There are no shortage of add-ons that a fleet manager could choose to equip their trucks with and these are exciting times for the trucking industry when you consider all the innovations and credible technology that is available right now, let alone what the future might hold.
It can be hard to decide which features and gadgets should make your must-have list.
Improvements to truck and driver safety is a primary consideration, for example, as anyone at somewhere like The Millar Law Firm will confirm, there are accidents on our roads every day involving trucks that could potentially have been avoided with the aid of technology to boost driver awareness.
Here are some of the potential ways that truck safety could be transformed as a result of technological advancements.
Dynamic routing can transform journey times and safety
There are numerous advantages attached to the concept of using dynamic routing.
What dynamic routing offers is the ability to plan a route in real-time and make adjustments when there are issues with traffic and weather that could impact on the driver in terms of journey time and safety.
Automating your route could save money on fuel costs when you find the most efficient route possible and it is not just better trip planning that you benefit from as dynamic routing can help keep drivers away from trouble by plotting the safest route and avoiding accidents that have just happened.
Routing software has to be considered a must-have for your cab.
Eyes on the road
Security cameras are an integral part of our lives and regardless of whether you find them intrusive or not it is hard to argue against the observation that they help improve public safety.
The same can be said of in-cab camera systems that serve a very useful purpose for truck drivers in recording their journey and capturing any incidents on the hard drive which can be used as evidence to defend the truck owner in the event of a collision.
Truck drivers are invariably “in the frame” for accidents even when it is not their fault so it makes a lot of sense to take advantage of the latest video technology to provide extra protection.
It should also be noted that this technology is evolving and new systems are incorporating data analytics to combat issues such as distracted driving.
Don’t write off driver scorecards
If you are responsible for a fleet of trucks there is a fair chance that you would have subscribed to the idea of using driver scorecards based on harvested telematics data.
These early systems got a bit of a bad press because they tended to focus on the bad parts of a driver’s behavior such as excessive barking and poor acceleration techniques.
Fast-forward to today and looking to the future it is clear that these scorecard systems have definitely had an upgrade.
What you get now is a system that detects and interprets all of the things that are happening in the cab without applying a human reviewer attitude to the results. In other words, these systems are not trying to find fault but identifying ways to improve drivers so they enjoy a better safety record as well as improved fuel economy.
Avoiding a collision using technology
We are well on the way to autonomous driverless vehicles in the future but where we are at right now is a sort of halfway point where vehicles can take advantage of the technologies that will be integral to driverless cars.
One clear example of this is with collision mitigation technology.
Advanced collision mitigation systems are rapidly evolving and currently, use sophisticated sensing technology to monitor for potential crash situations and take control of the vehicle to avert an impact situation.
This extra pair of eyes in the cab should prove invaluable in avoiding collisions in the future.
Electronic logging is not an option, it’s a requirement
It is now the case that virtually all interstate commercial trucking operations are required to have electronic logging devices (ELDs) on board.
The older systems in existence have been superseded by a new breed of logging devices that appear to be having a positive impact on driver accident rates as there is much less chance of a driver going over his hours with a high-tech ELD on board.
Improvements to trailer technology too
It is not just the cab that is getting a technological overhaul and the trucking industry is witnessing some great improvements in trailer tracking technology as well.
When you make use of the latest trailer tracking technology you should discover that it becomes infinitely easier to locate and even manage these valuable assets.
The ultimate aim of trailer tracking is loss prevention but there is more to it than that these days. What the latest tracking systems provide is an ability to not only use a GPS transponder to confirm the trailer’s location at any time, but the device will also be connected to the Internet of Things so that it can provide data that can be delivered directly to your fleet management system.
That means you have the opportunity to fully utilize the load space you have available and use data to run the trailer as efficiently as possible.
It should be the case that fleet managers will be able to make much better-informed purchasing decisions when they are able to use trailer printer technology to help them enjoy good visibility and utilization of their trailers.
Another worthwhile point to make about this type of technology is that it makes it much easier for the driver to find the right trailer amongst all the others in the depot when the device is able to take them straight to it.
The trucking industry plays a vital role in keeping the country supplied and technology is making that job safer and more efficient too.
It looks like the future of trucking is being taken care of when it comes to future-proofing the industry.