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COST AGAINST BENEFIT When all these technical hurdles have been
Page 55
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cleared and remotely down loadable tachographs are finally available, there is also the question of who will be charging and who will be paying for the extra functionality on offer.
Vehicle manufacturers offering to host the data will clearly be looking to charge for the service, but digital tachograph manufacturers are already considering what revenue they can make out of it. Third-party telematics systems providers, meanwhile, may also wish to charge end users for allowing remote access to digital tachograph data via their systems.
There are also, of course, the hardware costs of the new digitachs themselves and any additional office or vehicle hardware that might be required, as well as the additional communication costs operators will face to download the data. How big a premium will need to be paid in total and whether operators will see enough benefits in the new system to feel th cost worthwhile is something nobody can currently predict. Jc Williams, head of road freight policy at the Freight Transport Association, says she does expect that some vehicle users wi want to take advantage of the new technology as long as the eventual cost isn't too high.
Any technology that makes life simpler for members, we'd generally welcome,'' she says. "I think there will be all sorts of queries about the security of such systems and how secure th transfer of data will really be. But if it works securely, makes fle operators more efficient and is cost-effective, it could well be better for them. Whether there is really going to be a big enouc market for it, though, who knows?"