands of early adopters who will participate in the pilot deployment, launching in early November, 2008.

Mobile Millennium will cover not only highways, but also the arterial network, where there is currently almost no sensing infrastructure. The software will work on Nokia and non-Nokia phones, and the public will be able to register and download it free of charge.

This is pretty much a no\brainer.  In return for the information your phone produces anyway, you get back a detailed picture of not only where you are, but where you are going and how long it will take to get there.  Hats off to GPS tracking, another form or ROI.