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Oaf steps into truck telematics
Page 15
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• Daf is the latest vehicle manufacturer to offer a telematics system with its trucks.
The truck builder has recently teamed up with BT redcare and Siemens VDO Trading to market a new internet-based vehicle performance management system called Daf-tel. This uses Siemens VDO's FM 200 hardware to collect data from the vehicle engine and send it once a day via the GSM network to BT redcare. BT redcare then generates reports that can be downloaded by the end-user from the website. The system also sends daily, weekly or monthly e-mail alerts to fleet managers if particular areas of performance fall outside preset parameters.
The system, which is suitable for all makes and models of truck or van and can be retrofitted or supplied with new vehicles, can be used to monitor various areas of truck and driver performance including: • driver and vehicle events (road speed, braking, acceleration, idling and parking times);
II time and attendance (time started, miles driven, overtime log sheets);
• fuel consumption.
BT redcare is soon to add a GPS mapping and tracking option for real-time vehicle location and retrospective tracking for route planning purposes.
Daf marketing director Tony Pain admits the system isn't yet an all-singing, all-dancing one but says it still meets the major need of UK customers, which is monitoring fuel consumption. "We didn't look at some super-sophisticated system. We don't see that as our core business. This is about vehicle and driver perfor
mance," he says. He adds that Daf isn't going to make any money on the system, which is entirely managed and operated by BT redcare, "but if it helps our dealers and helps our customers, it obviously helps us," he adds.
Installation of the system will cost £770 per vehicle, with monthly line rental at around £25, which includes the airtime for standard daily reports. This is all that users actually need to operate Daf-tel, although a GPS module can be purchased in preparation for the extension to the service for £190.
Daf also offers a Fleet Management System (FMS) connector, an interface module that will allow for integration with other telematics hardware in the future, for £130.
• Over and above the Daf-tel arrangement, Daf parent Paccar is also investigating the possibility of providing a single global telematics solution across all its brands, says Pain. This would probably be based on the same or similar hardware and may again involve the use of a firm like BT redcare to deliver it. "We're not going into the communications market," comments Pain.
• Contact: www.daf-tel.com