FieldLogix, a fleet management service company, has released its newest mobile application for iPhones, Goose.
Goose allows dispatchers to optimize drivers’ routes and remain in direct communication. “It ensures that drivers have optimized routes, job details and navigation all on their iPhone,” the company said in a news release. “Goose simultaneously notifies the company’s clients of the driver’s ETA to ensure they are ready for the driver’s impending arrival via text messaging. Goose even accounts for Google’s real-time traffic speeds in its ETA calculations.”
“Goose provides an Uber-like experience for the clients of delivery and service companies.” said Yukon Palmer, FieldLogix’s founder and CEO. “Rather than waiting around for a four-hour time window, a company’s clients now have more accurate ETA’s for driver arrival times. Plus, drivers will be much more efficient with their time on the road, allowing them to get home to their families in a timely manner. Dispatchers also benefit by properly planning their drivers’ workdays and staying on top of their statuses. Goose is a significant step into the future of GPS fleet management.”
Goose provides ETA notifications via text message.
Omnitracs Roadnet Technologies has made available Roadnet Anywhere v3.8, the newest version of its SaaS vehicle routing, tracking, mobile workforce, telematics and fleet management platform. The updated software now delivers improved performance tracking with the Insight data visualization application and advanced capabilities to analyze Service Patterns in order to support strategic analysis, says the company.
“In the past, fleets were forced to analyze multiple data points across various disparate systems, making it difficult to conduct cross-metric analysis across such things as driver safety, miles driven and customer commitments met,” said Kevin Haugh, general manager of Omnitracs Roadnet Technologies. “By rolling out the newest update to the Roadnet Anywhere platform, Omnitracs is reinforcing its commitment to its comprehensive, cloud-based platform. As the company continues to rapidly deploy new features to its SaaS fleet management platform — integrating routing, dispatching, telematics, customer notifications and analytics in a single, web-based tool — fleets can better monitor and reduce risk, promote safety and secure savings.”
New to Roadnet Anywhere, Service Pattern Analyzer evaluates planned and/or actual deliveries and automates the information needed to create strategic plans. The tool saves fleets time and labor costs and streamlines the once-cumbersome process of manually collecting and collating data from several systems, says Omnitracs.
The Insight tool now gives users the ability to easily define metric oriented rules as well as create and view multiple measures as part of one form of data visualization. Available metrics through Insight span the complete range of information from Roadnet routing, dispatching, proof of delivery and telematics products.
“The Omnitracs Roadnet Anywhere platform is on a constant path to evolve. By continuing to update the Roadnet Anywhere SaaS platform, we’re able to provide customers with actionable control and insights in real time,” said Cyndi Brandt, senior director of product marketing and alliances for Omnitracs Roadnet. “With these enhancements, Omnitracs is empowering fleets to operate more efficiently without compromising service or profits.”
GPSTrackIt.com has enhanced Fleet Manager, its vehicle tracking and fleet management system, with new features that control how vehicles are displayed. Fleet Manager can now provide simultaneous playback of multiple vehicle trails as well as controls to turn on and off the display of landmark clusters on the map.
The playback of multiple vehicle trails makes it possible for fleet managers to visually assess their routes to determine if there are overlaps where one driver’s route is encroaching on another’s. Routes can then be modified to increase operational efficiency.
If a single vehicle is driven by multiple drivers during the course of a day this feature can display each shift by using different colors.
“This was another suggestion from one of our customers,” said Eddie Bermudez, GPSTrackIt’s product development manager, in a news release. “We thought it was a great idea and immediately put it into development.”
Another suggested enhancement from a customer was the ability to turn on and off the display of landmark clusters on the map.
“We pride ourselves in being responsive to requests for enhancements from customers,” Bermudez said. “This just gives our customers that much more flexibility in configuring how objects on the map are displayed.
PCTEL Inc. has launched a new GNSS multi-satellite antenna portfolio for mobile and base-station timing applications. PCTEL’s new SkyLink antenna technology features out-of-band rejection characteristics that provide exceptional GPS/Galileo and GLONASS L1 support and performance in heavy RF traffic environments for fixed and mobile timing and asset tracking applications.
The new portfolio consists of two product lines:
SkyCompass for fleet management and asset tracking applications
SkyStamp base-station antennas for timing and synchronization of 4G LTE cellular networks.
SkyCompass comprises six new configurable antenna platforms, including single-band or multiband GNSS options that address the majority of fleet management installation needs. SkyStamp offers two timing reference and synchronization antenna models that provide maximum mitigation of the effects from nearby LTE interference sources.
“Over the last decade, PCTEL has been the industry’s technology leader in high rejection GPS products. These antennas are deployed worldwide by OEM customers in aviation, defense, and fleet management public safety projects,” said Rishi Bharadwaj, vice president and general manager of PCTEL’s Connected Solutions. “True to our commitment to support global communications and evolving requirements, PCTEL’s SkyLink technology provides global multi-satellite GNSS coverage and precision tracking by rejecting RF noise or interference that can negatively affect communications in performance critical situations.”
SkyCompass and SkyStamp antennas will be available for shipment in November.
SmartDrive Systems has introduced the SmartDrive SmartChoice Program, a video-based safety program that provides fleets the freedom to choose the level of video protection that best aligns with their specific business priorities and needs.
Whether the company’s primary objective is exonerating drivers from frivolous claims or preventing collisions with 360-degree visibility to risk, SmartDrive’s SmartChoice Program offers a product line to meet each fleet’s requirements. The new SmartDrive Shield and SmartDrive Defender, in conjunction with SmartDrive Assurance, offer flexibility in video-based safety by providing a program allowing users to start now and upgrade at any time with existing hardware.
“With our SmartDrive SmartChoice Program, we put choice squarely in the hands of our customers, ensuring every fleet now has a better way to protect its drivers with video,” said Steve Mitgang, CEO of SmartDrive, “We understand that a video safety program needs to fit the culture of the individual fleet. With three video-safety product lines and our distinctive open platform, SmartDrive’s SmartChoice Program lets fleets decide what they need, how best to deploy video within their operation and when the time is right to scale their investment, by moving up to a more comprehensive solution as their requirements expand.”
With the SmartDrive SmartChoice program, fleets can choose from among three product lines, each with unique capabilities and benefits, as described below:
SmartDrive Shield — A road-facing camera combined with on-demand video offload and easy-to-use review workflow, SmartDrive Shield is designed for fleets that have owner operators or are not yet ready for integrated coaching, and are focused on capturing every collision, exonerating when not at fault and providing drivers the ability to record issues on the road, such as delivery verification and security incidents.
SmartDrive Defender — Configurations of up to two cameras offer road-facing and cab views, with automatic video offload, risk scoring and integrated coaching. SmartDrive Defender is designed for fleets that want to protect every driver by identifying high-risk incidents — including speeding, lane departure, hard braking and collisions — and provide proactive coaching to reduce collision frequency, improve safety and reinforce good driving skills.
SmartDrive Assurance — Deployment of up to four cameras enables a 360-degree view of the vehicle and insight into the most frequent causes of collisions — such as U-turns, backing, unintended lane changes, roll-overs and close following — delivering a high level of coverage and complete visibility to risk. SmartDrive Assurance is designed for fleets focused on maximum protection and prevention of safety and compliance-related incidents.
The SmartDrive multi-tiered video-based safety program identifies unsafe driving with an extensible platform, integrating video, vehicle data, audio and driving data for a unified and comprehensive view of risk. The SmartDrive SmartChoice Program offers unmatched flexibility for fleets with a wide range of priorities, while ensuring that companies’ investments in video solutions are protected and can evolve as their operational needs change and technology advances.
Fleets that previously felt video safety didn’t fit their driver or operational environment now have an option with SmartDrive Shield, a no-coaching, road-facing only solution focused on exonerating drivers in not-at-fault collisions. When ready for an integrated safety program, fleets can easily move to SmartDrive Defender or SmartDrive Assurance, leveraging the same flexible video analytics platform.
“With our SmartChoice Program, it’s all about letting fleets decide what’s best for them, in terms of onboard system integration, how many cameras they incorporate, what type of risk they want to measure, and how or if coaching is part of their operations,” emphasized Mitgang. “SmartDrive Shield, Defender and Assurance not only reduce collisions, but also save fleets time and resources, which can then be focused on delivering increased value to their customers through on-time delivery, accuracy and better overall service.”
The Magellan RoadMate RC9496T-LMB commercial navigator.
Magellan is integrating its RoadMate RC9496T-LMB fleet navigation device with Position Logic’s advanced GPS tracking software solution. The partnership allows Position Logic service providers to leverage all Magellan RoadMate RC9496T-LMB devices.
The RoadMate RC9496T-LMB, a 7-inch Android GPS fleet navigation device, is available now to current and prospective Magellan and Position Logic customers. Position Logic, a division of KORE, provides precision location-based services for business-to-business applications.
The Magellan and Position Logic integration delivers a powerful and seamless end-to-end communication and navigation solution for fleets, the companies said. The solution includes the RC9496T-LMB, an active mobile terminal, allowing real-time two-way communication between driver and dispatch when paired with Position Logic’s GPS tracking software. Users can send and receive important information to immediately identify driver status including route-receipt, in-route or on-scene, and deliver real-time messages to improve driver productivity. The solution delivers critical information for field service fleets, emergency services, roadside assistance and many more applications.
“Position Logic is an innovative technology leader in the location based services space. We are pleased to partner with them and offer the Magellan RC9496T-LMB to Position Logic customers,” said Stig Pedersen, associate vice president of product management for Magellan. “The combination of our two services delivers a highly efficient and flexible way for dispatchers to communicate with drivers in real-time, saving time, money and frustration.”
The RC9496T-LMB is also connected to Magellan’s SmartGPS Eco cloud, providing drivers and fleet managers with customizable time and money saving content such as: real-time fuel price information, weather and truck speed limit warnings.
“We are pleased to have the RoadMate RC9496T-LMB integrated. The Magellan integration further complements our Workflow/Dispatch module; improving communication between the dispatcher and driver and enhanced stop management,” said Felix Lluberes, executive vice president, advanced applications, KORE. “I am certain our service providers will be able to leverage the device and deliver more comprehensive services.”
The Magellan RoadMate RC9496T-LMB is available now. It has an MSRP of $399.
Aeris is partnering with Isotrak Ltd. to provide improved cellular connectivity and data analytics for Isotrak’s global customers.
By leveraging Aeris’ machine-optimized and patented AerCore IoT and M2M network, AerPort connectivity platform and AerVoyance IoT and M2M analytics platform, Isotrak has added advanced capabilities to its 3iS FleetVision solution, part of its real-time ATMSi (Active Transport Management System) fleet management system. Isotrak can now provide business intelligence data to provide retailers and manufacturers with a full view of their transportation ecosystem — including their own fleets as well as those of third-party suppliers.
The collaboration between Aeris and Isotrak will provide customers with a reliable mobile network optimized to meet the demands that IoT/M2M solutions for fleet management creates, while providing actionable visibility and measurement into the performance of vehicles and drivers through data analytics. Isotrak’s integrated supply-chain solutions depend on accessing near real-time data with robust alerting and reporting capabilities, which Aeris is able to deliver through its carrier-agnostic network.
“Our fleet management system provides data for a total vision of a fleet manager’s transportation ecosystem. We wanted to ensure reliable connectivity services and data insights no matter where our customers are located,” said Jason Price, sales and marketing director with Isotrak. “By leveraging Aeris’ expertise in IoT network solutions, we are able to quickly provide a robust, global solution that goes well beyond improved connectivity and competitive rate plans to offer customers real-time, useful information at their fingertips to help improve their cost structure.”
Aeris’ global support of major cellular technology standards, such as GSM, CDMA and LTE, enables partners like Isotrak to offer customers flexibility and the potential for growth throughout the globe, the companies said.
“The inherent security built into the Aeris system gives companies like Isotrak peace of mind, and the speed of onboarding, even with a private virtual network, provides a competitive advantage,” said Mohsen Mohseninia, vice president for international market development at Aeris. “We can deliver technology that can be quickly deployed and will show immediate value while also helping to reduce the time to market for new products and services.”
Two new products from GPSTrackIt.com offer users of their Fleet Manager vehicle tracking, fleet and workforce management system new tools for navigating, routing and communication.
Field Service Manager provides access to Fleet Manager’s route planning and navigation system. New stops can be pushed out to the tablets from dispatch. It enables drivers to add stops to their route on the fly. Push notifications also alert the driver to incoming messages, regardless of which page in the app they are currently viewing.
GPSTrackIt Forms takes the communications component of the FSM to a new level. This tool provides the ability to quickly create forms to capture everything from text to photographs to signatures.
“The new forms tool is really powerful,” said Eddie Bermudez, GPSTrackIt.com’s product development manager. “Part of it’s power is the ease of use. The different field types are created by clicking a button and adding a field label. It’s that easy.”
GPSTrackIt Forms provides unlimited forms. Form data can be captured offline and updated later. The tool provides 24 preset field types, including text, video and a document viewer.
“The forms aren’t just dumb collectors, either,” added Bermudez. “There’s a rules engine that facilitates skip logic and branching. And the forms can have embedded formulas and perform advanced calculations, including formula-based form scoring.”
The form tool can also export data to Excel, PDF, CSV, and JSON formats. “These two tools combined provide drivers and the back office with an amazing array of opportunities to collect data about their customers, as well as their own customer service,” Bermudez said.
Fleet management company Omnitracs LLC introduced today its new branding, which unifies its specialized business units under a single naming, messaging and creative architecture. Elements of the new brand platform include a redesign of the corporate logo and tagline, a refined core messaging, and new design treatments, the company said in a press release, all of which will be applied to the full spectrum of Omnitracs communications vehicles in the coming months.
What operated before as independent business units — Roadnet, XRS, Sylectus and Analytics — are now fully integrated flagship products within Omnitracs’ broad range of solutions: compliance, safety and security, productivity, telematics and tracking, transportation management system (TMS), planning and delivery, data and analytics, and professional services.
“Over the past few years and through a series of strategic acquisitions, Omnitracs has grown to become a global force in comprehensive fleet management solutions for fleets of all sizes, whether private or for-hire,” said Omnitracs CEO John Graham. “The new brand platform — from creative to messaging — properly aligns our distinct business units under the power of a single, well-respected brand: Omnitracs. The new branding is representative of the collective strength of our uniquely varied expertise, our continuous innovation and drive to revolutionize the transportation industry, and our ability to deliver best-in-class solutions to our customers for today and tomorrow.”
A cornerstone of Omnitracs’ new brand is its signature, comprising the logo and tagline. The modern symbol that accompanies the Omnitracs logotype illustrates motion, innovation and convergence. The tagline, “innovation. driven.” speaks to the core attributes of the company and reflects both its inventive nature and focus on delivering the most reliable and valuable solutions available, the company said.
“Omnitracs has long been recognized as the pioneer in fleet management solutions and as a product and technology innovator,” said Jim Gardner, vice president of marketing at Omnitracs. “Our new unified branding reflects the alignment of our business units into a single, end-to-end solution portfolio offering our customers greater insight into their business and higher profits from their fleets.”
Omnitracs will further unveil its new visual branding, colors and imagery at the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Management Conference & Exhibition, Oct. 17-20 in Philadelphia.
XRS Corporation, a subsidiary of Omnitracs LLC and provider of mobile trucking intelligence solutions, has announced integrations with Innovative IES and Appian DirectRoute transportation management software, both from TMW.
The newly integrated solutions are in addition to existing XRS integrations with TruckMate and TMWSuite software, also from TMW, and deliver enhanced operational visibility to fleets using both XRS and TMW platforms.
The integrated XRS solutions with TMW offer tangible benefits to drivers and to back-office personnel. Fleet managers can access vehicle and driver-specific data sourced from the XRS mobile fleet management solution directly through their TMW applications.
The streamlined information delivery saves time and eliminates the need to flip from one screen to another to access data from different systems. Furthermore, the availability of driver hours of service data from the XRS electronic logging device application within the TMS itself can help fleets improve driver and tractor use, as well as ensure they are HOS-compliant.
Also, drivers can now view routing and other driver-specific information from TMW software on their mobile devices. This simplified information delivery can streamline back-office to driver communication, reduce the likelihood of error, and lead to improved driver satisfaction and enhanced customer service.
“We continue to expand our stable of integrations, so that we are able to work with all major TMS solutions in the market. Our driver-centric integration with TMW solutions delivers significant value to our shared customers. Working with our industry partners, we’re continuing to make accurate data, including critical dispatch and routing information, easily accessible and even easier to share,” said Jon Van Winkle, vice president of product management for XRS. “These integrations allow drivers to focus on driving, without being bogged down by the cumbersome — and error-prone — task of manually entering data, while ensuring dispatchers have real-time updates to keep customers happy.”
“We have a long-standing relationship with XRS and these new integrations round out the suite of combined solutions available to meet and exceed the expectations of our shared customers,” stated Brian Larwig, VP and general manager, Appian, for TMW Systems. “The integration of the XRS Trip Management application with our Appian routing and tracking solutions makes possible the automatic route import and real-time trip activity updates from XRS Mobile, to deliver added value to the fleets we serve.”
The XRS platform, which runs on certified smartphones, tablets and rugged handhelds, provides drivers with a familiar interface for day-to-day operations and compliance. There are no additional, up-front hardware costs when the certified mobile devices are already in use, allowing fleets to immediately adopt the technology.
WorkWave, a provider of cloud-based field service management and “last mile” fleet management software solutions, has unveiled WorkWave Fleet, its mobile-first flexible route planning solution.
WorkWave Fleet helps field service and transportation and logistics businesses save time and costs while increasing capacity by better managing their mobile workforce with unique mobile capabilities.
“WorkWave Fleet allows for automating the dispatching and monitoring process to help keep our service levels high, with less overhead. Real-time dispatching gives us the flexibility we need to manage a dynamic environment,” said Ryan Walter, Co-founder of The Compost Crew, a Maryland-based organization aimed at collecting organic materials from local communities to be composted and used to replenish soil.
Typical productivity improvements for businesses that adopt WorkWave Fleet include:
20% reduction in drive time
30% reduction in mileage
25% reduction in overall costs
22% increase in capacity
“WorkWave continues to help its clients by saving them time and costs, while increasing capacity and on-time performance with the rollout of WorkWave Fleet,” said Chris Sullens, president and CEO of WorkWave. “Our new cloud-based application is designed to be simple to use and deploy, making it ideal for small to medium sized fleets, yet powerful enough to be used by enterprise clients. It enables businesses to easily make competitive commitments to customers while boosting responsiveness to last minute requests thanks to advanced functionality that raises the bar for mobile workforce productivity and instantly delivers savings, ROI and allows our clients to delight their customers.”
In addition to WorkWave Fleet’s core flexible route-planning capabilities, the new solution also features:
What-if Scenarios: Drag-and-drop functionality visualizes how changes impact performance to enable rapid scheduling and smarter planning.
Mobile Execution: Automatically updates progress from drivers, logs arrival and departure times, and allows for rescheduling requests.
Intra-Day Planning: Reschedule in real-time to avoid problems, update customers with courtesy calls, integrate with your system to provide ETAs via text or dispatch another vehicle.
Dramatic improvements to user interface, schedule management and path to ROI.
Rapid Deploy: An intuitive design and user interface that allows customers to learn the application in hours and deploy almost instantly after purchasing with no expensive and time consuming professional services.
Robust API: Connect directly to your own ERP, WMS, CRM or Customer Database to receive real-time updates within your own system and automate import/export operations and changes seamlessly.
WorkWave plans additional enhancements to WorkWave Fleet in 2015, including full integration with WorkWave GPS, its cloud-based telematics solution that tracks vehicle location, monitors drive behavior, and provides instant events-based alerts from any device.
Azuga’s Fleet Driver Rewards App Wins CTIA E-Tech Award
Ananth Rani founded Azuga in 2013.
When Ananth Rani began work in 2012 on the Fleet Driver Rewards app that has made connected vehicle provider Azuga a CTIA up-and-comer, he wasn’t sure he was making the right decision.
“Frankly, it was a bit of an experience to see if there was still room in the market for another vendor,” he said recently as he took time to sit-down at a coffee shop in Las Vegas’ Sands Expo Center amid CTIA Super Mobility 2015. “I thought, ‘What the hell am I getting myself into?’”
The gamble paid off for the Azuga and its dedicated co-founder. Azuga’s app took home second place in the Mobile Cloud division at the CTIA E-Tech Awards Thursday. The honors go to what CTIA describes as “the most innovative emerging mobile services, solutions and technology from areas such as the cloud, network equipment, M2M and the Internet of Things.”
What makes Azuga’s app innovative says Rani, is that it appeals to a unique user: The fleet driver.
Not just managers. Not just owners. The drivers themselves.
“Azuga is all about social telematics,” he says. “It comes from the heart. I tell fleet managers, ‘Do you want to be remembered as a gotcha guy or an attaboy?’”
A Silicon Valley veteran, Rani utilized a principal more likely to be seen in apps marketed to consumers: gamification. Fleet drivers earn points based on things like hard-braking, acceleration, sustained high speeds and driving in adverse weather conditions, among other metrics determined by a Ph.D. in statistics that Azuga has on staff.
“The expectation was that a driver will naturally move toward a safer fleet by competing with the rest of the drivers, and that as the risk goes down the miles per gallon goes up,” Rani said, “and that’s your ROI.”
The reward for winning is no simple badge: Drivers’ profiles are pulled from LinkedIn and their rankings are visible among the “Azuga Awesome Drivers” group on the social network. Rani says Azuga is “not J.D. Power” but aspires to have the same reputation for determining safe drivers.
Azuga Fleet Driver Rewards can gift a reward as a donation to groups like World of Children.
There’s also cash on the line. The company gives out quarterly prizes to the Top 10 drivers and Top 10 fleet managers of the 50,000 nationwide users, and the 1,000+ corporate customers can then also choose to award their drivers based on their own goals through an electronic gift card program that is tied to 14 national brands, including Amazon, Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Burger King. The driver sees the amount awarded and then has the choice of gift cards. Azuga has also recently added three charities to which the drivers can pass the reward as a donation.
Safety and savings aside, employee retention is an additional
“This is a blue collar world where the employee takes the truck home at night. Feeling engaged is the key to employee retention in a world where they may never see the boss and where they only see their manager for a meeting every few weeks.”
Azuga’s OBD-II connector is manufactured by parent company Danlaw Inc.
Azuga pairs with hardware manufactured by its parent company, Michigan-based Danlaw Inc. Rani sees the relationship as one that benefits Azuga with the “automotive grade DNA” and calls it “Silicon Valley meets Detroit.”
Azuga Fleet costs 69 cents per day per vehicle, and customers are companies of varying sizes with Aaron’s, the rental furniture and home appliances chain, using it for 3,000 trucks and 6,000 drivers on the large end and single-driver landscape companies at the small end.
Growth plans for the app including functions to help drivers find parking, locate a parked truck and easily message clients that they are on their way. The app is also being reviewed by state governments as a tool to determine whose cars need to be emissions-tested and to track hours required for state graduated driver licensing.
It’s currently being tested by the Oregon Department of Transportation as a way to assign a road usage charge that funds highway repairs. The topic is politically divisive, with opponents saying replacing the gas tax with a per-mile fee is inequitable and subsidizes gas-guzzlers and advocates saying it will lead to safer roads and is an easier, faster alternative to tolls. The din doesn’t concern Rani. He says the intent is the same that inspired the fleet management app.
FieldLogix, a fleet management service company, has released its newest mobile application for iPhones, Goose.
