You already know what a connected vehicle platform is. However, to understand how it works and what they use to make it, you need to understand the essentials of a connected vehicle platform. In general, there are four important parts of a connected vehicle platform – IoT modules, cloud infrastructure, software applications, and security. Let’s talk about these before we move to another topic.

IoT Module

IoT, or the internet of things module that is part of the connected vehicle platform. To best define it, it’s the physical objects (things) that we better know as hardware (with software), technology, and sensors in the connected vehicle. They are responsible for exchanging data with other devices around them. Through these, the connected vehicle platform enables the vehicle with a range of capabilities which we will mention all below. 

V2I

V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure) is for the vehicle to environment communication that provides enhanced security in a connected vehicle and has many benefits behind it for the environment.

The V2I technology increases the driver’s safety by sending immediate warnings before any sharp turn, an upcoming red light, and even when you are over the speed limit. If you are driving in bad weather, V2I will also inform you of any upcoming icy roads, heavy wind, heavy rain, and even sketchy areas that might be dangerous to drive in.

Other than that, V2I always has great benefits for the environment. Before going to park your vehicle, the car park communication feature will allow you to find parking before you even arrive at your destination. This will save you lots of time if you are in a hurry, or in a traffic jam. Before encountering a stoplight, the connected vehicle platform will communicate with traffic lights to help you adapt to a perfect speed, saving you lots of time and fuel. 

V2V

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication allows the connected vehicle to communicate with other nearby devices. Other vehicles can help alert nearby devices of difficult road conditions, sketchy hidden roads, and even when another nearby vehicle is broken down in the middle of a high-speed road that would be hard to see at night.

If communication is well established between a connected vehicle platform and its adjacent parallel, then all the vehicles in a column can accelerate and brake at the same time, not needing any human intervention.

V2C

Vehicle to Cloud communication serves mainly to inform you about real-time traffic conditions. The biggest issue we have in the modern days is traffic jams, especially if you live in big cities; You might be waiting for hours in one spot to get home. V2C allows you to take alternative routes that have less traffic or none. This not only saves you time but will save you lots of fuel as well. We all definitely know what it feels to be stuck in the same spot for hours.

V2P

Vehicle-to-Pedestrian communication is very important when it comes to pedestrian safety. Over 20 thousand pedestrians are killed every year because of speedy cars or even crossing the road where and when they shouldn’t. More than 100 thousand are injured and usually result in long-term disabilities. 

V2P is very concerned about this, that is why every connected vehicle has it. It will give warnings to pedestrians if it is safe to cross the road and even alert the driver if there are any pedestrians crossing the road. The pedestrian is warned by a wave or a light signal, while the driver will be warned by the connected vehicle platform. 

V2X

Or Vehicle-to-everything, allows all connected vehicles to integrate with smart cities (which we will describe further). Its aim is to make sure in every city, there is enough data to provide to city planners that allow self-driving vehicles to communicate with each other. In other words, V2X is the summary of all the other connectivity categories. 

Some IoT Examples

• • Stop Light Countdown – The countdown you see at a red light before driving is one example of IoT. It can be helpful in informing you when to get ready to drive off. It is becoming very common in every main stoplight. 
  • Automatic Braking – Usually used when the connected vehicle platform scans that something is fairly close by, or even when there is a nearby red light. It will decelerate the car if its speed is too high. 
  • Start/Stop Function – Mostly found in newer cars, a button inside your connected vehicle that allows you to turn the car on without inserting any key. 
  • Semi-autonomous control – A lot of high-end cars like Mercedes S Class, BMW 7 series, etc, will have some features in the car that will allow it to drive by itself partially without human intervention. 

Cloud Infrastructure

The connected vehicle platform cloud powers a network of millions of vehicles all over the world.

Automotive connectivity platforms hide all the complex data in the cloud, all to not complicate users using them. A connected vehicle platform with cloud infrastructure allows OEMs to scale and provide connected services from multiple software vendors.

The range of capabilities of a connected vehicle platform is endless. Let’s name a few of them to better understand the connection between each other.

• Telematics

  
  Gathers and analyzes vehicle data. The connected vehicle platform working on cloud infrastructure helps OEMs to deliver the following user experience: remote control (heating, start/stop, locking/unlocking, etc.), self-parking, semi self-driving cars, eCalls, etc.

• Fleet Management
  

  Offers a range of assistance when it comes to informing you on what is wrong with your car when you need to service your car, traffic analysis, fuel consumption, and so much more.

   

• Universal Connectivity
  

  Allows OEMs to manage all vehicles around the world. The connected vehicle platform connected to a cloud has two connectivity components: Global service operations center & connectivity management orchestration.

   

• ADAS
  

  By using the driving assistance capabilities, connectivity is enhancing self-driving transportation. Connected vehicles have many on-board sensors and cameras, where the connectivity platforms combine sensor data with other nearby vehicles from cloud-based service providers. Big data systems in the connected vehicle platform allow all of these capabilities to work effectively through V2X (data exchange, security, real-time locations, etc). 

Software Applications

Connectivity in cars allows us to push the limits of our connected vehicle platform. Most applications in a connected vehicle platform are mandatory after 2018. Software applications have allowed innovators to realize human needs through these applications just by analyzing their behaviors. 

Let’s have a look at a few software application examples used in the connected vehicle platform.

Business Outcomes & Customer Insights

Connected vehicle platform applications more than ever have created a sense of connection between the user and the vehicle. The whole reason behind this is to create increased ownership of the driver in his vehicle. The greatest benefit is the automotive companion apps which provide personalized data on customer’s everyday behavior. This allows car manufacturers to realize the demands of the customer and communicate with them by launching new features, providing news, and creating a personalized experience for them based on all their preferences. 

Application Affinity

Applications in the connected vehicle platform allow the apps to communicate brand identity, rebranding, company missions & values. OEMs can use the connected vehicle platform applications to build brand affinity before a customer enters their door. What do we mean by this? It means that it allows brands to know what the customer is looking for and what to offer them before they enter the dealership! 

Architecture Constraints

The biggest challenge engineers will face in the connected vehicle platform is connectivity. That is where they work the hardest before putting any vehicles on the road. Connectivity between the vehicle and the outside world can sometimes cause connective drops from both sides. This has to be handled by the UX in order to provide the most real-time experience possible. Another challenge is also the handling of emergency situations where the user needs to receive information before anything happens, or else connectivity issues can cause lives. 

Leveraging Third-Party Services

The leveraging of Third Party services can be fairly helpful when it narrows down to saving your time. These are mostly services in the connected vehicle platform that cover core components such as maps, navigations, parking costs, pay tolls, etc. Sometimes, you can even make a reservation before you go to your favorite restaurant. Before you arrive anywhere, whatever you have to reserve, pay for, or where to navigate will be visible to you by the software application.

4. Security

What most people worry about when driving their vehicles is their data security. Nobody wants their sensitive information to leak on any external device. The connected vehicle platform doesn’t allow this but before we get to the point, what exactly do we need to do so our data is secure? Here are some typical guidelines that engineers address before they create data security: 

• Access to the application
• Data security during transfer
• Security against hacking
• Brute-force attack protection
• Storing security of sensitive data

With that in mind, the connected vehicle has great protection against any external threats through its passive system. One of them being the passive SIM card, which won’t show your data to any external connections that try to find it. It will hide your location and every word you are saying on a call. The only time your data will be shown on a call is when you make an emergency call, but won’t be too sensitive since you might be in danger during these moments and you are seeking help.

CCPA & GDPR Acts

Other than the protection in your vehicle, your data is under law protection. The European Union’s General Data Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) guarantee to protect your personal data. Under these laws, all connected vehicle information exposure is under certain limits.

Automakers from the beginning have top set high-security standards for data sharing. From this it allows data to flow at a very high-security level in the connected vehicle platform. One example we can use is the eCall feature, which has limited power in it so it can’t spy on other data.

Before automakers incorporate a connected vehicle platform, they are brainstorming more about many potential threats that can happen to the data, such as “threat modeling”. Everyone knows how easily people hack and steal data nowadays. Thus, automakers and data engineers are coming together to try and prevent every possible way of this happening. 

Market Shares

Many companies own high shares in the connected vehicle platform industry. All of those stay up to date on the latest technologies of the connected vehicle industry.

Most of the connected vehicle platform shares are currently in Microsoft’s hands, counting around 50% of the shares. Automotive manufacturers rely upon many connected vehicle platforms and use most of their IoT. They equip hundreds of millions of connected vehicles through their security, IoT, computing technology, & combined AI & IoT services.

Blackberry QNX is also going head to head with Microsoft, which has equipped 50% of all connected vehicles. They have already passed the 100 million mark of equipping connected vehicles. Microsoft knows there is high competition among many companies. 

Ericsson also holds a 10% share with its partners- LG Electronics & Cerence, across over 180 countries. They have a partnership with Microsoft, and here is what Asa Tomsons had to say 

“The Ericsson and Microsoft partnership will deliver a comprehensive connected vehicle platform at scale to the market. Our integrated solutions will help automotive manufacturers accelerate their global connected vehicle solutions and offer a better experience for drivers and passengers,” says Åsa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses.

Conclusion

Safety and privacy are something we all worry about when driving. The biggest issues many have faced and still face are issues with their data privacy and safety in a vehicle. The connected vehicle platform wants to make our vehicles save us when we are not expecting a fatality. It also wants our data to be safe from any external threat. Our powers are limited to saving someone when in a vehicle, but the connected vehicle platform will be there when no one can!

To learn more about connected vehicle platforms, make sure to check out our connected vehicle platform solution.

The post 4 Most Important Parts Of A Connected Vehicle Platform appeared first on Fueloyal.

Many customers ask themselves nowadays – what is a connected vehicle? It isn’t a term we hear that often in our everyday lives. We know what vehicles are, but the ‘connected’ part might be somewhat confusing. As surprising as it sounds, it is something every single person will be using in the near future. If you still haven’t gotten the whole idea of it, there is a simple definition to it, as follows.

What is a Connected Vehicle? 

A connected vehicle is a vehicle that contains wireless networks that can link with nearby devices such as laptops, phones, nearby infrastructure buildings, trains, traffic signals, etc. Many would also define a connected vehicle as a system of Internet of Things (IoT).

Connected vehicles are able to access, send, and receive data, communicating real-time locations and events to every device around them, and upcoming. This allows the connected vehicle to continuously stay updated on what is going on during your drive. It is very effective for road safety, as well as keeping the environment cleaner. 

The best thing about connected vehicles is that all the vehicle information that they send or receive is under data protection. You won’t have to worry about any information or data leak to an outside source.

History Of Connected Vehicles

No, we didn’t invent connected vehicles in the 21st century. In fact, the first one was created back in 1980, in a Formula 1 racing car. The connected features of the Formula 1 were a board computer that was installed by BMW. It would take over a decade to actually be used on the road by other vehicles.

General Motors (GM), along with OnStar, was the first to bring connected vehicles on the road. Three versions of the famous ‘Cadillac’ model were the first to use connected features. The first feature ever installed was the emergency call (eCall), where the main purpose of it all was to promote safety and get assistance after an accident. 

We all know what GPS is, but until a few decades ago, it wasn’t a really popular term. Only those who were tech-savvy knew about its capabilities. Back in 2000, GPS features became a part of connected vehicles, which is just two decades ago. Before that, only the military would use it for various purposes. It’s a very important feature since it allows people to track stolen vehicles, as well as people. Nowadays, vehicle manufacturers consider it an integral part of connected vehicles and use it for many of its features.

Additional connected vehicle features

In 2001, vehicle manufacturers would install remote diagnostics in their connected vehicles, to let them diagnose problems within the vehicle much quicker. Since then, the technology of connected vehicles has improved dramatically.

The first-ever built-in SIM cards in a vehicle would be invented by BMW, back in 1998. Since 2004, the company includes them in some of its high-end models. The SIM card allows its drivers to check messages, weather forecasts, office functions and includes anonymous tracking of heavy traffic jams.

Just one year after Apple would introduce their first-ever iPhone back in 2008, Chrysler will be the first company to use the Internet Hotspot feature. From there on, it is a new step for the automotive industry and its technology usage in vehicles, as well as a huge leap for connected vehicles.

What Are Some Connected Vehicle Trends?

The connected vehicle is becoming the future of transportation. Features such as wireless networks and artificial intelligence (AI) are now becoming the heart of the connected vehicle.

AI Interface

Newly-developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) software now serves as a personal assistant, responding to your commands, using face recognition, and guiding us where we need to go. This is but a fraction of connected vehicle features.

Telematics

With telematics in connected vehicles, drivers are more alert, increasing the safety rating. They receive notifications (reminders) not to stray off lanes and cause accidents, as well as other numerous benefits. It also has a smart maintenance service that keeps you updated on when you need to service your vehicle. Most connected vehicles manufactured after 2015 have telematics installed.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Fifty years ago, people would talk about how future generations will be using self-driving vehicles in the near future. Well, that day has finally arrived. Some high-end models such as the Mercedes S Class, BMW 7 Series, etc., have a partial self-driving option. Self-driving vehicles have various levels of automation, and each year they receive upgrades and updates to a higher intelligence level of self-driving. Most automakers claim that in the next decade, there will be many fully self-driving vehicles out on the road. However, they differ from connected vehicles in terms of navigation. Unlike autonomous vehicles, we are still in control when we drive our connected vehicle.

Car-to-Car communication

As mentioned before, connected vehicles communicate with each other wirelessly on the road. This is important for traffic purposes and crash prevention. Every new car will have this featured in the following years.

Sensors

This is all the use of open and closed-loop control strategies used in car mechanics. This involves the monitoring of the car battery, transmission oil pressure, gas exhaust control, etc. The best thing about sensors is that it helps the connected vehicle use fuel more efficiently, saving you those extra dollars on gas.

5G

Yes, 5G is the upcoming trend of connected vehicles. In the future, 5G will allow connected vehicles to transmit data of how they’re driving. It will have very strong receivers and transmitters which will allow real-time communication to be much faster. All real-time locations will be more accurate. Having 5G in a connected vehicle will allow communication to city networks, helping you find parking, locating hidden areas, and informing you on which alternative turn to take when there are high traffic jams or any road blockages. 

What Are The Benefits of Connected Vehicles?

Time Efficiency 

The biggest problem in driving is traffic jams, all because it consumes a lot of your time. Especially when you are going to work or driving back home, stuck in traffic. 

Connected vehicle applications will update you on traffic scenarios, and allow you to take alternative choices on which routes to take in order to save your time.

Safety

Unfortunately, many people lose their lives every year, caused by devastating car accidents. A car accident can happen at any time. With upcoming alerts of any threats ahead, the amount of deaths over the years is slowly declining and it should continue so in the upcoming years. Connected vehicle crash alerts include icy, curvy roads, and other physical collisions that occur. 

Environment-friendly

With reduced emissions, the connected vehicle has applications specially designed for the environment. These applications allow you to make choices on what is best for the environment. This is a great feature since greenhouse gases are on a sharp rise year by year. It’s safe to say connected vehicles will reduce the transmissions of GHGs such as carbon dioxide.

Examples Of Connected Vehicle & IoT Features

With high bandwidth networks, the connected vehicle has a wider range of capabilities. To make you understand it better, here are a few examples of some of its capabilities: 

• Automatic Braking- the car will brake by itself when it senses something in front that may be too close. In some cases, it may also include a warning sign of nearby objects in case the connected vehicle doesn’t have automatic braking. 
• Automatic Road update- reports road conditions, level of traffic, also any accidents up ahead. 
• Automatic Route planning- an automatic route is planned based on real-time conditions. 
• Adaptive Cruise control- the speed of the connected vehicle will be automatically controlled based on how the driving conditions are, and its surroundings. 
• Autonomous/semi-autonomous control- Now, some autonomous controls in a car have levels to what extent human intervention is needed. Every year that passes by, it allows the connected vehicle to become more autonomous. Semi-autonomous vehicles have some features which don’t require human intervention but can’t be fully self-driven.

Connected Vehicle Data Protection 

When it comes to connected car data, many people have worries about their data being stolen or tracked down by anonymous devices. There is nothing to worry about because the calls you make with the connected car all have a passive SIM Card unless you make emergency calls. This hides any locations or sensitive information of getting exposure to an external threat.

For any other reason, the personal data that your connected vehicle stores is under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These laws limit the information (data) to autonomous car manufacturers.

Connected vehicle manufacturers have high-security standards for data sharing. This goes without saying as they do it immediately, during the process of production. Data protection in this case is at the highest level when using your connected vehicle.

One example is the eCall system. The eCall system does not have the technical capacity to spy on other profiles. This is a regulation set under the GDPR & CCPA. 

Mobility Services in The Connected Vehicle 

Mobility services inside the connected vehicles are very important when it comes to emergency situations. They are improving over the years, and as of now, Mobility Services include eCalls, stolen car tracker, car breakdown assistance, concierge service.

eCalls (emergency calls)

A very important connected vehicle feature for urgent cases. The eCall allows you to quickly dial the emergency number in case of a serious accident. It is also a mandatory feature that vehicle manufacturers install in the newest car models. Most state governments also make it a must.

Stolen Car Tracker

Someone having your connected vehicle can be a huge issue. You don’t want your money to go to waste just like that, do you? The stolen car tracker has a smart protection service, sending the real-time location, and notifying the owner whenever someone tries to steal their vehicle. This allows the owner to inform the police through an identification code that they receive on their smartphones. From there on, the police will receive the location of the connected vehicle and allow them to retrieve it.

Car Breakdown Assistance

You never know what can happen to your connected vehicle when driving. There isn’t a thing to worry about, because in any situation of it breaking down, you can request a call to the service center. The service center will receive the data, as well as the location of your connected vehicle. A tow truck will be on the road to help with the breakdown or even a replacement car in the worst-case scenario.

Concierge Service

It’s really hard to drive and use your mobile phone to stay updated, especially if you are driving at night, or on the highway. Now, you can use the onboard systems to connect to a digital voice assistant or service center to get the necessary information without putting your life at risk. This is yet another intelligent connected vehicle feature for all drivers.

The digital voice assistant or service center can help you in keeping you updated on nearby hotels, restaurants, cafes, ongoing traffic conditions, the weather, etc. You can also reserve a hotel room, or a table at a restaurant just by using your voice, how easily does it get? 

Monetization of Connected Vehicle Data 

Monetization of connected vehicle data is used for personalization, essential & non-essential driving data, vehicle data, driver data, & data focused on surrounding conditions. Here are some categories:

• Connected Vehicle Status – Service maintenance notifications, eCalls, vehicle stats.
• Driver Behavior – Insurance plans, automatic road payments, etc. 
• Internal Vehicle Communication – digital voice assistant, voice control. 
• Personalized data – Personalized ads, custom vehicle settings, etc. 
• Road Conditions – live reports on traffic, road conditions, maps.

Conclusion

The fact remains – connected vehicles are on the uprise. The current market size is currently worth over $50 billion and will most likely reach the $160 billion-mark by 2025. 

Too many vehicles on the road are becoming a huge problem, increasing air pollution, reducing parking space, and creating hectic traffic jams.

The whole idea of governments is to increase the intelligent transportation system. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the traffic jams will increase, but vice versa – use connected vehicles to decrease or eliminate these issues. What this technology aims to do is to be there for us when we need it.

To find out more on how Connected cars are trying to achieve this, make sure to visit our Connected Vehicle Platform page.

The post What Is Connected Vehicle And History of Connected Vehicles appeared first on Fueloyal.

Driver seat belt usage is continuously increasing over the last few decades but despite constant vehicle alerts we are still not at the 100% usage level. National statistics (according to the NHTSA) are showing that 90.1% of people are using them. Simply the best and safest choice has always been to buckle up.

They way are so many people  still not using seat belts all the time? How we can help the remaining 27.5M people in US that are not using seat belts on a daily base?

Lately we tend to get a lot of asks about driver seat belt detection technology to be implemented in the companies Fleet Management Systems. So I wanted to share first hand how this technology can make positive changes for each company.

Help Drivers Develop Safe Behavior

Indeed this is where technology can help your company drivers and other employees develop safe driving behavior and habits. Today pretty much all new cars have the systems to warn drivers that they are not using seat belt regularly.

Here you simply add one layer of safety recommendations. The reason why some people reject to buckle up despite the warning audio and visual signals is that no one has the information or reporting that they are not using seat belt. This way you bring more visibility and drivers by knowing they are monitored start developing safe driving behavior and habits.

Seat Belt Detection Increases Driver Safety

NHTSA says that we could save 2465 lives in 2016. if all the drivers were buckled up. If your company introduced procedures can save just one life because of this you already made a huge step into the right direction.

The post 5 Ways How Driver Seat Belt Detection Can Help in Fleet Management appeared first on Fueloyal.

All around the country, if you ask fleet managers or company owners what is the single biggest company expense – they will  tell you fuel. On average, transportation companies spend 25% or more on fuel purchases. When I say fuel, it can mean both gas and diesel.

A 1% reduction in fuel costs can result in thousands of dollars in profit annually. A recent study done by Continental showed that fuel management systems are ranked 1st on the fleet manager wish-list.

What does fuel management actually means?

Fuel management is set of activities and procedures companies implement in order to optimize fuel usage and reduce costs related to fuel purchasing. Usually it is a combination of technology & procedures required to generate maximum optimization.

Most companies focus only on few things when thinking about Fuel Management. Usually the focus is on company fuel cards  because the savings are easy to calculate and it’s visible immediately. But fuel purchase routing works great with existing fuel cards and provides an extra layer of savings.

Fuel management in today’s fleet

Part of the reason why fleet managers focus only on this is fuel card aspect is that simply there is a lack of alternatives or  better solutions on the market. We at Fueloyal developed a new set of features custom tailored to any business operating fleet of vehicles.

The post Learn how Fuel Purchase Routing can save $250 monthly/vehicle appeared first on Fueloyal.

Fleet Management, in real life, is the term most of the companies use in their own way and many people depending on the position they hold use it for different purposes. Truth is that fleet management can mean a few different things and can cover multiple areas of fleet operations  Today, I am going to focus on fleet management software.

Huge expansion of fleet management software started to happen 20 years ago when the first GPS system for real-time tracking were launched on the market. Over the last 20 years we saw that market becoming highly saturated and that many providers offer very similar types of services.

Here, I’m going to write about the next generation software that will allow companies to gain a competitive edge and increase profitability.

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Software is making a transition from servicing the company to service that also impacts their customers and clients. Software is becoming more and more important and allows companies to provide higher level of service  Software plays a big role in the sales process whether it’s at the beginning when closing a deal with a big client or later on down the road when we need to service that client and its customers..

So having said all this, what are the features that the next generation Fleet Management Software needs to have?

Pricing Flexibility

Transportation and logistics is an industry with a lot of seasonal affect, which can heavily impact the number of vehicles in the fleet that are active at any one time. Effective software needs to be able to adapt prices accordingly and allow companies to use only the functionality they need.

The concept of pushing companies to sign a multi-year contract is outdated since accurately predicting business for multi years is not possible anymore. It is for that reason that doing away with fixed contracts and pricing flexibility is a must.

Modular Feature Approach

Not all the companies are the same and by the same token, not all the companies need the same features. Why should you pay for something you don’t need or don’t want to use? A standard product and service offering should include giving companies the option to determine what their specific needs are and the features they want to use or customize and pay accordingly.

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For example, an automotive carrier company  and a car rental company both have very different and specific software needs, even though they are in the same industry space.  Software should be flexible enough to have features to support both companies. Software no longer needs to be “off the shelf” and “one size fits all” in 2019.   

Custom Features

In today’s world, we see that many clients are demanding special features. They want to ability to see data regarding vehicles in real-time as well as have access to the vehicle movement  specific to higher value load, theft, recovery or routing.

Software needs to be able to fulfill these requirements as they are becoming a mandatory request from the brokers. If you are not able to provide this functionality and give 3rd parties access to your system you will not be able to win the business.

Customized features like those mentioned above are being requested more and more by logistics and transportation companies to help them adapt and deliver to their clients. Having a software that delivers  on these features makes it easy to satisfy your clients.

Fuel Management Functionalities

According to the last transportation and logistics study performed by Continental, Fleet Management solutions are ranked #1 on the wishlist of the fleet managers and company owners.

Very often we see a situation where fuel is the biggest expense related to the fleet operations. In trucking for example, up to 30% of generated revenues can go towards fuel spend.  It is becoming mandatory to manage fuel expenses in a better and more cost effective way.

A software feature pertaining to fuel purchase routing goes above and beyond any existing solution on the market. It will navigate your vehicles to the least cost fuel stations on every route , taking into consideration complex data from fuel card, fuel prices, weather and deliveries – with end results of savings upwards of $300 vehicle/month.

Individual Driver Analysis

Having a detail analysis of each driver performance is becoming crucial with the huge truck driver shortage companies are experiencing today.  Now more than ever, being aware your drivers and their driving habits is very important from both a safety and financial standpoint.

Your software needs to provide the company with the ability to collect driving style data and use that data in an actionable way to  improve driver performance, increase safety and reduce fuel expenses. This valuable data also be used for driver training sessions,  driver assessments as well as safety and insurance related programs.

Driver Incentives

Software should also be used as a means to increase employee satisfaction – increasing  driver happiness within your company. Recognizing good drivers and rewarding them for implementing their safer driving habits is a must.

Fleet Management Software plays a crucial role in this area and allows companies to reward and incentivize the drivers in real-time with some well liked perks. . These small signs of recognition will increase driver loyalty and bring value to the company. A few examples of best appreciated perks are:

– meals at a favorite restaurants
– free showers at the truck stop
– free mobile internet hotspot for one month
– complimentary gym monthly passes

– Visa gift cards

Remote Equipment Diagnostic & Maintenance

Tele-diagnostic is something every company will use in the next 5 years. At this moment, only the equipment manufacturers have direct access to this service feature. It is projected that this   will change heavily over the next 5 years and companies will benefit greatly.

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You will be able to remotely inspect your vehicle and determine the reason or cause for any malfunctions. This will be a time and money saving feature that eliminates huge costs and repairs of roadside assistance. You will be able to focus on the items that need to be repaired or replaced  and service shops will be forced to introduce better transparency into their daily operations.

Custom Reporting Capabilities

Besides custom features, a software platform should also need to support custom reporting. Software should be focused on delivering the reports that will help you better run your operations in addition to the relationships with some key accounts or clients.

As trends continue to move business to a data driven businesses environment, reporting modules will play a significant role. Reports that gets you the data on how the temperature controlled environment of cold storage behaved over the 2000 miles journey can be very important to understanding how transportation is affecting the quality of products.

This or any other similar example now can be covered with custom software reports. You just need to be able to identify specific needs and the reports will become available. Imagine the endless reporting possibilities and the thousands of ways of improving performance!

Software as a Sales

This is a new terms that has not been used very much – but it actually describes what your software is all about very well.  Your new fleet management software needs to bring you new business revenues.

Using software that makes your users and customers happy or more productive is of utmost importance.  It must be powerful, yet simple. Branding reports, ability to send or share with third parties and making sure people have access to the data that will assist in running their business are becoming very important sales features.

Very often we see that in order to close a deal with some big accounts, they are demanding certain types of custom features or reporting. Your software needs to have the ability to adapt and make this sales process run smoothly so as to not cause any roadblocks.

Enterprise Features for Small Companies

If the small and medium companies with the fleets below 150 vehicles want to play  the big boys game they will need to have a system and organization that supports that. Certain features that have previously only been offered to large fleet companies such as shipment tracking will need to become more available to the small and medium sized businesses.

Electronic document exchange will also play an important role in the business operation and small companies will need a way to support that service. These features are becoming more and more necessary to stayin business over the long run.

Final thoughts

Above I have described the various features that new software needs to have, in order for  companies to be prepared for the future and stay in business for the next 10+ years.

In closing, you will find that there software products  on the market today that claim they can do some of the things described above.  The problem is that many times this software approach forces companies to use 10 different kinds of software which makes it very difficult from the user and client perspective.

If you’d like to talk how to build all in one solution –  100% customized for your business needs, please reach out to me at kc@fueloyal.com and visit our customs solutions page at Fueloyal.

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All of us that are very experienced in the logistics and transportation industry are witnessing the huge adaptation of technology in the last 20 years. GPS made a huge debut almost 15 years ago and continued with small upgrades over the years, then we saw ELD coming, MacroPoint, and many other Fleet Management Solutions coming and all of them claiming to be the best and provide amazing added value to your business.

The fact is that over the last 20 years, the market is slowly oversaturating with tons of software choices. Thus, it’s not easy to make a decision about which fleet management software to buy/use because all of them are claiming to be the best and stressing the advantages and at the same time hiding the disadvantages.

100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GPS AND FLEET MANAGEMENT

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Exploring the market and deciding which Fleet Management Software to use is a process that can take months and many working hours which, if you translate into costs, means tens of thousands of dollars just for the exploration phase. Upon selection very often, we see that the decision was not good. Instead of selecting the perfect software for your business, you are selecting the one that is the least bad. Therefore, I wanted to explore this topic and share firsthand what you can do to avoid these mistakes.

Packaged Software Is Out of Date

The only perfect software you can find is the one that adapts to you. No matter how big the company providing the software is or how fancy their name sounds if they can’t make their solution perfectly tailored to you then this is not going to work in the long run.

Pre-packaged solutions offered by some of the largest vendors on the market providing off the shelf solutions hope that they can help your needs. How can a GPS and Fleet Management solution be the same if you are having a dry-van or reefer trucking company? What if you are in the services and city delivery business? You don’t have the same needs as long haul road trucking company.

Those pre-packaged solutions are covering some basic needs for your business but they are not unlocking the true potential your company can provide and for that reason, whatever the price you’re paying it’s too much.

Your Business Is Evolving So Should Your Software

Your business is constantly evolving so should your software. If you are in the business for 5+ years you can see how the market is changing so quickly that having company organization and software that supports it is becoming a matter of staying alive not a matter of making extra profit.

100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GPS AND FLEET MANAGEMENT

Hey! I'm George J. Magoci and I will send you a FREE eBook where you can learn 100 Things To Know About GPS and Fleet Management.

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ELD, driver shortage, Amazon, equipment prices constantly going up are all forcing transportation companies to make more money out of the existing revenue and gain some competitive advantage that will allow them to stand-out in a highly competitive market with more than 1,2M transportation companies in the US only.

So finding the perfect software is not easy simply because you don’t know what is the software you are going to need 3 years from now. If you are searching for the one that can satisfy your current needs then you are already late. Customization and adaptation are magic words today.

Your Customer and Your User Are Not The Same People

There is a huge difference between these two people and it’s time for you to start understanding this. So how are they different?

Let’s take an example of Coca-Cola that can be your customer and main client in your company responsible for the majority of the revenue your business generates.

However, a warehouse Manager working in Coca-Cola Warehouse in Atlanta, GA is your main user. If your software can be or has the potential to customize some reports or pro-actively provide real-time tracking of the shipment then your user will be happy. If your software is helping your user to perform better, faster, and more efficient in his job then you’ll have a free ambassador of your business.

Customers Experience is Becoming More Important Than Ever

This champion will favor your company over any other and you’ll soon become the preferred partner. Not because they like you, they will just follow their need to perform better, faster, cheaper and you’ll be the company that makes that happen and provides added value. Listen to your users, talk to them, and deliver them what they need. If you can solve their problems, they will love you forever.

100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GPS AND FLEET MANAGEMENT

Hey! I'm George J. Magoci and I will send you a FREE eBook where you can learn 100 Things To Know About GPS and Fleet Management.

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Making a full circle and start thinking from a user perspective can be super-helpful. Think about this and ask yourself – is your user now having any interaction with your company and are you helping them at all. Turning your software into a relationship-building system can be of great help for future company growth.

Easy to Use Without Training Required is a Must

As we are all experiencing rapid changes in today’s business and we learned that software should be the one to follow the changes as well – ease of use is also becoming more and more important.

We all remember days when getting new fleet management software meant a lot of onsite training that you were charged thousands of dollars. Over the last 10 years, there was no change except that onsite training was replaced by online training sessions that would usually result in the constant need to call customer support.

What is becoming crucial is that no company or business can afford huge onboarding and training procedures and costs related to those procedures. Ease of use and top-notch UI and UX are becoming a minimum service level. Users need to be able to start using the software in full capacity at day one and can’t expect that training will be provided. Lack of great people on the market is forcing the companies to have solutions, procedures and IT systems that anyone can use, since highly skilled workers are harder and harder to find these days.

Custom Features Are Now Mandatory

Every business is individual and there are no two persons running the company in the same way. That is also the reason we can all see people operating in the same industry achieving different results.

Days, where you could have high margins and high profits, are over. Transportation and logistics are becoming industries where profitability is going down and if you want to make the same amount of money as 20 years ago, you need to have double the fleet.

100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GPS AND FLEET MANAGEMENT

Hey! I'm George J. Magoci and I will send you a FREE eBook where you can learn 100 Things To Know About GPS and Fleet Management.

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Alignment between company and Fleet Management Software can be crucial to maximize the fleet efficiency and squeeze additional money out of existing revenue or increase the revenue per vehicle/month.

Some of the possible custom features:

– Fuel Purchase Routing provides you with information on where to buy the cheapest fuel on the route according to your fuel card setup by having in mind possible discounts, taxes.

– Tracking ID allows your business to have a custom shipment tracking solution only available to the largest companies like UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

– Pick Up/Delivery alerts allow your users to know 120 minutes before delivery so that they can prepare and speed-up the pick/up delivery process.

– Driver incentivizing allows to reward and stimulate safer driving behavior and reward them with perks for accurate pickup and delivery or proper paperwork management.

– Racing inspired and proven technology for remote vehicle diagnostic allows over the air telematics where you can check and inspect each vehicle condition without leaving the office.

Financial ROI Needs To Be Visible from Day One

Most of the companies operating in this competitive space of Fleet Management Software are providing quite vague estimates of ROI. ROI needs to be clear and CFO in each company needs to be able to see the clear value as of day one.

100 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GPS AND FLEET MANAGEMENT

Hey! I'm George J. Magoci and I will send you a FREE eBook where you can learn 100 Things To Know About GPS and Fleet Management.

GET FREE EBOOK

Statements that are on the border of possible but sound really cool actually don’t get anyone excited anymore. Math is clear nowadays. If your customer wants fuel purchase routing and owns a fleet of 200 vehicles, customization ROI needs to be visible immediately. No one has years to wait for a return on investment. The market is so competitive that profit needs to come immediately.

Next Step – How To Make The Move You Need

We at Fueloyal take pride in developing custom solutions for many of our clients keeping their business up to date and ready for future challenges. Our custom solutions department is working hard every day to bring more value and benefit to our customers.

Making a shift from one software provider doesn’t have to be a hassle anymore. Prices are going down and some custom solutions will be tailored for you but in addition, cost 50% less than what you are paying now.

If you are using some of the packaged solutions provided by some of the “me too” vendors please reach out to us as we’d like to listen to your business goals and objectives and see how we can help you achieve them.

Remember that if you are not staying up-to-date with technology your competitors will. My name is Kevin D. Coppolino and please feel free to reach out to me at kc@fueloyal.com with any questions or to schedule a free consultation call.

The post Why Your Existing Fleet Management System Is Not Good Anymore appeared first on Fueloyal.

There are so many ways to learn or provide construction training and skills to use in the construction industry in the future. Acquiring education in order to further transfer it, is the best gift you can give.

Even though the construction industry might be a little confusing, it is not impossible to complete construction training.

With this in mind, there are major forms covering the construction industry. Having said this, you need to learn in details about a particular training program in order to let candidates to further choose in their career.

If you want to provide someone with exquisite construction skills and wide knowledge, the key is to be better than the rest.

Training Makes your Company More Desirable to Prospective Employees

Future employees are always eager to find a company that is willing to invest in them. This is their way of developing themselves in skills and knowledge.

With this intention, construction companies who offer training programs are actually proving the employees that they can expand their skills.

The post Learn Exclusive Tips How To Provide The Best Construction Training appeared first on Fueloyal.

Electrical switches are key to your home’s electrical system. To illustrate, they provide power to all of your most essential appliances.

Unfortunately, there are homeowners who do not pay enough attention to the electrical switches.

Even though people may not even consider them on a daily basis, they are the most responsible for your watching television, cooking and using a blender, or heat up some food in the microwave.

To continue with, there are outlets that can last for years and provide high-quality electrical power for the needed everyday appliances

However, looking on the negative side, there are several signs that you need to notice before it is too late.

The electrical malfunctions are capable of causing more than 50,000 house fires every year, according to Electrical Safety Foundation International.

Even though, some can be prevented, you still need to protect your own home. You can do this by checking the fuse box or the breaker panel.

In addition, there are municipalities that require an inspection before system modification during a renovation process.

The post 5 Dangerous Signs That You Need To Inspect The Electrical Switches appeared first on Fueloyal.

You want to delight your customers by improving your food delivery service?

Well you might be closer to fulfilling this than you thought.

Actually there are few easy tips and tricks that can help you improve your food delivery service in just a few steps.

Regardless of how long your food delivery business has been present on the market it is always a good idea to grow and renew it by finding ways to improve.

Moreover, by improving your food delivery service you will be in the situation to delight your customers while at the same time bringing loyalty to the restaurants that you are serving. In addition, you might be as well able to expand your reach and to raise the revenue of your food delivery service.

So, further in this article you can read few tips and tricks that can help you improve your food delivery service. Let’s take a look!

1. Review Your Delivery Area

To begin with your delivery area.

Before you make any steps further into improving your food delivery service you will have to map out a radius of delivery around the base of operations. Once you map out that radius you will have to review your delivery area.

The post How To Improve Food Delivery Service In 10 Steps? appeared first on Fueloyal.

Do you aspire to improve HVAC Company’s success?

But, on the other hand, you do not know how?

Well, believe it or not, this article will reveal you few facts and figures about how you can improve your HVAC Company’s success with the implementation of GPS technology.

Thereupon, with the very implementation of GPS technology in your HVAC fleet, you will straight proportionally see how your HVAC company’s success is improving, mainly due to the fact that the GPS technology will help you:

• Reduce mileage;
• Receive warnings;
• Optimize the routes;
• Improve vehicle maintenance;

Henceforth, both small and large HVAC companies and fleets can benefit from GPS technology.

On the flip side, making a decision to install a GPS technology- means making a decision to know the location of your HVAC fleet 24/7.

Instantly this gives you a peace of mind as well as a time to focus on more important aspects of your HVAC business.

Therefore, implementing a GPS technology is the very first step that HVAC companies shall take on their way of improving HVAC Company’s success.

The post How GPS Technology Can Improve Your HVAC Company’s Success appeared first on Fueloyal.