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Box of tricks
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A new generation of digital tachographs will make it easier and cheaper for operators to stay compliant. Patric Cunnane reports from the Transport Tracking conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Digital tachographs were introduced in May and the planet is still turning, so they can't have been as bad as some operators feared. In time most operators will accept that they have many advantages over the old chart-based system, not least the secure way that information is stored — making it much more difficult for rogue drivers to fiddle their hours.
But in one respect the all-singing, all-dancing black box remains firmly earthbound — the information cannot be downloaded until the truck returns to base and the company card is inserted into the black box.
All this is about to change.A new generation of digital tachographs being developed will enable the information to be downloaded remotely from the cab to the office. This will be done via a telematics unit in the cab and the equipment is likely to be available, in early 2008.
Reducing downtime
It is a development that will be of particular benefit to large fleet operators, for whom truck downtime is a big expense, and to international operators, whose trucks may be away for weeks at a time.
The new system, comprising two boxes, will enable operators to meet their legal obligations while the truck is out earning money. At
preSent someone has to go into the cab at least once every three months and download the information from the stationary vehicle.
The new equipment is being developed by a working party within the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers' Association) made up of digital tachograph manufacturers Stoneridge Electronics. Actia and Siemens VDO and truck manufacturers including Scania, MAN, Volvo, DaimlerChrysler, Iveco and Renault.
Multiple advantages At Transport Tracking 2006, the telematics conference in Gothenburg, Mikael Jansson, product specialist with Stoneridge, explained the advantages of the new equipment: -There are around three million trucks in Europe and theyhave to be manually downloaded four times a year. It takes 20 minutes for each truck at an estimated cost of €40 (127) an hour:Mars a total cost 01€16(hri (108m) a year to the industry.
"To download today you have to put the company card in the truck.With the new system you'll have the card in the office -and even if you have 1,000 trucks, two cards would be enough:" Although it is too early to say what the new equipment will cost, a spokesperson for Siemens VD() explainedsomeof the financial implications. "To enable a remote data download, the digital tachograph needs to be changed. In addition every vehicle needs a device to transmit the data,a modem or an onboard computer.
"Not every tachograph user and fleet manager will make use of the remote download possibility. It is of special interest to owners of fleets whose drivers don't return to the office within the required 28-day period for the download of the driver card data or the three month period for the mass-memory data. Operators using the new remote download will have to pay for the additional hardware and software as well as for the data transfer."
But as Paul Kay. managing director of Actia points out, the telematics unit won't be there just for downloading tachograph information. "It will he fitted for other purposes too, such as diagnostic checks and fleet management."
Additional expense
The drawback of bringing in this technology so soon after digital tachographs were introduced is that operators who have shelled out for digitachs now face the prospect of paying for new equipment in a couple of years' time if they want to stay ahead of the game.Those who bought new trucks just before the law changed and are still using chart tachographs have a chance to go digital with state-of-the-art equipment if they wait until 2008.
But as Jansson said: "The main objective of the remote download is to help the driver and the company stay legal." •