Real-Time Vehicle Tracking and Productivity

Key Takeaways

Real-time vehicle tracking promotes productivity improvement and customer service excellence through the technology’s ability to deliver accurate and precise location data across a fleet.

The various factors by which real-time tracking generates improved productivity include reduced operational costs, increased safety, and the possibility of faster decision-making.

Reduced Operational Costs

By being able to monitor all the information about individual vehicles in real-time, it is possible to achieve a reduction in the costs associated with running the activity and delivering the service.

The key to this is how the technology associated with mobility data allows fleet managers to plan and optimise delivery routes much more efficiently. For example, by seeing which routes are being used and determining the possibility of optimising those routes by allocating routes among drivers more efficiently. This optimisation in route allocation can lead to finding inefficiencies, allowing for the restructuring of routes and decisions on whether to eliminate idle vehicles after analysis and optimisation, thus reducing the company's expenditure by a considerable amount in the following areas:

• Reduction in cost per kilometre: Australia’s vast distances make cost per kilometre a critical metric. Real-time tracking helps identify the most fuel-efficient routes, essential for long-haul trips across states or remote areas.
• Improved fuel efficiency: Given the fluctuating fuel prices in Australia, improving fuel efficiency can lead to significant savings.
• Reduced costs in associated working hours: Monitoring driver hours helps ensure compliance with Australia’s strict fatigue management laws, avoiding fines and improving safety.
• Reduced costs associated with the use of vehicles for unauthorised purposes: Ensuring vehicles are used strictly for business purposes helps prevent misuse and reduces unnecessary expenses.

Driving Styles and Accident Prevention

A very important factor, which has a considerable impact on the performance of road transport fleets, is the monitoring of driving styles for the prevention of accidents and improvement of efficiency. Vehicle tracking improves driver behaviour on the road and returns business results. Making our fleet much safer and less prone to incidents that paralyse activity and require the intervention of different insurance policies. In the same way that Smart AI cameras can reduce crime, vehicle tracking can reduce dangerous driver behaviour. Bad driving practices such as speeding or hard braking are not only dangerous but also unnecessarily increase fuel costs.

Smart AI cameras integrated into vehicles provide real-time monitoring of driver behaviour and road conditions, offering immediate feedback and alerts to prevent accidents. These cameras can detect signs of driver fatigue, such as yawning, blinking patterns, and micro-sleeps, and provide instant alerts to the driver to take a break, significantly reducing the risk of fatigue-related accidents.

Thanks to the information from such monitoring, fleet managers can define training plans that improve driver style, which, in turn, leads to not only greater safety for drivers and cargo but also to greater efficiency and the subsequent reduction of extra costs in terms of both fuel and workshop visits.

Additionally, we can use this technology to help drivers correct bad driving practices by installing in-vehicle devices which allow drivers to identify and so correct their bad driving habits. These are called In-Cab Coaches and they reinforce the positive effect on driver safety.

Time Saving and Decision Making

Fleet management is a time-consuming task which requires a lot of effort, especially in large fleets with a significant number of vehicles and daily journeys. In an industry with low margins and high competition, decision-making based on real-time information has become crucial. Thanks to real-time vehicle tracking technology, the fleet manager can save a considerable amount of time. For instance, by not needing to communicate with each driver to obtain information, we free up time that can be spent much more efficiently on completing other value-added tasks for your business.

The need to adapt to these technological advances to develop a competitive advantage is evident. In a highly competitive environment, where not adopting such measures can mean being at a disadvantage, it is necessary to take the initiative and benefit from the time savings derived from locating all vehicles in real-time.

A very important point to consider is how to use such real-time information in decision-making through the use of key performance indicators. No matter how much information we have available, without the ability to have that information logically grouped together to assist in decision-making, its usefulness is reduced. Therefore, managers and owners should always look for smart fleet management solutions that provide the necessary dashboards and professional support to maximise the positive impact of having this information available.

Compliance with Australian Regulations

In Australia, compliance with regulations set by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is crucial for the safe and efficient operation of heavy vehicles. The NHVR oversees regulations related to vehicle standards, fatigue management, and safe driving practices. Real-time vehicle tracking aids compliance by ensuring that drivers adhere to regulated driving hours and rest breaks, which are essential under Australia's fatigue management laws.

Electronic Work Diaries (EWD) are another significant component of fleet management in Australia. EWDs replace traditional paper logbooks, providing a digital solution to record driving hours and rest periods accurately. Integrating EWDs with real-time vehicle tracking systems ensures seamless compliance with NHVR regulations, reduces administrative burdens, and minimises the risk of fines due to logbook errors.

MICHELIN Connected Fleet's advanced solutions

MICHELIN's advanced Connected Fleet solutions allow companies to not only locate vehicles in real-time, but also allow managers and owners to have access to all three key stages of the journey. Namely, before, to plan the journey, during, to monitor the journey, and after the journey to analyse the reports extracted from the mobility data. By leveraging these solutions, companies can enhance compliance with NHVR regulations and utilise their resources effectively, ensuring a safer and more efficient fleet operation.

If you would like to know more about how we can help you, or even request a demo, please do not hesitate to contact us.