Fleet management

Vehicle tracking systems provide a number of data points regarding engine diagnostics, driving behaviors, and geo-location.

[5] Once vehicle location, direction and speed are determined from the GPS components, additional tracking capabilities transmit this information to a fleet management software application.

An advanced fleet management systems (FMS) can connect to the vehicle's onboard computer, and gather data for the user.

By combining received data from the vehicle tracking system and the on-board computer, it is possible to form a profile for any given driver (average speed, frequency of detours, breaks, severity of manoeuvres, choice of gears, etc.).

Geofencing allows any internet-enabled device with a GPS or asset tracker application to set up a virtual boundary around a particular location using mapping technology.

Software, depending on its capabilities, allows functions such as recording driver and vehicle details, the tracking of procurement costs, scheduling of maintenance and servicing tasks, import of fuel transactions, route optimization, and measuring of fleet performance via reports and charts.

Then, the carrier or other approved organization can be remotely alerted to allow a dispatcher or other authorized personnel to evaluate the situation, communicate with the driver, and/or potentially disable the vehicle.

The ad hoc nature and traditional low funding levels with cash has put many operations in an aged fleet.

In the UK, in April 2008, the Corporate Manslaughter Act was strengthened to target company directors as well as their drivers in cases of road deaths involving vehicles used on business.

The Police have said they now treat every road death as ‘an unlawful killing’ and have the power to seize company records and computers during their investigations.

In particular prosecutions can be brought against company directors for failing to meet their duty of care and allowing HGV driver hours to exceed the legal limits.