PeopleNet, a provider of intelligent GPS, onboard solutions and mobile communications, announced it has partnered with ITI (Instructional Technologies, Inc.) to bring driver training technology to PeopleNet customers via the PeopleNet BLU platform. PeopleNet is North America’s fastest-growing provider of intelligent GPS, onboard solutions and mobile communications.
Risk-management specialist ITI’s Pro-TREAD and TREAD-1 programs currently provide sophisticated, interactive driver training to 170 fleets in the U.S. and Canada. These programs will be viewable on the PeopleNet BLU platform.
In partnership with PeopleNet, Pro-TREAD will provide preemptive, targeted driver training in the cab in response to real-time performance data collected from trucks on the road. PeopleNet customers can already use this data with PeopleNet’s PerformX application to monitor driver behavior and the health of a truck’s engine, drive train and other operational systems. Driver-related performance data can include hard-braking, speeding, hours-of-service, tailgating, excessive G-forces, and other recorded events.
“Safety has always been a top priority. This partnership enables PeopleNet customers to actively pursue safety in a new, effective way,” says Brian McLaughlin, PeopleNet’s executive vice president of marketing, product and sales.
“Like PeopleNet, ITI is client-driven,” says E. Bruce Weiss, executive vice president of ITI. “Our clients have asked that we make training available in-cab so we developed a partnership with PeopleNet to intelligently identify at-risk driver behavior and then immediately allow in-cab targeted re-training for that behavior.”
The PeopleNet/Pro-TREAD partnership differs from other driver training programs in at least two important ways: First, Pro-TREAD does not react blindly to incidents by prescribing training in knee-jerk fashion. Using intelligent algorithms, Pro-TREAD considers all reported events in detail and in context. Pro-TREAD makes smart training recommendations that drivers are far more likely to appreciate than resent, which results in enhanced driving remediation.
Second, using PeopleNet’s new BLU onboard platform, Pro-TREAD provides the required training modules directly in-cab. Critical training does not have to wait for drivers to arrive at company locations or to seek Internet connections. Drivers can fulfill training requirements at their convenience during non-driving hours or while waiting for loads. PeopleNet’s wireless network enables reliable, economical transmission of lesson-completion data to the private database which ITI provides to each client fleet for bullet-proof documentation of training.
