Geotab: helping fleets get more from tachograph data
Geotab’s Aaron Jarvis
For commercial vehicle operators, the tachograph has always performed an essential role – providing the critical and authoritative record needed to demonstrate compliance with drivers’ hours rules, helping to protect drivers, operators and other road users.
But the way fleets use tachograph data is changing, according to technology provider Geotab.
“Traditionally, much of the process has been retrospective,” said Aaron Jarvis, VP EMEA, Geotab.
“Data is recorded, downloaded, checked and analysed after journeys have taken place. This remains fundamental to effective compliance management, but greater connectivity is creating an opportunity to make tachograph information useful much earlier in the process.
“Instead of simply asking what happened yesterday or last week, operators can increasingly understand what is happening across their fleet by combining tachograph information with wider operational data.”
That shift from historical record to near real-time operational insight could significantly increase the value fleets derive from a data source they already depend on, Aaron says.
“That value, however, still depends on the quality and availability of the actual underlying intel. Tachograph data needs to be correctly recorded and successfully transferred, while accurate activity classifications, manual entries and follow-ups on missing or inconsistent records remain critically important.”
Moving beyond manual administration to remote download solutions can help avoid unnecessary vehicle downtime and give transport teams far more consistent access to the information they really need, says Aaron.
“But automation should not only make an existing process faster. The far greater opportunity comes when fleet managers can also see information such as driver status, hours, remaining driving time and required breaks as an operation unfolds…
“Consider a transport manager allocating an additional collection late in a driver’s shift. Historical records can easily confirm whether that driver subsequently remained compliant – but more timely information can help the manager determine whether the job should be allocated to that driver in the first place.”
Increasingly, says Aaron, connected fleet technology is giving businesses the opportunity to highlight potential legal infringements early enough to support corrective action – to identify an emerging issue and respond while there is still time to influence the outcome.
“For tachograph management, this could mean seeing that a driver will need a break before allocating their next job; identifying which available driver has sufficient time to complete an additional collection; or recognising recurring operational delays that are dramatically consuming productive driving hours.
“And there’s a human benefit too: good use of tachograph data should not be about finding new ways to scrutinise drivers. Instead, better visibility can help operators build more realistic schedules, reduce unnecessary time pressure and understand whether recurring issues stem from the route, delivery window or wider operating conditions rather than individual driver behaviour. Technology works best when it improves the system around the driver, rather than simply policing what they do.”
