The increasing economic importance of implementing real-time vehicle tracking as part of a commercial company’s mobile resource management policy can now be viewed as essential for comprehensive operational control, remote driver security and fuel savings. Dearer oil is increasing costs for many businesses – particularly those with large fleets of vehicles – and is adding a powerful financial impetus to the search for fuel efficiencies.
Technology has a significant role to play in reducing fuel consumption, which also has clear environmental benefits.
An example of a measurable fuel saving combined with a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions is Interserve, a building management company, who have both saved 15 per cent of its fuel costs and seen a drop in CO² by tracking its vehicles with satellites.
With rising fuel costs, retailers are smart-routing to avoid traffic jams, either by combining deliveries, improving fleets or reconfiguring routes. This is to maximise the number of deliveries while minimising time and distance. It has been found that even restricting the number of left hand turns can improve on time, efficiency and energy savings.
Using GPS vehicle tracking technology and viewing interactive maps online enabled the company to see where it was losing money, time and wasting fuel – such as on duplicated journeys.
Yet in some countries, there are legal concerns over using tracking technology. In the UK, for example, the law stipulates that companies must tell drivers if they use telematics to monitor vehicles for anything other than asset tracking.
Interserve is using Cybit’s Fleetstar-Online. It works over a web browser and reports vehicle locations every 20 seconds. It also displays mileage information, live traffic information and exception reporting. Fuel bills were estimated to be cut between 10 and 20 per cent.
Vehicle Tracking
An advanced vehicle tracking system is a fully modular, scalable, vehicle tracking and management information solution, using real time GPS, and designed to produce a more effective and profitable management of a mobile service workforce. By accessing real-time information to improve operational control and remote worker security, powerful business changing strategic data can be reviewed with configurable reports.
Fleet Tracking / Transport and Logistics
Applications of commercial vehicle tracking solutions in the fields of transport, logistics, haulage and multi-drop delivery environments can include optimised fleet utilisation, real-time operational enhancements and dynamically remote-managed fleets.
Fleet tracking is scalable by design and interfaces with the logistics industry’s leading back-office systems.
Powerful reports may be generated that assist the management of service level agreements and provide automatic proof of delivery. Fleet tracking information can also deliver data to enhance strategic business decision-making throughout an entire 24 hours, in real time.
Mobile Asset Tracking / Public Sector & Utilities
Real-time service and management data delivered to the public and utilities sector.
Complying with duty of care legalisation, mobile asset tracking aims to enhance vehicle utilisation and revolutionise public sector service delivery.
GPS vehicle tracking is linked with specialised applications to include gully cleaners, road sweepers and gritters, which are all supported by some of the leading OEM’s.
Highways Agency / Telematics winter maintenance tracking
A winter maintenance tracking solution will be supplied on the Highways Agency’s new winter service fleet which is responsible for keeping all England’s motorway and major A roads free from snow and ice in winter. The first vehicles will be on the road autumn 2008.
The Highways Agency’s contractors will have local visibility of the fleet’s activity, access to a real-time national view of the fleet as well as detailed performance management information. The Highways Agency will be able to monitor route treatment progress in real-time and provide customers with more reliable information on road conditions. The telematics system gives the contractors the ability to monitor location-based information, monitor planned versus actual activity, to react to problems and to be confident that roads have been adequately treated. The system also records whether the vehicles are spreading, the rate of and pattern of spreading, width and lane position, and ploughing.
The current worldwide market for Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receiver technology is estimated at more than £1 billion and is expected to grow to more than £15 billion during the next 10 years.
